It was inevitable after the success of such fantasy hits as The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter movies that C. S. Lewis' Christian fable, set in the mythical snowbound land of Narnia, would eventually make its way both to the big screen and then into gaming.

The good news is that The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe has much to recommend it as a movie-licensed game. The bad news is that there's also a number of faults that will make the gameplay extremely frustrating.

For those not in the know, the story follows the fortunes of four young siblings - Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy - who accidentally discover Narnia when hiding in a magic wardrobe in their aunt's house. Narnia is ruled by the evil White Witch and kept in eternal winter but the true ruler (Aslan the lion) is planning her downfall by using the children to lead an army to defeat her.

The game introduces each of its 15 levels with actual footage from the film, so make sure you've seen it first! Fans of the Harry Potter games will recognise the same style of graphics, complete with coins, shields and other bonuses that have to be collected. The other parallel is the ability to switch between characters, and the nature of the puzzle-solving and attack strategy means you'll have to do this often.

Peter's strength makes him best at fighting and clearing heavy obstacles, Susan mostly throws snowballs and fires arrows, Edmund can shimmy up lampposts and Lucy can slide into narrow caves and walk across thin ice. In addition, two characters can team up to provide extra reach or protection when firing at distant targets, dealing with bosses or removing stubborn obstacles.

The graphics are impressive; everything from character modelling to a range of winter landscapes with plenty of animation and action. The use of the film actors' voices and film clips means there's a greater degree of authenticity than is usual for most movie adaptations and there's a challenging range of enemies including Minotaurs, Minoboars, Ogres, Wraiths and Werewolves.

So far so good. The problems begin with the control system, as you are only able to control one child at a time. This means that when you are under attack, Peter might be trying to smash open the entrance to a gateway while the rest of the group are being besieged by wolves or fired at by dwarves. The AI is not smart enough to let Lucy, for instance, use her healing abilities when health levels are low, so you spend your time switching between characters while trying to multi-task.

There is a facility for a second player to jump into the action at any time and control one of the other children but even that is hard work when, as the game processes, you're faced with increasing numbers of foes.

The other bugbear is the fixed camera which follows behind the action and therefore doesn't give you the chance to see what's happening to the sides. There are still some bugs, too, such as where characters get stuck in one location. At times like that, since you cannot save your game until the end of a level, keeping your cool when you have to start again would test the patience of Aslan himself.

Visually stunning and faithful to the original film, with plenty of action and a lot of depth in terms of gameplay, the game is nevertheless hampered by an awkward control system and a weak AI.