The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Witch way now?

We saw Narnia for a brief instant at E3, but getting a decent look at anything on the LA show floor is akin to reading the Mystery Plays in a hurricane. The same demo is shown, but this time we're talked through the specifics of the PS2 and Xbox versions (they're identical) by John Burton, Traveller's Tales director, and Adam Rubins, marketing director from Buena Vista Interactive, the gamey side of Disney, the ultimate media behemoth(TM). What they show us is surprisingly involved for a children's title.

The game, like the film, is based solely on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first instalment in Lewis's series, published originally in 1950. The first level we see takes place in the Professor's mansion. Peter and Susan, two evacuees from London during the Second World War, are running around the house in the third-person collecting objects, with the player able to switch between characters at any time. Burton tells us that the mansion is based on blueprints from the movie studio, but that certain areas have been expanded for gameplay purposes.

Another player can also take control of the other character by plugging in another pad, and this section of the game, dripping in 40s nostalgia, focuses very much on mini-endeavours such as hiding in chests and crannies from Mrs McCready, the venomous housekeeper. The section looks for all the world like The Philosopher's Stone, but perhaps the comparison isn't fair: it's reasonably difficult to construct any game involving children any more without the word "Potter" instantly being emblazoned on the psyches of the masses.

Before this, we're assured, is a bombing level based on the start in the movie, where the children must survive a German attack on the Capital. From there it's off to their pied-a-terre for the rest of the War and the second level. Direct footage from the movie stitches together the levels, of which there are 15 in total. After running rings around the dopey housekeeper for half an hour, Lucy, the smallest of the children, happens across the wardrobe, a secret door to another world. As you do. From there on it, things get a lot more interesting.

Basic? We'd be lion.

The game is far from complete in the state we see it, so none of the inter-level story-telling is in place, but we're transported through the medium of dev codes to a snowy fantasy land; that of Narnia. It becomes instantly apparent that the mansion was a training level. Peter sets about lighting sticks and using them to melt snow to uncover secrets and other areas (in one example, he burns brush to uncover a log which is then used to breach a chasm) and he's soon up to his elbows in combat with wolves and goblin types. It's worth noting at this point that Narnia really isn't aimed at very young children. Burton tells us privately later that the target age-range is 10 and older.

Suddenly, the game has a completely different feel, more of an action-RPG than anything else. Three characters work as a team during what rapidly becomes incessant combat, with the player flipping between them; AI assuming control of the two left over when a single-player takes charge of one of the trio (another player can, of course, take on one of the other characters). Each of the children has different abilities. Peter is handy with his fists, Susan is more of a projectile weapons specialist (snow balls, bows, and so on), and Lucy's diminutive physical stature means she's able to squeeze through small gaps.

Character combinations are essential to progress. Lucy can jump on Susan's back, and between them they acquire a new skill-set: Susan can then spin, using Lucy as a weapon to defeat more powerful enemies, and Lucy is suddenly able to pass through deep snow. Combinations are possible with all characters.

There's even a basic combo system, whereby you build up combos with hits – the more hits you achieve in a row, the more damage you inflict. Just to round off the Baldur's Gate feel, Lucy acts as the group's healer. You even spend points on new moves between levels. Burton's even talking about "player styles" at this point. For a children's game, this is all looking remarkably adult.

Lots of, er, wardrobes.

But then, anyone who's read the books (which are actually a blatant Christian allegory) will be aware that the Narnia stories are very much at the darker end of children's fiction - something that's not been lost on the game's creators. It's moody and violent, with a heavy focus on combat and exploration, far more in keeping with the likes of a young Neverwinter Nights than the saccharine interactive exploits of the Hogwarts hero. We're shown a level towards the end of the game in which hundreds of characters appear on screen at once, all descending on the children: it's thrilling but frightening, or at least it would be to a tot. In another, we see a scene where Edmund is rescued from an encampment by tying a dwarf to a tree and battering it into submission. Narnia's not for four-year-olds.