Format: Advance
Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Publisher: Global Star Software

A puzzle/platformer game that is a media sellout production by the movie of the same name. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of those "re-imagining" movies of the 00's that bastardized the original classic works of art that was motion pictures. Although the story is a bastardized version of a classic, the gameplay itself is fairly okay. The music is a bit tedious at times, but works for it's effort. This is a 'take your time and plan shit out' type of puzzle game, but it's not necessarily that hard. I don't believe you can screw up beyond redemption either. The gameplay starts of centering around charlie and doing a bunch of platforming and running around in a 2D side-scrolling world. You collect the letters W-O-N-K-A in half the levels and 25 "square round candies" in various levels too. This game is a bit wacky though because it saves your progress so you don't have to re-collect anything, which is a good thing. The collection bits open up mini-games and oompa loompa albums(which in reality are just screenshots of the movie). While the album screenshots are.... questionable... the mini-games are legitimate and offer some post-game replay value. Some real classics were shoved into that section including ye old bartender game, ye old cake stacker game, and ye old throw nuts at squirrels game. Back to the gameplay of adventure mode, the plot goes through the movie's plot, I think, along with some cutscenes here and there. Most of the levels require the player to guide an oompa loompa over to some type of device, like a hamster wheel, a weighted button, a seesaw, or a broken switch. There are several power-ups as well in this game, most serve to get charlie around or to get the oompa loompas to different parts of the level. By completing the puzzles, you advance and open up the path to the exit. The various bosses in this game are a unique relief, but often boil down to throwing something into something else. Ironically, the hardest boss in the game is a squirrel that just moves left and right. The level designs were pretty varied but often felt like going around in circles. The artwork of the game is pretty decent though. Why do all these movie games always end with a flying level?

All in All, I went with a 7.0 on this movie game. It's a basic bland game based off a movie. The motions of the game often feel like going in circles. Action is a bit slow. Some jumps can be a bit too tight. no iFrames against enemies. Story bastardizes the cult classic film. Weird difficulty settings.