I've been told by various friends that working in a factory is something that you don't want to get into. The hours are long, the pay isn't good and the work is boring. However, that Willy Wonker is a clever guy; he issues five golden tickets to bring kids to his factory and work for free. Now there's a good idea! The thing is, the other kids, bar Charlie, get up to mischief, so in this factory-type game you, Charlie, have to rescue all of these kids from their chocolate-coated death. While I just want these greedy, arrogant, bossy and over-intelligent kids to drown in Wonker's brown watery, erm, chocolate, the game doesn't offer you type of freedom. Besides, kids love rescuing bullies, right?

Over the years, I have learnt things that kids (who will be buying this game) have yet to learn certain skills. Patience is one of them and temper control is another, two assets you're going to need if you're even going to touch Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. The first proper level sees you rescuing Augustus from a tube that is too tight. This level sees you throwing robots that you have entangled with a jellybean stalk at these tubes to block the airflow. Sounds good, but by the end of the level I had almost snapped my controller in two. You see, you've got to repeat this airflow-blocking task on four different occasions on the same level and each occasion has you blocking two or three pipes up. This is a difficult task too, from picking up the ball to throwing it across a spike pit. You'll miss, you'll miss again, just like your siblings or kids will miss and miss again - but the only difference is that they'll come back to you and moan. Every level consists of something to annoy; fixing the other kids wrongs can get boring fast.

You're introduced to a few interesting concepts though. The ability to control those magical midgets, the oompa-loompas, is quite a welcome one. You can tell them to do a whole host of different things; harvest certain trees for special sweets to eat or use as weapons, go to work on numerous oompa-only tools scattered around the levels, or follow you around ready for your commands. This is a novel idea and it works, but younger kids will have a problem learning how to control these things!

Throughout the game, you have access to half-a-dozen weapons or so, which aren't too imaginative. You can throw everlasting gobstoppers, presumably because they don't taste very nice! Another weapon you'll be using on the first level are the magical jellybeans I mentioned earlier. Throw one on the ground and it sprouts and tangles the next thing up that walks into it. Then you can wield that tangled ball and throw it at things. If you get stuck, old Grandpa will lend a hand, one of the redeeming features of this game. He gives you hints and tips on how to go about certain puzzles and luckily he's on call 24/7 with the push of a button!

Most of the story is told in a comic style way, with close ups of drawings and such. It works but I was hoping to see more cartoon storytelling similar to how the game starts. It's quite lazy of the developers if you ask me, but if it works then there's no point in fixing it, is there? Thankfully we're saved with good narration that fits the pictures perfectly. As well as this, you can expect some audio from Wonker himself and all the other characters, sound a likes or not, don't sound too shabby.

Which is more than I can say for the in game audio and graphics though; honestly, they're going to get on your nerves quickly. The music is probably the biggest culprit here, with fairground type tunes that you typically only want to hear once while you're being hurled twenty miles an hour around a merry-go-round! Charlie and the other characters do their best to overpower the music with their little voice clips, such as commands to the oompa-loompas, but the success rate here is small. On first glance the graphics don't seem all that bad. You try looking at the purple-themed levels for long periods of time though; they're an eyesore! While jumping about, the level blurs in places too, which isn't something I take a liking to. Charlie looks well rendered but the rest leaves me with a nasty headache.

I cannot recommend this game to anyone. My sisters called it boring and, to me, that speaks volumes. Kids aren't going to want to rescue the bad guys of the movie, kids want to explore the factory, swim in the chocolate lakes and hijack cars. Well, maybe not the last part [At least not until they become teenagers! Ed] but you get the idea. Poor gameplay with only one or two novel ideas isn't enough to save this one from the pick n' mix bin, which is where all the rubbish sweets end up! Anyway, everlasting gum can't be that hygienic can it and boy would it make your jaws ache!

Reviewed by Dexter Pearson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).