When you have a film released under a director like Steven Spielberg it shouldn't come as any surprise that a game will coincide. Those unfamiliar with Tintin are likely not European. The character made his debut in a Belgian newspaper in the year 1929 by artist Georges Rémi, better known as Hergé. The comic series eventually became one of the most popular in European history and found the character appearing in multiple medias. I really never found the character to be appealing as a kid so I can't say I was thrilled to play a game adaptation of the film, especially with knowing how movie tie-in games usually turn out. The story of course follows the plot of the film with Belgian reporter Tintin accompanied by his dog Snowy going on a treasure hunt. The treasure is a sunken ship called the Unicorn formerly commanded by an ancestor of one of the main characters; Captain Haddock.
Tintin meets up with Haddock by circumstance and they work together to find the ship all the while having to fight off the antagonist and his cronies, who also want to find the treasure. It's not the most interesting plot but for a series that I think appeals more to a younger audience it does the job. I have to admit that this game also seems more targeted to a specific audience. Among that audience I would say children, people that don't play games much but enjoy the occasional platformers, and fans of Tintin. The game is primarily a scrolling platformer and on occasion will switch to a small 3D roaming area to do detective work like use your dog to sniff out tracks, fly planes, ride motorcycles, and engage in some swashbuckling. The platforming is pretty mediocre but not boring. I just found that many of the areas are repetitions and the combat is nothing more than two to three animations and doesn't offer enough variety to be fun at all. Unless you like throwing beach balls at completely still opponents that all look alike. I couldn't help but think that the Ubisoft development team responsible for the game really didn't want this as their project. The game is very simple to play and I never felt once was challenging, which could be a problem for some.
The color contrast could have been stronger but for a game that acts as mostly a platformer the visuals don't look too bad and capture the art style of the film very well. The story won't take much more than 5 or 6 hours to complete and for those looking to play with a friend there is a co-op mode where players control Tintin and Captain Haddock. The story here is completely separate from the solo adventure and follows a dream like sequence into the subconscious of Captain Haddock. I found the mode to be pretty boring but family members may find the outlandish setting to be entertaining. The Adventures of Tintin could have been a more entertaining game and appealed to a larger crowd if designed differently. It's not that the platforming isn't fun, it's just that it gets repetitive after awhile and once the game is over I can't see it being played for much longer. I felt the game would have done better as a full 3D platformer with some inspiration from Tomb Raider or even the Uncharted series. The overall experience is reminiscent of something you may have loved on the Super NES or Sega Genesis. Young gamers should find it appealing especially if they liked the movie, but even the low price tag can't quite muster a bang for your buck.
