WALL-E

Beautiful. Thoughtful. Original. These words could be used to describe Disney and Pixar's latest film Wall-E. Sadly I can't say the same about the game adaptation. The inevitable tie-in manages to contain none of the film's humour, heart or charm which is quite an achievement in itself.

The game is very clearly targeted towards the film's key audience: children. However, if they haven't seen the film then the story presented here will be utterly incomprehensible. I myself had no idea what was going on until I went to see it at the cinema and much of it has been very loosely translated. Indeed, the touching first half of the film is instead reduced to a few levels at the beginning in favour of the more child friendly latter section.

Whilst the animation of the movie is a staggering achievement the game struggles to even meet next-generation expectations. At times the graphics manage to reach average levels but for the majority of time they are pretty uninspired and conventional. The game's sound is also generally second-rate with many of the songs repeating ad infinitum which is incredibly repetitive and tiring. The sound effects themselves are also rather dull and on the penultimate level, I was forced to mute the game as it was driving me to the edge of sanity.

The core game mechanics themselves don't fare much better than the graphics and sound. Each of the levels (of which there are only 9) is broken down into different sections: largely straightforward platforming as Wall-E and EVE or racing as EVE on her own.

The platforming is particularly unimaginative and bland, largely consisting of jumping, riding moving platforms and using cubes. As Wall-E you can create cubes from special vending machines which you must repair with a part first. There are only 4 types of cube in the game and they are used for solving very rudimentary "puzzles" by either throwing them at things or charging them up. In one incredible instance you are even allowed to repel metal debris with a magnetic cube (which amazingly doesn't affect Wall-E himself).

The tunnel racing sections are marginally better and feature EVE flying through a variety of different locations against the clock. Despite bearing uncanny similarities to the Speedway levels from Spyro they are tolerable and provide respite from the rest of the game. Disappointingly they are very easy and ploughing through scenery you are meant to avoid has virtually no consequence as the damage incurred regenerates virtually instantly.

Overall the gameplay is far from original and has been done much better in titles from the PS1 era. Despite the dated gameplay and poor presentation, the game is also riddled with flaws and problems. Terrible camera angles which can't be changed manually unless you enter then exit the first person view make some jumping sections the stuff of nightmares. Even one of the few new ideas, the tumbler puzzles, are flawed. Faced with a Toblerone shaped bridge with puzzles, you have the option to rotate the sides to complete which challenges appeal to you. However after completing a side there is no checkpoint system, so if you want to try any of the other puzzles and fail you must start from the very beginning. I can imagine this being the cause of tears at bedtime. In the progress of completing the game I was faced with regular texture problems, clipping through scenery to an early death, getting stuck in cube form, and best of all was killed when I carefully gave a hazard an entire metre's width clearance.

The enemy AI is also poor with the only commands being to move around in a circle until they are shot or to just stand still and die. When one section requires you to kill waves of futuristic Hoovers whilst taking down 15 armoured turrets by throwing over 50 cubes at them all, you know that the game is trying desperately to extend its lifespan.

The multiplayer game modes do add some limited replay value but they have feel like a mandatory requirement and whilst there is a reasonable range of modes, including a co-op they fail to impress.

Sadly Wall-E isn't the exception to the rule and instead adds more evidence that good film tie-in games are as rare as words from Gordon Freeman's mouth. This is a real shame as even if one or two of the special moments from the film were translated then Wall-E might have been worth a look. Buying this title for £40 is almost unthinkable, considering the strength of existing platformers.

If you need something to keep the kids happy there are plenty of games out there which are better, with less bugs and are actually fun which would still leave you enough change for a cinema ticket to the film and the DVD on release.