As the longstanding record holder for being the most syndicated comic strip, Jim Davis’ Garfield has long been a pop culture icon. As such, it’s no wonder that the chubby orange cat has appeared in many cartoons, as well as numerous movies and video games, including recent fare like a kart racer and a party game.
If there are two things most people know about Garfield — other than the fact that he’s orange — it’s that he loves lasagna and hates Mondays. Due to this, it’s no surprise that both factor into his latest video game adventure — a 3D platformer called Garfield: Escape From Monday. Developed by OSome Studio and published by the folks at Microids, it’s an homage to games of yesteryear and an attempt to continue the legacy and popularity of the cartoon cat, in a positive way. The end result, though, isn’t as good as the recent Smurfs game or Marsupilami 2. It’s merely a decent romp through one of the world’s most famous comic strips, and a relatively safe one at that.
When I first started receiving press releases regarding Escape From Monday, I was surprised that the day of the week wasn’t plural. Now, after playing it, I understand why that is.
Garfield: Escape From Monday begins on a boring day, as Jon watches a cooking show starring a chubby host unsurprisingly called Chef Monday. Stressing the importance of vegetables, including putting them in foods that don’t always contain them, his show isn’t interesting to the cat who’s obsessed with more unhealthy foods. Then, the titular feline makes a mistake, by going to the fridge and scarfing down a pice of lasagna without looking at it closely. You see, it’s a new recipe from Chef Monday, and it’s full of vegetables which cause our protagonist to complain and then fall into a food coma full of nightmares.
In his lengthy nightmare, Garfield is taunted by Chef Monday, while also having to face worlds made up of foods like veggies, candy, chocolate and fast foods. What begins as a world made up of cheese transforms into something else in front of his eyes, proving that he’s not in his own form of heaven. Thus begins an approximately eight hour long romp through a cartoon nightmare.
In true platformer fashion, the approximately forty different stages are presented on overworld map boards. There are three main worlds, including Veggie Nightmare, which features radishes, cobs of corn and mean tomatoes; Sweet Kingdom and its mean marshmallows, candy and chocolate coated environments, and Barbecue Desert, which mixes the Wild West with greasy fast foods. Each world carries a different theme, its own unique platforms and hazards, bullet-hell inspired mini-bosses and the like. They also all feature secondary stages that are not part of the main level set, but have no unlock requirements.
At its core, Garfield: Escape From Monday is a familiar type of 3D platformer, which mixes jumping from platform to platform, hitting enemies, doing vertical slams and rolling around with riding air currents and looking for hidden areas. However, each region of the nightmare world features a different costume, which you’re sometimes given access to, be it a turkey costume that lets Garfield fly, a surfing costume that lets him surf over water and chocolate, and a lasso that helps him both swing and latch onto enemies. After latching onto these foes (generally eggplants that rush toward the player, and destroy breakable boxes), he can ride them.
For the most part, the gameplay found within is accessible, familiar and kind of safe. However, there is some variety in the form of surfing, riding mine carts and things like that. I do wish that this game had pushed the envelope more, and that its developers had thought outside of the proverbial box more. That would have likely made for a better experience, which would have stood out more. As it stands, the core gameplay is decent but far from great, with some floaty platforming which becomes more problematic as one progresses and the challenge level ramps up a bit.
What’s good about this game, though, is the fact that its health gauge is generous, and so are its frequent checkpoints. As such, it’s easy to find health pickups, and dying won’t set you back far at all. Falling also isn’t punished much.
Garfield can also be an bit insufferable at times. I get that he’s a grumpy and lazy cat, and that’s part of the fun. I love cats, have had many, and also used to have a huge book of Garfield comics, in addition to ones my cat (and Garfield) loving mom had on the fridge. That said, Garfield: Escape From Monday exists as a tongue-in-cheek experience, which breaks the fourth wall quite often. The main character complains about the developers’ choices, calls certain segments uninspired, and bemoans that it isn’t a party game or a kart racer because, if it were the latter, he wouldn’t have to walk much. There are also nods to the developers, and a lot of commentary about how it’s a video game. It’s cute and kind of funny, at first, but eventually becomes tiring, overdone and a bit insufferable.
Throughout each stage, one will find and collect numerous snacks, which add up to fill a meter by level’s end. At least, that’s the goal. There are also a few to several collectible pieces of lasagna (without veggies this time) to be found in each stage, meaning that you’ll want to explore every inch of each one. That said, most of them aren’t that difficult to find. It can be hard to pick up every piece of snack food in some levels, though, but that thankfully isn’t necessarily. Why? Well, some are located at the bottom of air currents, and it can be hard to grab them. When you enter an air current, and rise up, the game often starts your ascent above them.
Finding all of the lasagna pieces, and at least most of the snacks, is important for those who consider themselves completionists, as well as folks who care about achievements and trophies. The game doesn’t offer much of a reward, but at least the developers tried to include something; that being a version of Jon’s home that one can furnish. In order to fully furnish its rooms, you’ll need to find all of the pieces of lasagna and fill each Yum-o-Meter. However, this is a very forgettable and kind of pointless experience, and something I didn’t get much enjoyment from or find very interesting.
Those who are of the completionist type, and want to play this for potentially easy achievements or trophies, should also know that it features another mode: time attack. This secondary option unlocks after you’ve completed a stage for the first time, meaning that you’re essentially going to have to finish the campaign twice in order to unlock everything, as a result.
Along the way, fans can also expect to get a bit of help from Jon, along with other friends from the comics. This is an appreciated thing, but they don’t add too much to the experience. The same goes for guest appearances by Nermal and Odie, who are regional bad guys.
As you can likely tell from the included cutscenes, Garfield: Escape From Monday is a very colourful and cartoony game, befitting its source material. The visuals do the comic justice, and the same is true of its characters, though some of the enemies are kind of uninspired and forgettable looking. Garfield, himself, is even done in a cartoon shaded style, which I guess one could refer to as Cel-shading, and his snacks (ans most foes) are too. Due to this, they stand out amidst the more traditional, 3D environments.
These positives are hindered by a frustrating camera that doesn’t offer enough player control, and often gets in the way. This has been a problem in this genre for as long as I can remember, but some recent games have overcome it. This one didn’t manage to do so, so expect to have issues with its camera while playing. Also plan to play a game that is mostly set in the clouds (likely due to the dream or nightmare theme), meaning that falling off a platform results in an annoyingly long fall before things are reset.
The soundscape found within this game is merely okay. Its music and sound effects are decent and do the job, but are honestly kind of forgettable. Meanwhile, the voice acting and writing are a real mixed bag. Garfield may be the main character, but he honestly doesn’t sound very good, which surprised me when I started to play. When I first listened to him, Donald Trump honestly came to mind. At least, someone impersonating the American President.
All that having been said, Garfield: Escape From Monday is an alright, relatively enjoyable and safe 3D platformer starring the world’s most iconic cat. It presents a decent, but flawed and imperfect platforming experience which brings to mind some of the genre efforts I grew up with in previous generations, including some other licensed games. As such, fans of the comic strip, cartoons and movies will get what they expect from this game, but little that they haven’t experienced before.
This review is based on the XBOX Series X version of the game, which we were provided with.