Last February, Buena Vista celebrated the release of Disneys Chicken Little with a garish platformer/puzzler/shooter/racing hybrid aimed exclusively at kids. Just before Christmas, D3 Publishing unveiled Flushed Away, a garish platformer/puzzler/shooter/racing hybrid based on the Dreamworks/Aardman flick that wouldnt appeal to anyone older than a Tracy Beaker fan. And to mark the cinematic debut of Arthur And The Invisibles, Atari has cranked out... oh, you know the rest.
Fresh from the digital sausage machine that presumably churns out these things - where developers create new games simply by feeding in the essentials, such as movie plot, licensed characters and original music - Arthur follows the same template as every excruciating CG movie spin-off over the last 12 months, blending 3D platforming, combat, racing and flying sequences into a colourful quest that panders to the skittish attention span of a pre-teen.
To complement the contraption that churns out these titles, Id like to propose a hot-key for the computer keyboards of game reviewers, where the lightest touch would summarise the whole sorry shambles thus: For young kids fresh to the world of gaming, [insert title here] is a fun way to relive the thrills of the swashbuckling movie. But if youve already put away childish things, this gaudy adventure is guaranteed to drive you insane.