The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

CS Lewis bears the responsibility for disappointing young children everywhere. It’s entirely his fault that when they open the biggest, dustiest wardrobe they can find and discover that instead of a fantastical realm where they’ll get to run off with talking lions and have fights with evil witches, all that actually lies within is musty old suits, mice and possibly geriatric pants.
Poor show.

Still, the crushing realities of the world haven’t managed to dent the popularity of the Chronicles Of Narnia, with the second film in the series about to be released, it’s time for another action adventure outing with Aslan and the rest of ‘em.

For those of us unfamiliar with Lewis’ best-selling, hugely popular and basically unavoidable works (hands up who remembers the BBC adaptation), the story of Prince Caspian carries on from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, in which four kids evacuated from London during the blitz find a magical world when they step through a wardrobe.

A year has passed since their initial adventure, and whilst standing at a train station, no doubt minding their own business, the four Pevensie children are called back to Narnia, slap bang in the middle of what can only really be described as a civil war.

1300 years have passed since their last visit, and a young lad going by the name of Prince Caspian is trying to claim his rightful place as ruler of Narnia, wrestling power away from his badass uncle. So, it’s your classic epic struggle of good versus evil, with a variety of talking animals, other-worldly creatures, magic and big fights thrown in for good measure. The stuff of dreams for kids and games developers alike.

Multi-platform and developed by Traveller’s Tales, there are a few stand- out features guaranteed to whet the appetites of young lads keen on a bit of Narnian-style sword-waving.

Players can take on the roles of more that 20 playable characters, including non-humans, as well as those happy-go-lucky Pevensie children, whilst a co-operative multiplayer system allows two players to work together and drop in or out of the game. A non-linear level structure means players can take a number of paths around the game in any order, whilst a canny combination of puzzle- solving and combat stays true to the films (and the books, for that matter).

The game itself is released slightly in advance of the film, ensuring that fans who just can’t wait to see it will be feverishly snapping this up. And just in case they don’t get the message, there’s a blaze of publicity surrounding both the game and the film that is sure to hammer the message home.

Extensive TV advertising focusing on key spots for parents as well as boys and gamers will be accompanied by online competitions run in conjunction with IGN, Gamespot, Popcorn and other UK gaming websites. A print and online campaign will target boys and families, whilst O2 text alerts will reach a massive 900,000 customers, giving them the opportunity to win a Narnia game and Wii console.

Elsewhere, cross-promotion with Harper Collins will include advertising across 100,000 Prince Caspian books and games trailers running on their website. Promotions with Cineworld magazine, as well as website activity, will be run alongside posters that will appear across Cineworld cinemas, whilst trailers will be playing on foyer TV’s. All in all, a formidable awareness campaign sure to do the job thoroughly.