Have you ever woken up from a twisted nightmare, thankful it was only a dream? American McGee has those sorts of dreams, only he uses them to put an alternative spin on children's classic stories. Just look out for the upcoming game and movie tie-in Oz for proof. Taking the lead producer's role of Scrapland was no easy feat, yet although the game is a somewhat tamer tale, the end result is still a characteristically comical affair.

Scrapland has been bandied about in the press as a sort of 'GTA in space', and there are some striking similarities. First and foremost is the free-roaming nature of the game. Now don't get us wrong, the sleek and sexy cityscape would no way give San Andreas a run for its money in terms of environmental interaction or sheer scale. What it does have in its favour however, are stunning visuals. Lush, futuristic buildings ascend into a fantastic, asteroid-littered space panoramic, and the vibrant environments are alive with hundreds of inhabitants and explosive police chases.

Scrapland is a planet inhabited solely by robots. Their world was decimated by humans, so they've rebuilt it from scrap. As a result, humans (or anything organic) are outlawed. But the Mayor of governing city Chimera has now been found dead, and it's up to you as lead character D-Tritus (super-sleuth/reporter scum) to gather clues as to whom the murderer could be.

Gameplay is a weird hybrid of mission-based actioner and free-roaming adventure. There's a massive number of characters to interact with, and thousands of lines of spoken dialogue. Because every type of robot inhabiting the city is logged in the divine Great Database, D-Tritus can hack into all of them from any one of the ports dotted around each location. Big D can assume one of the 15 types of robot available (they're an inbred lot). Each has different functions or special attacks, giving countless different ways of completing missions.

But there is a flipside to changing your image more than Madonna. Beholders, little flying snitch bitches of the police, are quick to point you out if they see you filling another's mechanical shoes. It's illegal, so do it away from the watchful gaze of their scanners, as denoted on your handy little radar.

Get caught, and just like an annoying little chav, they'll get their bigger brothers. Though slower and thicker, they pack a punch that's actually worth worrying about. It's here that Scrapland suffers its first short circuit. Sure it's fun swapping identities left, right and centre, but the Beholders will always eventually suss you as an impostor. Far more satisfying is to become a Beholder yourself and accuse a robot that needs assassinating, letting the heavy boys roll in and do their worst.

It's not actually possible to 'die' as such in Scrapland. After getting obliterated for the umpteenth time by persistent police, D-Tritus invariably ends up in the slammer. Escape is monotonously simple - take over the form of a little Stapler that appears in your cell, evade patrolling police and escape out of convenient tunnels. Although not a difficult task, it does quickly become tiresome as it takes five minutes to get to where you were before.

The more exciting aspects of the game occur during the ship-racing and combat missions. Race for cash, race to complete a mission, or just race for fun; there's a ton of different excuses to zip round tracks collecting holographic buoys. It's illegal to physically destroy fellow competitors, but your ships are equipped with a handy electrical whip. Although tricky to master, once you do you'll be leapfrogging the competition in no time, though watch out for your fellow racers as they can do the same to you. Whilst the races are enjoyable, you don't get much of a feeling of speed, due to the fairly sluggish nature of your ships. The controls are default inverted and can't be changed, either.

That said, you can build your own custom ships. Each ship requires plans which are teasingly difficult to discover, spread out all over Chimera. Once you've acquired the blueprints, head back to your trusty pal Rusty's Scrapyard and get to work. Choose the engine size and weapon upgrades, though your choices are limited by the amount of cash in your stash. There are tons of ships available, each useful in different ways. Beef up the engines of the more lightweight craft, and they'll blitz round the track like a greyhound on a promise. Toughen up your artillery and you'll be unstoppable on combat missions. Most of the ships still handle very similarly though, and it's a chore to keep trekking back to your garage to swap vehicles.

There are a load of different sub-missions available, though once again these are limited to increasingly faster races - a shame, considering the amount of characters on offer that have gone unexploited. The game features a rip-roaring multiplayer mode, using all the ships from the single-player game. Deathmatch, Flag variants and manic Race modes are available and these are a real blast, with crisp, intelligent maps ranging from sprawling expanses to claustrophobic caverns. It's an Iron Giant-sized shame then, that this is a woefully missed opportunity, only catering for two players split-screen. Xbox Live would have been great, but hell - even System Link or four-way same-screen could surely have been included? Remember how lost and empty you felt when Johnny 5 was all alone and helpless? That's how we feel now...

One thing's for sure, Scrapland is definitely a very unique experience. American McGee has taken elements of all the classic mystery-solving adventure titles of yesteryear, mixed up some reasonably entertaining race and combat action, and set the whole thing in a wonderfully bizarre universe. It shouldn't work, but somehow he's managed to pull it off. For sure, spanning several genres doesn't give the game the depth it really needs to be outstanding, but dipping into each just enough results in an affably accessible title. For an alternative spin around tomorrow's world, do check this out. Scrappy dappy do.

1. An epic, science-fiction adventure that's like nothing we've seen on Xbox. Unique and absorbing.
2. Gorgeous-looking environments provide a substantial area to explore, and are brimming with interactive characters.
3. Fun adventuring is complemented by a great variety of gameplay, though players often overlook the underlying stealth notion.
4. Reasonably exciting ship-to-ship combat and racing, with loads of custom craft on offer, though awkward controls will infuriate.

1. An online-enabled, substantial multiplayer was promised, though what was delivered was two-player split-screen. We're disappointed.

An entertaining adventure, massive in scale and with the characteristic McGee twist. Multiplayer is a letdown, though.