If you haven't been to see Tim Burton's movie adaptation of Alice's adventures then go and do so. It's an excellent re-imagining of a classic story.
With the release of any movie starring Johnny Depp, though, comes the inevitable backlash of tie-ins and merchandising.
Meet Disney Alice in Wonderland.
PonderousVisually, Alice in Wonderland is more than adequate, if a little bleak. But such gloom is perfectly suited to the logic-defying world of Wonderland.
Also adding nicely to the atmosphere is the sinister yet quirky soundtrack provided by Songming Wu. This is Disney, after all, and presentation has never been an issue for the masters of animated entertainment.
Sadly it all slides downhill - or indeed down a rabbit burrow - beyond those first impressions. Disney's game suffers from a brain-numbing lack of pace coupled with a clumsy method of control. Alice trundles along at soporific pace, and jumps from platform to platform with all the grace and style of a sloth.
Alice is joined on her misadventures by a host of familiar faces who each grant her a special ability or power. The Mad Hatter, for example, can transport platforms from the mirror realm into the normal game world.
Accessing these powers is a tiresome process, requiring you either to access a menu (which freezes you in place), navigating to the needed character and activating their power, or to hit one of the slightly awkward shortcut keys.
PuzzlingThe combination of platform navigation and puzzle solving is a mess of button pressing and overly-simplistic timing. The puzzles themselves are barely taxing enough to trouble the youngest of minds, especially the ease with which you'll collect necessary keys and items.
There are some great ideas in here that could and should have been given much more exploration. Sadly the execution of these ideas falls short on too many levels.
It's also woefully short at a mere ten levels, without much to inspire a second play through. As a result, Alice in Wonderland is a mediocre mish-mash of platform and puzzler.
Disney Alice in Wonderland
While it looks good and possesses a number of nice ideas, Alice in Wonderland feels like a rushed attempt to cash-in on Tim Burton's box office hit. Spend the money on a movie ticket instead
Wayne Turton
Wayne's childhood ambition was to become a superhero. However, having been told that running round in tights is improper adult behaviour he now spends his days playing video games and watching cartoons instead. Millions of citizens sleep more soundly in the knowledge that he isn't watching over them.