Garfield: Escape from Monday is the latest 3D platforming romp starring everyone’s favourite comic-strip-turned-multimedia juggernaut, Garfield, in a simple but decent adventure game that the younger people in your life will get a kick out of.
Now, it’s been decades since I’ve consumed anything strictly Garfield-related, but I do have a distinct memory of going into a bookstore with my mother as a young child and coming out of that shopping experience with an omnibus of Garfield comics that made me a fan of the beloved orange cat. Naturally, as a former child of the ’90s, I too am a fan of the occasional 3D platformer, so I found myself inclined to check out Garfield: Escape from Monday despite my reservations about his spotty gaming legacy.
Thankfully, or perhaps mercifully, Garfield: Escape from Monday is a pretty decent game, particularly if you have young children in your life who may be new to the genre of 3D platformers. The best thing about Garfield: Escape from Monday for me was its writing, which features genuinely charming quips and 4th wall breaking humour that fits the nonchalant and laid-back attitude of the titular character.
“Garfield: Escape from Monday is a pretty decent game, particularly if you have young children in your life who may be new to the genre of 3D platformers.”
Garfield: Escape from Monday’s setup is a simple one: Garfield is bored of watching TV, so he decides to peruse the fridge, only to accidentally consume a vegetarian lasagna made by the very same dastardly chef he saw on TV, Chef Monday. Of course, as the mere sight of vegetables is sickening, having consumed a meat-free, veggie-filled imposter of his favourite dish leaves our hero in a deep sleep in which he must fight his nightmares to wake up.
Garfield: Escape from Monday includes more than 40 levels divided into three unique biomes, showcasing Garfield’s food fears. These include your usual suspects of fresh veggies, but also candy and BBQ junk food items — basically anything that isn’t flooded with marinara and doused in cheese is fair game in Garfield’s mind when it comes to nightmare fuel.
The levels, for the most part, are a little too easy for my liking, but some clever optional stages and later levels add a bit of spice to the otherwise bland dish, saving it from strictly being on the kids’ menu. Despite the mostly linear design of the vast majority of levels, some levels do feel a bit more open-ended, giving Garfield the opportunity to tackle some of the more expansive levels out of sequence in order to open a locked gate or collect a specific item before moving on.
“Garfield: Escape from Monday might just be the best Garfield game ever made.”
On the topic of collectables, Garfield: Escape from Monday offers two main types of collectables, which come in the form of cheese (and other guilty pleasure foods), which act as your standard coin pick-up and lasagna, which are the main star-equivalent for Garfield to seek out. One clever aspect of the lasagna item is that, on occasion, an individual slice of the baked pasta dish will split into its individual sheets, scattering throughout its immediate surroundings, making for a fun diversion from the standard collectable, akin to collecting the 8 red coins in a Mario game.
Easily, the best aspect of Garfield: Escape from Monday is its power-ups, of which there are three. Outside of the initial Turkey power-up, which grants Garfield the ability to double jump and sustain longer distances, the Surfer and Cowboy abilities that unlock later in the game are a lot more interesting and genuinely add some fun level variety to the otherwise bog-standard running and jumping. It might sound a little outlandish, but Garfield: Escape from Monday might just be the best Garfield game ever made, which isn’t saying a lot, but still, for a title based on a longstanding IP, it is admirable to see the effort made by Osome Studios.
In terms of extras, Garfield: Escape from Monday doesn’t offer a whole lot, but collecting all lasagna and a certain threshold of junk food does grant players various pieces of furniture that unlock in Jon’s house. Jon’s home, which can be accessed via the overworld menu, gives Garfield access to a fully interactable recreation of Garfield’s home, with each piece of furniture giving players the opportunity to re-furnish and spruce up the house. In all honesty, it’s one of the weirder unlockables I’ve seen in a game, but one that works well enough.
In closing, Garfield: Escape from Monday is a surprisingly decent game, held back slightly by a difficulty that just feels shy of truly feeling rewarding, but a fun time, particularly for younger gamers who may be new to the genre.
