CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, Publisher: Global Star, Platform: Playstation 2, Price: £29.99: Family friendly? Yes, but older kids will find it tedious going.

THE charming children's books written by Roald Dahl would seem to be the perfect inspiration for a video game.

And the most famous of all is now exactly that. Although Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is ostensibly based on the Tim Burton movie, the director's insistence on following the story exactly means fans of the novel won't be disappointed either.

It all starts very promisingly with a wonderful intro with narration by actor Geoffrey Holder setting the scene perfectly. Most of the Hollywood cast have been persuaded to reprise their roles; the one massive exception being Johnny Depp who clearly had more important things to do (clearing out his sock drawer perhaps?)

Can there be a child born since the 1970s who doesn't know the plot about the mysterious chocolate factory that produces the most delicious candy bars in conditions of utmost secrecy until, one day, the owner (Willy Wonka) decides to shed the cloak of mystery by inviting five people inside.

The lucky winners need to find a golden ticket hidden in a Wonka chocolate bar (what a great promotional idea, the boys at Cadbury must have been kicking themselves) and with four already discovered it seems luck has once more deserted poor Charlie Bucket. Or has it? When hard-up Charlie pounces on a ten dollar bill it seems his dream is about to come true.

Once your character has his ticket the gates to the factory swing open and the game proper begins.

Your friends on the quest are the Oompa-Loompas, the strange folk who keep the factory ticking, and only by using them to solve puzzles and deal with unexpected situations can you progress to the ultimate prize.

You issue commands via the joypad and if you get stuck, which happens frequently, you can call up a handy help menu to suggest ways forward (or backwards).

Every mission has hidden sweets scattered around that must be collected in order to boost your abilities (such as floating or disabling errant Wonka robots) and the help menu will also notify you of exactly what still needs to be found.

Charlie must also fix huge, bizarre candy-making machines by solving puzzles and enlisting the help of the pesky Oompa-Loompas whose artificial intelligence is so dim it would take hundreds to power a ten watt light bulb. I lost count of the times they left me in the lurch just loitering around when they should have been following orders.

Your mission is further hindered by the poor camera control that lurches about like a drunk aboard a ship being tossed around on a force ten gale. After an hour I felt a bit green around the gills.

Of course this game isn't aimed at adults. It's probably not even chasing a teenage audience. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is strictly kids' stuff, which is why the levels are small and each one feels so eerily similar to the last.

The graphics are passable and the soundtrack is a peach but older players will still find this too repetitive. Sadly this reviewer found Willy Wonka's chocolate factory indigestible.

Published: 12/08/2005