It's quite often the case that big film releases are snapped up ready for licensing for a computer game without a shred of an idea as to what the game is going to be. This usually results in the game being a rather weak action game that is only loosely based on the characters within a film. Lucasfilm have a very different opinion. They think that the only way to do justice to a film in a computer game is to produce a graphic adventure, and Ocean have take a leaf out of their book with the licence of the hit movie Hook.

You take the role of Peter Banning (who is, in fact really Peter Pan - he just doesn't know it just yet), who is taken to Neverland to try and rescue his children, who have been captured by the evil Captain James Hook. Unfortunately, Peter has completely forgotten all about his times in Neverland as the eternally youthful leader of the Lost Boys (no the blood-sucking, Kiefer Sutherland variety, but the friendly orphans). You must guide Peter around (with help from Tinkerbell), involving puzzles, finding useful objects and talking to characters before you can retrieve your children from the clutches of Hook.

WELL I NEVER!
The plot of the game is only loosely based on the film (after all, it would be a bit easy to complete if it was exactly the same), using characters and situations as clues to how you should continue, rather than enhancing the plot. Most of the situations and people you meet on the way aren't in the film at all.

The game is controlled via the usual sort of 'point and click' interface. You simply point at the command that you want to use (look at, talk to, pick up, use or give) then the person or object you want to manipulate. Walking around is even simpler. Just click on the point you wish to get to and Peter will walk there.

A particular sharp eye is needed when playing the game, since unlike most adventures, you aren't given any hint as to the usefulness of an object. You have to 'Look At' EVERYTHING on a screen to find out whether it can be used or not - you're given no clues whatsoever! If you want a piece of advice, you can try talking to Tinkerbell to get an extra clue or two, but she doesn't often give much information away.

Interaction with the other characters is done by using the 'Talk To' icon. This gives you a set of questions you can ask (which are cycled through using the right mouse button). This is one of the main problem areas. Whereas in something like Monkey Island the conversations evolve as you go on, allowing the characters to develop their own part in the story, Hook simply churns out on the same messages time after time, making everyone in the game seem a complete dullard.

One thing that is pushed forward in the Peter Pan story is to 'keep thinking happy thoughts'. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done while playing Hook. The graphics have been very nicely done in places (there were, after all, five artists working on the presentation) but they lack the style found in Monkey Island 2's wonderful artwork.

Some kind of wonderful?
It's a shame the graphics aren't wonderful, since the presentation is all that Hook has in its favour. The plot hardly captures the innocent charm and fun of the original film, and the gameplay is just too boring to keep any adventurer for long. At times it appears that complete lunacy has taken over - especially in the way that some of the clues are given. Tinkerbell gives 'clues' to do things that have been done about 10 minutes ago!

The control system is one of the most limited to appear on an adventure for quite some time. Five commands? Come on! The unwieldy control system is also very difficult to use. For example, after attempting to use an object, you have to click the icon to stop using it before you can do anything else! This is very frustrating when you're trying to carry out a series of actions.

Due to the style of the game and the obvious pirate connotations, some comparisons may be levelled between Hook and Monkey Island 2. However, comparing Peter Pan's digital adventures with Guybrush Threepwood's mighty escapades is like comparing a Gameboy to an Amiga. Hook lacks the scope, atmosphere, humour, style and enjoyment of Monkey Island 2, ending up a rather dull adventure with no real staying power.

Hook, hook, hook-ability, that's the beauty of the game. Or at least, it is in theory. Ocean seem to be going for a completely different game design every time they convert a film property these days, and you've probably all heard the Monkey Island comparisons about this one several thousand times already.

I won't say anything else on the matter for the time being, then, but prepare yourself for a few Lucasfilm references later on in this review, because they really valid. Not only that - they give me a good reference point for explaining just where Hook is coming from, and where it's going.

Background guff out of the way first though - many of you will have seen Hook the movie, and I guess most of you would agree it was a fairly typical piece of Spielberg shmaltz. Though undeniably rather fun, I found it a little shallow and unwilling to really stretch itself, despite the presence of such class acts as Robin Williams as Peter Pan and Dustin Hoffman as the ubiquitous Captain Hook himself.

