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Movie tie-ins have had something of a chequered past with video gamers. We have been treated to wave after wave of below standard games, rushed out on a small budget in time to hit the shelves the same time as the movie counterpart hits the silver screen. This time it’s the turn of Ubisoft with The Adventures of Tintin. All the characteristics of a movie tie-in are present and correct. Small budget, release date in line with the movie and the all-important main action scenes and locations from the film thrown in. The only thing is, somewhere along the line Ubisoft Montpelier have bucked the trend and actually created a very good game.

The Adventure’s of Tintin follows the story of the movie by introducing us to the young reporter, his faithful dog Snowy and a healthy cast of allies and enemies. Telling the wonderfully written tale of The Legend Of The Unicorn, Tintin stumbles across a hidden note inside a model of the legendary ship, which will in turn take him on a treasure hunt to iconic places such as Marlinspike Hall, his first meeting with Captain Haddock aboard the Karaboudjan and onto the desert city of Bagghar. A classic Tintin adventure and written perfectly to fit the wonderful comic book world in which Tintin was born.

The whole 4-5 hour story, while on the short side, is incredibly well presented in lush pastel colours and architecture ripped straight from the comic books. Exclamation marks look hand drawn above the startled heads of guards, while subtle skid marks appear underfoot when a guard slips on a carefully thrown banana skin and slides head first into a nearby wall, crumpled in a leg tangling heap. Accompanied by ridiculous sound effects, whistles, bells and an extremely fitting music score, everything about Tintin is fun. Cinematic sequences add an air of excitement, while level designs and layout make this game feel like you are playing through a comic book adventure. Progressing from left to right across the screen; every open door is like turning the page as you take in the scene of the whole room laid out before you.

What you are essentially playing however is a side scrolling platform game. Tintin has his basic set of moves that allow you to run, jump and roll. Occasional grapple hook swings and wall jumps help with the larger gaps and ledges. Nothing is taxing in the platform department though, as Tintin is a very child friendly game. Jumps are never really miss-able and Tintin will very kindly grab a nearby ledge if you are at least somewhere in the vicinity of reaching it. An extremely generous checkpoint system and short level sections ensures that if you do somehow fall to your death, you’ll not be very far away from where you met your end.

Patrolling guards will need taking care of as your progress though the various levels. Even the butlers in Marlinspike Hall are capable of giving you a chop round your head if you get too close. Thankfully in staying true to the comics, Tintin can punch, but he’s not a fighter, instead relying more on sneaking past enemies, or using traps to deal with sticky situations. Coming up against a standard guard is easy to deal with, coming up against a guard in a suit of armour takes a little more thought. Handy beach balls can be thrown to chandeliers, which will in turn leave a nasty lump on a guards head if you time it right. Banana skins make a faithful weapon, as do trusty barrels rolled across the screen. Trust me, it really is as ridiculous as it sounds, yet fits perfect in the Tintin world.

For the stealth-minded Tintin is at his best when he can sneak behind a unsuspecting guard and perform a brutal, yet funny take-down. Hanging from a ledge will see Tintin reach up and pull the guard off and over the edge Sam Fisher style. Don’t worry about creating a noise though, the guards are oblivious to someone being slammed face first in the floor behind them, as long as they don’t have line of sight to you. Trying out new ways to clear a room never seems to get dull however; the silliness, absurd placement of beach balls and bananas adds to the comic book feeling of the game.

Throughout the well-designed levels puzzles comprise of pressure plates requiring you to simply pull a box onto them and challenging ball throws to trigger switches, for example. Never too taxing, which is what you would expect for a game largely aimed at the younger market. Underground caves, ship engine rooms and ruined castles are all present and correct, along with underwater sections requiring you to dodge jellyfish and collect treasure. The overall theme of hand drawn artwork and the excellent palette of colours are present throughout the game.

As always you are joined by your dog Snowy, he does appear to go missing for levels at a time, but when needed he is always there. By taking control of Snowy you can access places that Tintin cant reach in search of treasure, or keys for locked doors. It also gives Tintin someone to talk to as you progress through the game giving you a narrative and providing you with information on your next task in hand. You don’t really need to be led through the game, as with a platform title your next task is always to the right of the screen, but talking to Snowy does give the player a little background information on the ongoing story.

