Garfield - Escape From Monday Review - Did This 3D Platformer Leave Me Hungry For More?

Ole Gamer Joe

2 minutes ago

6 min read

Garfield - Escape From Monday

PS/Switch/XBOX/PC

9/24/26

OSome Studio/Microids

https://youtu.be/gayZ9S5-g3c

It’s ironic that in Garfield’s latest 3D platformer he finds himself trapped in a nightmare, as over the years most Garfield games have been a bit of a horror show. Bad Garfield releases date as far back as the 1980s and continued on through the 90s. Hell, even current times haven’t been kind to our orange friend with releases like Garfield Kart (which became a meme of sorts and is somehow getting a sequel), terrible handheld games like Garfield: The Search for Pooky, Garfield: Lasagna World Tour, and even the Mario Party-esque Garfield: Lasagna Party, which was reviewed right here at I Dream of Indie Games and is… pretty bad.

It’s a shame really, because I absolutely love Garfield. I would always rush to the comic section of my newspaper to see his weekly adventures, and the cartoon, Garfield and Friends, was one of my absolute favorites. The character's “don’t give a damn attitude” resonated with me, as did his love for lasagna. So, will such a lovable series finally get a video game worth playing? Or did Garfield - Escape From Monday give me a case of the Sunday scaries?

Escape From Monday is a 3D platformer collectathon of sorts where you will pounce and smack your way through over 40 different levels across 3 unique worlds. Your goal is to reach the end of each stage and defeat a variety of bosses along the way, with every new area featuring plenty of optional collectibles to nab such as chunks of cheese and of course, lasagna. Enemies will stand in your path, many of which are themed around foods Garfield hates, such as tomatoes, corn, and peppermint sticks of death… I guess? I don’t know, I don’t remember Garfield hating peppermint, but some evidence does seem to point towards cats not liking it, so sure, I guess.

You might ask, how did Garfield end up in such a strange situation, and the truth of the matter is, he didn’t… well, not in reality anyways. One day Jon Arbuckle (Garfield’s owner if you didn’t know) is at home watching the famous Chef Monday on television who is teaching viewers how to make a lasagna with vegetables. Garfield doesn’t take kindly to this butchering of his favorite dish and heads off to the fridge only to find it’s too late, Jon is now preparing healthier foods. Garfield passes out from the shock of it all, awakening in a dream world run by the now villainous Chef Monday. You know where this is going, try to survive a series of dream worlds and reclaim bad eating habits!

There’s really not much to be said for the story, it's simple, goofy, and was clearly designed with younger audiences in mind. You’ll meet a few familiar characters along the way which is nice, but not as many as you might expect. There are a few cutscenes throughout your adventures as well that feature full voice acting, though sadly the grumpy, gruff Garfield that I grew up with now sounds like he is voiced by a bad Donald Trump impersonator. The remaining performances are solid, though the game isn’t all that funny, given the source material.

Let’s face it though, Garfield - Escape From Monday is designed with a younger audience in mind, so the most important question would be, is it fun to play? The answer? Maybe in short bursts for young ones, but almost certainly not for adults or even teenagers.

As far as gameplay goes, Garfield has a pretty limited moveset. He has a basic jump, which is good as there’s plenty of platforming to be done, he can wall jump which doesn’t feel very good, a standard attack, and a really bad pounce for traversing larger gaps. This pounce controls terribly and can also transition into an equally bad roll. Players will also have full control of the camera, most of the time, with a few sections featuring a fixed camera view. The camera isn’t great either, as the game seems to naturally present itself on a bit of a slant, but for the most part, it gets the job done well enough. It’s worth noting that both my daughter and wife did experience a bit of motion sickness playing this game, so if you are someone who suffers from that, you may want to try and tweak the sensitivity of the camera.

This is pretty much it for Garfield’s abilities outside of a butt stomp for squashing switches, and random suits that can be collected which will grant unique abilities. Examples of these would include turkey feathers which will grant limited flight, and a surfboard for gliding across water. I do appreciate this callback to games like Mario 3, though ultimately the real problem with this game is how bland it is even when it tries to switch things up. Ironic seeing as it is all about foods Garfield thinks are gross, isn’t it?

The level design is weak throughout, filled with boring, dull enemies that you’ll see over and over again. These enemies don’t do all that much outside of walking about or occasionally hurling items in your general direction. Collectibles aren’t well hidden or all that fun to discover, challenge is basically non-existent, and boss fights mostly play out the same. In these encounters, you’ll typically dodge out of the way of bombs, wait for one specific bomb to drop that you can smack back at your foe… Rinse and repeat. Death is inconsequential for the most part, as you’ll typically be right back where you were should 3 hits of damage be sustained. It wasn’t long before my 13-year-old was bored out of her mind, not at all enticed to grab all of the lasagnas, which only serve to unlock random furniture in Jon Arbuckle’s house.

To the game’s credit, there are lots of levels here, even if they are extremely boring to get through. I can also respect that the developers try to switch things up from time to time, like adding 2D sections or even arena-like battles, but the gameplay never really changes all that much, thus, they are equally dull. Players can expect a good 6-7 hours before reaching the endgame, with a few more tacked on should they strive for 100 percent completion.

Visually, Garfield - Escape From Monday looks halfway decent, but is nothing special. There is some creativity in how each level looks, and the simple cartoonish designs do manage to match the more modern look of the Garfield we see today reasonably well. It’s bright and colorful, though the art team has skimped a bit in the animation department, such as when you butt stomp a foe and don’t get any sort of squishy reaction at all. The game performs admirably with a smooth framerate on the PC version, though I did hit a few snags where cutscenes would trigger and Garfield would still be able to take damage from enemies. Outside of that, there were no major performance issues to report. There’s just a smattering of visual and audio options available, though it is worth noting a color blind feature is available which is nice. I don’t recall difficulty options at the offset, which maybe could have helped with the lack of challenge.

Sound design in the game is rather generic elevator music, though each world does have a theme that decently matches the area you find yourself in. It all just sort of drifts off into the background, serving the purpose and never going above and beyond. This is a bit of a bummer given how much personality the world of Garfield has.

Overall, if you have young ones in your home that are just starting to get into 3D platformers, Garfield - Escape From Monday is a halfway decent introduction to the genre. It functions well enough and won’t really frustrate anyone over the age of 6. But for anyone else that is a fan of the genre, the game is a snorefest. Fans of Garfield will just have to keep waiting for a good video game, it feels like it could be a while, if ever. I am awarding Escape From Monday the Table Lamp of Mediocrity.

PROS

Accessible for young players

Large amount of content

Occasional variety

Bright, colorful visuals are decent

Family-friendly tone

CONS

Extremely bland level design

Uninspired boss fights

Low challenge for anyone over 6

Garfield’s voice acting feels off

Generic music and underused Garfield humor