The Adventures of Tintin: the Secret of the Unicorn

25 Nov, 2011

Title: The Adventures of Tintin: the Secret of the Unicorn
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platform(s): X360 Kinect (reviewed) / Playstation 3 / Wii
TL;DR: Just: meh. Not strong opinion either way!
Family Friendly?: Yes! Click here to skip the detail and see if this game is right for your family!
Verdict: Rent it!

Here we go. Another game released on the tails of a movie. Is Tintin: the Secret of the Unicorn another mediocre cash-in … or have Ubisoft finally broken the curse of the movie-tie-in?

The answer? Well, neither, really. Tintin is a perfectly passable side-scrolling platformer that – whilst not the most exciting game to jump into your console this year – is accessible, playable and enjoyable for all the family. Playable in three distinct modes – main story, an independent co-op mode and then a smattering of mini-games – it’s trying very hard to be a great all-round family game. Question is, does it pull it off?

Like a lot of these tie-in games, the plot is only marginally interesting (or understandable, if I’m honest). Becoming inexplicably attached to an antique ship he’d owned for less than ten minutes, the story follows Tintin as he seeks to reclaim what is rightfully his after the antique is taken at force. His pursuit takes him through all manner of scenarios, including huge hulking ships, sandy dunes and dank, damp underground caverns, though few are joined holistically. It’s as though the brainstorming session threw out a series of ideas – Pirates! Planes! Deserts! Mansions! – and the producers just chucked them altogether. Yeah, it’s good to have variation … but only when that variation makes sense of the narrative, even if they are loosely based upon the movie.

That said, the gameplay isn’t bad. Despite the tenuous plot and bizarre landscapes, the mechanics themselves are generally satisfying. Whilst lacking any obvious intellectual stimulation, the puzzles are clear and enjoyable, particularly for kid-shaped gamers. Playable either via your standard controller (Xbox or PS3) or your Kinect peripheral, on the whole the control scheme is responsive and forgiving, although there are a few pockets of the game – take, for example, the combat on the pirate ship as Captain “BOULDERDASH” Haddock – which are more frustrating than fun, and on a couple of occasions we stopped battling with the Kinect mechanic and adopted the controller instead.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of the game comes in the shape of Tintin’s faithful companion, Snowy. Able to squeeze into areas prohibited for Tintin, the dog enjoys his own unique challenges – including sniffing out treasure and warning off distractingly large killer rats – it’s a shame there aren’t more Snowy side-quests available. There is plenty of variation, though. Whilst the main story attempts to encapsulate all manner of different activities, the co-op and mini-games modes offer even more. So if you particularly enjoyed the vehicle quests that included planes and driving quests, additional achievement/trophies can be earned by beating the mini-game benchmarks. The co-op mode? It’s less, er, traditional. And by that I mean: IT MAKES NO SENSE. But it’s entertaining enough, even moreso if you have a friend or family member playing alongside you.

Graphically, there’s little to critique – although there’s little to jump around about, either. Essentially a 2Dish side-scrolling platformer, you move Tintin through the series of simple levels, most of which use repetitive – if not quite boring – puzzles and combat. It’s surprisingly enjoyable, albeit rarely challenging. With no blood, no gore and not even death (all enemies are knocked unconscious rather than killed outright), it’s a perfect title for families that enjoy a little physicality but not the gory aftermath, particularly given the child-friendly puzzle mechanic.

The audio, however? Less enjoyable. The only thing more irritating than the enemies repetitious comments is the complete dross that falls out of Captain Haddock’s mouth. While, at first, his inoffensive expletives are a welcome change of pace, they become stale within seconds, and annoying within minutes. The SFX don’t vary either, so if you’re caught in a spawn/die circle – rare, but may occur if you’re trying to get past a boss or stubborn enemy – be prepared for a thoroughly repetitious experience.

So is it a bad game? No. Not really. But it’s also not a particularly great game, either. But if you’re happy to view it as a standalone title and can tolerate the occasional irritations, it’s worth a go. Just about.

Good times!

- Fantastic gameplay guaranteed to appeal to most kidlets
- Easy to play from the outset for almost all ages
- Co-op modes enable the whole family to jump in

Bad times :(

- Audio is boring, repetitious and occasionally irritating
- The main story narrative has little in common with the original feature film

Family Focus

Kid Kritique: Sammy is an eight-year-old lad of with a burgeoning love of video games, particularly footballs titles and games based on his favourite costume-wearing superheroes. He loves SpongeBob, Doctor Who and Tottenham Hotspur Football Team.

Although Sam has had some help typing and formatting his contribution, the words and thoughts below are entirely his own and have been transcribed without interference.

Tintin was okay. I liked it more than my mother did, but that was because I can do the puzzles and play the game well on my own which I really liked (some games I have, Mum has to help me). But in Tintin, I did a lot of it on my own which is great for kids and people playing video games for the first time. Also there was no dying or blood, which is definitely good for small children.

I didn’t like the co op game very much – it was really stupid. It was supposed to be a dream of the Captain but it was just ridiculous. I also didn’t really like the other games because I found the driving and flying a bit hard without Mum helping and I just got annoyed. The fighting was okay, though I sometimes needed helped killing the guys in the big sea suits. They were hard!

Mum and me finished the game quite quickly and I don’t think I want to play it again. But if my friend comes over and he doesn’t play Kinect or consoles much then I might play it then!