Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – XB – Review

Imagine yourself on a boat
on a river made of milky chocolate and where the emerald green grass is the
sweetest candy stalks you’ll be yanking it out and eating as much of it as
possible.  This is a place where jellybeans grow off trees and all your favorite
candies are produced by the handful.  Imagine you just won yourself a golden
ticket that allowed you to tour such a place just like in that new Tim Burton
movie starring Johnny Depp.  Yes, now you can play in the candy-filled world of
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the Xbox.  Then again, this is one
game that just loses its unique flavor way too quickly.

It seems that famed candy
maker Willy Wonka has closed his chocolate factory from the public for good but
seeing as everyone enjoys his tasty, sugary treats, he is allowing five children
the opportunity to tour the factory and one lucky child will even win a great
prize.  All you have to do is find a golden ticket within the wrapper of his
delicious chocolate bars and you’ll be treated to amazing sights with Wonka as
the guide.  It so happens that four children, unworthy of the tour, have found
their tickets but a gust of wind blows ten dollars into Charlie Bucket’s hands.
Charlie, a poor boy indeed, buys a chocolate bar and discovers that he has the
final golden ticket.  So it’s off to Wonka’s candy factory where unforeseeable
events place Charlie as Willy Wonka’s only hope.

The game’s premise is a
good one and why wouldn’t it be?  It was a good book that was made into a new
movie so all the things we get to see have that Tim Burton feel.  Even this
Willy Wonka resembles hunky Depp and the majority of the characters look like
their movie counterparts.  The game begins with Charlie chasing the ten-dollar
bill fate tosses his way and thus begins Charlie’s adventure.  Yet while as good
as the story is and the opening level is a great introduction, the game falls
apart quickly.

Wonka’s candy factory just
isn’t the same marvel seen in the movies and as you move Charlie through the
green candy grass there just isn’t much use exploring the rather dull
environments.  You won’t do much exploring anyway seeing as Wonky quickly puts
Charlie to work (collecting candy bits) and to help him dislodge the hefty
Augustus Goop who had fallen into the chocolate river and find himself stuck in
a tube.  Wonka tells you that you’ll need help and the best workers a cocoa bean
could buy are none other than the diminutive Oompa-Loompas.  Charlie can order
up to six of them to follow, wait and work using the D-pad.  There are certain
usable objects (such as machines) the Oompa-Loompas can work and some can even
fetch healing candies for you.  There are four Oompa-Loompa types with their own
specialty so each one has a skill you’ll need throughout the game.

There are puzzles to solve
but the majority of them have obvious solutions that I don’t see any gamer,
young or old, make use of Grandpa Joe’s hints (they’re vague hints, anyway).
There wasn’t a time in the game where I was stumped seeing as if you wait too
long to solve a puzzle the game practically points at the area or object you
have to concentrate your attention.  This type of handholding is felt throughout
the game and gee does the game start feeling less challenging.  In fact, some
puzzles just feel like work.

The worst part, though, is
the game’s controls and camera problems that just destroy what little fun you
get to squeeze out of the game.  There were four instances while I was playing
where Charlie managed to get stuck and I had to restart the game.  Once, while
platform jumping between areas, Charlie somehow wedged himself between a wall
and a tree.  The camera isn’t a friend either, making you swing the camera
manually just to see if you don’t fall to your death.  Charlie comes to possess
certain Candy Powers, one of them being the ability to bounce on a candy bubble
but thanks to the awful camera control you’ll be frustrated by the bouncing.
And chasing Wonka-Vites (used to restore health) is just so downright
frustrating that you’ll give up on it.

On the graphical front,
this isn’t the prettiest Xbox game you’ll come across and it won’t dazzle you
with colorful, oddball backdrops.  Sure there are strange contraptions about and
there are areas that scream Tim Burton, but it’s not the remarkable playing
field it could have been seeing as the game is inspired by the recent movie.  In
fact, some of the more interesting places in the movie come off as dull in the
game.  The character design is pretty decent and watching the Oompa-Loompas at
work while Charlie pushes a Wonkabot wrapped in candy vines is really
off-the-wall.

The sound, on the other
hand, does a great job of bringing the story and each situation to life.  The
voice acting is actually pretty good, with the children playing their part just
right and with a narrator that weaves the story well enough.  Even Charlie comes
off as likeable here.  There are even some okay sound effects, although they
don’t really stand out the way it should.  It’s the game’s original score that
wins big points here mostly because it does make the game feel like
classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  It certainly is as good as
the Danny Elfman score from the film and it certainly fits the game’s style
excellently.

In the end, all the things
Willy Wonka shows you don’t translate as interesting in game form nor does it
make for a fun or zany time either.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is
much like a Gobstopper in that it starts out sweetly but the very second you get
to its core it leaves a sour aftertaste before you even reach the end.  Plagued
with control problems, camera issues and awful level design, this is a game that
should be better off skipped altogether.  If its zany and interesting you’re
looking for, I suggest you check out Psychonauts instead. 

Review Scoring Details for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Gameplay: 4.0
It’s not easy navigating Charlie
throughout the Chocolate Factory it’s not because the world is overly
challenging and off-the-wall like the movie but because the bad camera angles
and jerky controls get in the way.  The puzzles range from somewhat fun to
pretty monotonous and even Charlie’s Candy Powers aren’t interesting enough to
keep gamers going.

Graphics: 6.7
This is also a game that doesn’t
make use of the Xbox’s graphical powers so don’t expect this game to look
amazing as the environments should.  The unusual visual appeal of the recent
movie is somewhat present, especially when it comes to the characters, but what
should be an amazing place just doesn’t come off as impressive.  Is it me or is
there something hilarious about watching Oompa-Loompas at work?

Sound: 8.5
The sound somewhat makes up for the
visuals with its beautifully cinematic original score, more than decent sound
effects and the good voice acting.  The narrator does a wonderful job of
unfolding the story and setting up each scenario.  I have one small complaint,
though.  Why does Willy Wonka sound like Michael Jackson?  Creepy!  

Difficulty: Easy
The puzzles are so simple that there
are hardly moments where gamers, even the youngest ones, will be scratching
their heads wondering what to do next.  Some puzzles even reveal the solution if
you take too long so you won’t need Grandpa Joe’s vague hints.

Concept: 4.5
We can discuss the failure of many a
licensed game till the cows come home but this is just a case of taking an
amazing book and a good new movie based on said book and mishandling it.  Sure
all the basic elements are here and there’s some great moments – fixing Veruca
Salt problems, for instance – that could have made for some great gaming
moments, but it just wasn’t implemented well.

Overall: 4.5
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
could have been sweeter than the
candy Wonka makes but its share of problems just keeps this game from being a
treat.  The fantastical wonder that is the factory just doesn’t feel as
interesting or as fun as the movie and much of the situations begin to feel more
like work.  I highly suggest you skip this one.