Disney's Winter Fun

To people of a certain age – that of your Pocket Gamer hosts and most people under nine years old (both audiences sharing roughly the same mental maturity) – Disney and Christmas are intimately connected.

Cartoon time on the Beeb, renting the latest Disney movie on VHS, and working through a Mickey Mouse advent calendar were, no doubt, seminal moments in forming this association. And people wonder how Christmas has become so commercialised?

Anyway, equally certain is the fact that Disney is hoping for a similarly long-lasting impression with this, Disney's Winter Fun, a three-in-one game that's set amid a snowy wonderland.

Starring Disney regulars Mickey, Donald and Goofy, plus friends, the three games are all snow-related and, on their own, don't really stack up (despite the snowman-building game's obvious efforts in that department). But combined, they will provide just enough entertainment to see you through the Boxing Day doldrums.

There's no story to speak of, so you're free to get stuck right in without any needless preamble.

The first of the three games is a simple affair where you need to carve out a statue of a well-known cartoon character by pressing numbers that appear on the screen. It's an easy entry to the trio of games and sets the tone for the rest.

While the first couple of levels are uninspiring, leaving you to wonder just where the Winter Fun is, the action soon picks up, and in this first game the need to press two numbers at once and avoid the bombs and snowballs that Mickey's nemesis, Black Pete, hurls in, means matters get increasingly frantic.

It's a pleasant surprise to uncover this otherwise un-hinted at depth, and you'll discover similar hidden levels to the other two games.

In the second of the three games, you get to take your revenge on Black Pete by pelting him and others in a snowball fight. Playing a bit like a space invaders game, you assume the yellow webbed feet of Donald, running left and right across the bottom of the screen.

You need to avoid your opponent's snowballs while hitting them with your own – power-ups are on offer to assist you. Familiar fun.

The final game of Disney's Winter Fun trio is the least entertaining. Tasking you with helping Mickey build a snowman, you've got to drop boulders of snow on top of each other to build the tallest snowman you can. Helpfully, Mickey has come equipped with a hot air balloon and plane, carrying the snow underneath. You drop the snow in the right place, accounting for interference from the wind and the sneaky Beagle Boys.

All in all, the three games make up amusing fare. The visuals are as bright and crisp as the freshly fallen snow, and the characters you know and love are front and centre, rather than merely decorative.

You can play the games on their own, advance through a Tournament (with Disney wallpapers as prizes), play through the Survival mode or a single-level Quick Play game, or combine them all in the grand Snow Games.

The degree to which you'll enjoy Disney's Winter Fun depends on your ability to throw yourself into the spirit of the game. The three games, as a group, are entertaining, but there's no denying that you'll need to suspend your seasonal cynicism to get the most out of proceedings.

In fact, you'll know if this game is for you by whether the prospect of free Disney wallpapers excites you or not. It does me – Christmas has come early.