Admit it; you've always wanted to visit a chocolate factory - all that lovely glistening chocolate just waiting for you to scoop it up and eat it. Roald Dahl tapped into this childhood fantasy with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where Willy Wonka, the eccentric owner of the chocolate factory, invites five lucky children to tour his facility. The novel spawned an excellent movie in 1971, with a slightly twisted Gene Wilder playing Willy Wonka. Fast forward to 2005 and we have a remake by Tim Burton, with Johnny Depp filling the shoes of the enigmatic chocolatier. Cue the game-movie-tie-in release.

Cynicism aside, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory gains points for actually managing to get most of the actors from the latest movie to provide the voices for their in-game characters. Unfortunately, Johnny Depp must have been sick on the voice-recording day, so instead we have some guy who sounds more like some weirdo luring kids in with candy than a quirky Roald Dahl creation. That said, the voices are generally top notch and, coupled with quite impressive CG intro scenes, provide for an immersive experience. The music is also very good, with unabashed nods to Danny Elfman, and washes comfortably over the gameplay without becoming annoying. The graphics are nice, crisp and clear, and the character animations, especially the Oompa-Loompas are suitably quirky to match Burton's visual style.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starts with main protagonist Charlie Bucket chasing down a ten-dollar bill that he desperately needs to buy a candy bar and thus be in with a chance to win the last golden ticket needed to tour the chocolate factory. The bill coquettishly teases you and forces you to learn the nuances of control, which was a nice method of shaping a tutorial. After this short introductory level, and with ten dollars tucked comfortably under his belt, Charlie buys a one-dollar candy bar and oh-so-surprisingly wins the last golden ticket. So, it's off to the chocolate factory. Of course, Augustus Gloop, the glutton, instantly gets stuck in a chocolate pipe and it's up to Charlie to help Willy Wonka make things right.

The majority of gameplay in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory involves you finding Oompa-Loompas (miniature dark-skinned people in pink uniforms) and instructing them to fix broken machinery, collect candy from trees, or follow Charlie. As the game progresses, Charlie also finds candy powers, which range from throwing projectiles to making a bouncing bubble to reach high ledges. Puzzles generally involve overseeing three or more Oompa-Loompas, which come in different varieties, including welders, harvesters and electricians, and combining these with Charlie's candy powers. Missions include fixing a chocolate waterfall, getting factory machinery to work properly, and shearing candy wool sheep.

You might think all the work gets done by the Oompa-Loompas, but managing these guys is a job in itself; they'll generally follow you, but often get stuck behind objects and cannot jump up on ledges to follow Charlie. Ostensibly, Wonka is off conducting the tour and leaving Charlie to do the work, but he spends so much time telling you what to do that he might as well do it himself. I'm also unsure as to how Grandpa Joe can give Charlie game hints (by pressing the black button) while he's waiting outside but at least he provides some help when you need it.

It seems Wonka is a firm believer in child labour, as the responsibility for running the whole factory rests solely on Charlie's bony shoulders. Perhaps the Oompa-Loompas charge too much per hour, because most of the gameplay in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory feels too much like actual work than fun gameplay. Like a ten-year-old Nike factory worker, Charlie needs to see someone about his work conditions, there are faulty machines, death-dealing spikes and noxious gasses galore in this place!

It doesn't help that the controls are a hit-and-miss affair. Most of the time they are quite responsive, but some actions, such as picking things up, require multiple button presses, which only serves to frustrate. I also noticed small omissions in the game options, such as the inability to invert the camera controls. A lot of actions require jumping, and you often do not feel comfortable jumping out to precarious ledges to collect that elusive candy, in case you fall. The camera is serviceable, and tends to follow Charlie quite closely, but can have moments where is careens violently around objects and confuses you.

I became stuck on one early level where Charlie is supposed to get rid of some robots via a garbage chute using some wriggling decoy candy. Twenty minutes later, after failing at the method suggested by the game (the robots ignored the wriggling candy), I gave up and simply shot the robots to bits with my gobstopper projectiles. Though this could be seen as clever emergent gameplay, it seems wrong that the method suggested to you should be so frustratingly difficult that you give up on it.

The problem with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is that it seems unsure of its target audience. It has the artistic presentation of a game for a young audience and maybe fans of the books and or films. But at the same time it features a control system that requires a high level of controller dexterity and level design that calls for perspicacious analysis of the levels' machinery and Charlie's surroundings. Kids will at first be drawn to it, but may quickly become frustrated with the unresponsive controls and difficult puzzles, whereas mature gamers will find nothing here to give them cause for excitement.