After the animated game title screen, the main menu appears.
New Game: Select this option to start a new game from the beginning. The game will prompt to select a save slot before initiating the opening sequence.
Load Game. Select this option to restore a previously saved game. The game will start from the last level checkpoint you passed. If you have no previously saved games, the Load Game option is not available.
Options: set the display, sound, and control options of the game. See details below.
Bonus Features: Each time Scrat collects 1,000 points worth of nuts in a particular world, one of six bonus features is unlocked. This applies to the worlds of Waterpark, Forest, Maelstrom (only 200 points required), Mud Bog, Sloth Village, and Glacier. The bonus features are interviews with Chris Wedge (voice of Scrat), Ray Romano (voice of Manny), Denis Leary (voice of Diego), John Leguizamo (voice of Sid), Alan Todyk (voice of Fructose Bear) and Josh Peck (voice of Eddie). HarperCollins, which is unlocked from the beginning, is an ad for the selection of Ice Age 2 HarperCollins Children's books.
Credits: Displays the game credits. These are also automatically shown upon completion of the game.
Quit to Desktop: exit the game and select "Yes" to confirm.
Options
Select the Options in the main menu to access the options menu.
Display Options: select this option to enable or disable WideScreen, FullScreen, Effects, Shadows, and Subtitles. You can also set the Video Mode (resolution) and Particle Detail.
Sound Options: Here you can set the volume of the game sound and music.
Control Options: Select this option to enable or disable GamePad Vibration, to invert to X and/or Y axis of the Camera and Aiming Camera, to set the controller type and to configure the selected controller.
Default Settings: Select this options to reset all options to their default settings.
Pause menu
While playing the game, press "Escape" to bring up the pause menu.
Continue: Select this to continue playing the game where you left off.
Hints: if there is currently no specific objective, selecting this will display general hints, such as "Collect petals to regain your health". If there currently is a specific objective then it will provide a hint on that.
Save: Select one of the three available slots to store your current progress. If a used slot is selected, confirm to overwrite the previously saved game. Note that it stores progress to the last checkpoint, not the progress you made after that, so it would be best to save right after entering a new game level or triggerig a mid-level checkpoint. See the walkthrough section on where the mid-level checkpoints are located.
Options: Same as selecting the options from the main menu. See details above.
Quit Game: Return to the game's main menu. It will prompt you to confirm.
Note: sadly the pause menu does not have a "Load Game" function, so if you would like to load a game, you'll have to "Quit Game" in the pause menu and then load a game from the main menu.