While the platform sections make up 90% of the game, the action is sadly broken up with action sequences spread throughout the story. Sword fighting pirates as the ancestor of Captain Haddock is clumsy with a controller. Dog fighting in the seaplane is extremely basic, and racing through the desert in a sidecar only highlights the graphical frailties of the game in the fast-paced outdoor environments. These action moments may only be short and not very frequent, yet their appearance pulls you from the main story, rather than attempting to flesh it out. Along with the repetitive boss battles, they are undoubtedly the most annoying part of the game.

After the extremely short story is over you can replay every level again in search of missed treasure, or play through the action sequences again with increasingly levels of difficulty. Playing with a controller is as disappointing as it was the first time around and will be avoided by many. However, those with a Kinect perched in their room, will be able to utilize Microsoft’s motion sensor to play through the challenges.

Suddenly using your arm to parry attacks and stick a pirate with a sword is not quite as clumsy. Flying the plane with an invisible controller as you bank left and right before pumping your arms to imitate machine gun fire is a highlight. Steering the motorbike is still awful with Kinect, but using your arms to aim and fire a catapult from a moving side-car lets you ignore the graphics and concentrate on shooting baddies. Don’t get me wrong, the tacked on action sequences are still poor, but with a Kinect attached they suddenly fit into the main game and become a lot more entertaining. The ability to utilize the Kinect for these sequences in the main game instead of limited to just challenge mode would have been a welcome addition.

The final mode in this game is quite possible the best, longer and more rewarding than the main storyline. “Tintin and Haddock” is a two player co-op mode set inside the twisted mind of Captain Haddock after a swift blow to the head. Based on areas seen in the main storyline, these intricate levels require the use of teamwork, as well as the unique abilities offered from unlocked characters. Floating clocks teleport you to the next area, whole levels shift and turn with the touch of a button and giant pirates stumble around in the background. It’s no wonder Captain Haddock constantly appears to be drunk if this is what goes on inside his head.

Starting off with the basic pairing of Tintin and Captain Haddock, players must use Tintin’s grappling hook ability and Captain Haddock’s heavy punching power to solve the various puzzles during these short levels. Coins and treasure unlocked will provide currency to purchase hilarious new outfits, while collected cogs will unlock various bonus levels inside grandfather clocks. Progressing through the levels will unlock further characters such as Sir Francis Haddock, a spinning Castafiore and the walking-stick-twirling Thompson twins.

For anyone with younger children, or those who enjoyed playing through games like Cloning Clyde, you will feel right at home in this co-op mode. You can play though the levels by yourself if desired, switching unlocked characters with a push of the d-pad, but it’s far more rewarding with a second control pad plugged in. Locked off areas requiring a second play-through with the relevant character will have you coming back for more to make sure you collect all the treasures and outfits on offer.

Whether or not you are a fan of Tintin it’s hard not to be drawn into the world that Ubisoft have created for The Secret Of The Unicorn. Having to follow the plot and the characters of the upcoming movie hasn’t stopped them from bringing the fabulous cartoon world of Tintin to life in a video game. Of course, it has faults, in fact it has many; the action sequences feel like they are taken from different games and are only there to satisfy the requirement to play the action scenes from the movie. The main story is far too short. Sniffing out footprints with Snowy in a 3D environment with a fixed camera becomes tedious and the lacklustre and repetitive boss fights struggle to challenge anyone over the age of 5.

For all of its faults though, The Adventures Of Tintin is surprisingly a good game. The visuals and feel of the game borrows a great deal from the comic book series rather than the movie, which results in a comical, child friendly platform game. The game is enjoyable to play through for people of all ages and when coupled with the excellent Tintin and Haddock co-op mode, it becomes a game that can be enjoyed for many hours after the initial short story is done and dusted. Tintin was never going to be perfect; a small budget and constraints of the movie license no doubt had many hands tied, yet what you are left with is something that hasn’t been seen in a long time: A movie tie-in that is actually rather quite good.