It was also an all-action type of film, which made it quite a surprise when we heard that Ocean were intending to put together a pseudo adventure for their conversion, rather than some sort of platform leaparound.

We had our doubts about the wisdom of this, but it looks very much like they've pulled it off - this is one game that manages to follow the plot and, indeed, the visual style of the original (but without giving those who've seen the movie an unfair advantage) while, at the same time, working exceptionally well as a game.

Load up the game then, and the first thing that strikes you is one of those neat animated intros which everybody loves using to fill up disk space. It looks nice, and it fills in the story for those who haven't seen the movie, but the really interesting stuff comes when the game itself starts, dropping the player into a Monkey Island-style graphic adventure, complete with character interaction, multiple choice conversations and a similar piratical theme. Hell, there are even the underwater scenes you got in Monkey Island in here!

Anyway, back to the plot. The grown up Peter Pan - now called Peter Banning )so grown-up, grouchy and yuppie-flied that he doesn't believe he really is Peter Pan) - stands bewildered in the pirate village in Never Neverland.

A glowing, shimmering light flits around overhead - this is the ever-present Tinkerbell, who's always good for a laugh or a snog (in the movie anyway). Movement is simply a matter of clicking the mouse cursor on an area of the screen - Peter will find his own way there - a la Monkey Island.

Using the icons below the main screen, Peter can talk to people, pick up objects, use objects (or combinations of objects), and give them to others. Communication is simply a matter of clicking on the talk icon, choosing a character, then using the right mouse button to cycle through a list of possible phrases. These are all context-sensitive just as they are in Monkey Island.

Initially the player finds that nobody will stop for a chat because Peter isn't a pirate, so mission number one is to get yourself a decent pirate's outfit.

AND SO THE FANTASY UNFOLDS
Peter meets the Lost Boys, re-discovers his old tree hideout, and...but wait a minute, I don't want to spoil the story for all you Hook-less types out there. Suffice to say that it follows the film pretty well, without making all the puzzles too obvious.

Where Hook really scores, however, is in the atmosphere stakes. The sound is particularly gorgeous. The spot FX - the Lost Boys eating, the crickets cricketing - are ace, and although the music used isn't the same as the soundtrack we heard in the movie, it's damned effective, recalling the epic, emotional, and lighthearted moments on the movie surprisingly, and equally, well. The way Hook shakes his, um, hook in anger whenever a puzzle is successfully solved is also pretty cool.

Puzzle-wise, however, Hook is occasionally a little predictable, sometimes a bit on the obtuse side, and just a tad too linear. It's very rigidly structured, with the solution of one problem leading into the next all too surely. It's just too limiting and organised, particularly given Hook's diminutive size - and no, I'm not making a Dustin Hoffman joke there, just pointing out that the game is rather small. What's there is nice, if only there was more of it.

And that just about rounds off what I want to say about it all really - I think I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. I must confess to going to the movie Hook deliberately not wanting to like it - quite perverse, I know - and I wasn't exactly looking forward to the version game either. It's nice to be proved wrong sometimes, isn't it?

The conclusion, then. Where Hook falls down, it's mainly through the subject matter. As I said before, the movie was somewhat shallow and lacking in plot, and the result is that Hook the game is short on humour -and short in length too.

Although Ocean claim that their game has almost exactly the same number of locations as the first Monkey Island, I'm not convinced. And even if it has, it was the convoluted - and rib-achingly funny - storylines of the Monkey Island games which make them such winners.

In some ways it's not fair to compare the game to Lucasfilm's masterwork, I know - even if, with the pirate locations and very similar presentation, Ocean are rather begging the comparison. Let us instead treat it in its own right, in which case it's fun, it's slick and it stays true to its subject matter (as true as the film did, anyway).

More suited to the younger adventurer, maybe, but it's another success for Ocean. Keep it up, guys.