Georges Rémi’s, or his more well-known alias Hergé’s Tintin is renowned for not only being a telling commentary of life in Europe during the time between both World Wars, but his adventures proved timeless for captivated readers throughout the world. The Belgian attitude of Hergé’s work, combined with the purposeful artistic merit ensured that Tintin’s adventures would be forever engraved into the history of comic books. A few adaptations exist of some of the stories with more of a universal appeal, and the release of a new 3D animation from the likes of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson is sure to garner interest. Alas, the marketing machine movie is in full swing with Ubisoft’s video game adaptation; but with such a legacy to follow, does it do Hergé’s greatest work justice?

Tintin’s troubles begin in earnest when the boat he has bought from a local street merchant is stolen by some thugs. As luck would have it though, he discovered a parchment hidden within its hold that contains a cryptic clue, hinting at possible treasure. Tracing the thugs to a mansion in the middle of the Belgian countryside, he seeks not only to get his own property back, but also uncover any further mysteries surrounding the scroll. For those who know about Tintin, think of this as an anthology of multiple Tintin graphic novels with a primary focus on Hergé’s most popular two – The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure. For the most part, the plot moves at a sporadic pace as the action is clearly separate from the story, which for the most part isn’t very interesting. Delivery of the voice acting during cut scenes is ever so slightly hammed up, but that is nothing compared to the Haddock dynasty’s nasty habit of pointless insults. While in keeping with the character, the frequency of his nonsense abuse will drive you mad.

You will spend most of your time as Tintin, trespassing various properties in order to find the three scrolls in 2D environments that resemble Ubisoft’s own Prince of Persia (the classic Amiga title). Avoiding hazards whilst getting the jump on the bad guys, it is a simple concept to grasp that has its moments of high reward. Throwing a carefully laid banana skin is immensely satisfying when a bulky enemy slides along it. However, there are a couple of downsides here. Firstly, it isn’t very difficult to complete any of the levels. Sure, you might plummet to your demise on occasion, but the game slots you right back before the jump and there are infinite lives at your disposal.

“Each game type change feels like a soulless distraction just to keep the game from being completely mundane.”

The game isn’t very long either, spanning a grand total of around four-five hours for the main campaign, which stretches across five locations and split into around thirty chapters. The primary focus seems to revolve around the 2D stealth-platforming sections, but your brief time with the film will also see Tintin explore locations in 3D, fly a plane and ride in a motorbike with sidecar, and follow Captain Haddock’s ancestor during the pirate attack on the Unicorn. There is a distinct lack of focus for any of these sections during the main campaign, with the real stinker of the set being the 3D sections. It isn’t that searching trails with Snowy is a terrible concept, but rather that each hub tasks you from going to point B from point A. This highlights the fact that each game type change feels like a soulless distraction just to keep the game from being completely mundane.

The cooperative mode puts players in the addled mind of Captain Haddock in a scene set after the main story, where he is accidentally rendered unconscious by the comically named and constantly argue pair Thom(p)sons. You can opt to play on your own if you wish, but playing with a friend is slightly more satisfying as the game challenges you sometimes to make sure you both get to the destination. If you really liked the 2D sections of the main game, then this feels mostly like an expansion set with only new characters to unlock and giving abilities to everyone to separate it from the main game, such as the Castafiore and her floaty vocal chords, to Tintin bringing a grappling hook to the party. While only three worlds long, it does out stay its welcome as the levels on occasion become tedious, and boss fights showing signs of repetition all too soon.

“Perhaps rather expectedly, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is a brief foray into a quaintly European concept that fails to engage.”

As this game is suspected to be designed with kids in mind, the lack of online functions is forgivable, but the variety on offer in certainly the mini-games feels desperate. You can opt to use Kinect during them, but as with all “Better with Kinect” thus far it feels tacked on. Then again, none of the mini-games feel as if they should be part of this game in the first place. The plane sections feel like a cheap knockoff version of Pilot Wings, the Motorbike/Sidecar is just plain dull to play and the Sword Fighting mini-game wants to be Infinity Blade for iOS so badly it hurts. You could in theory gain medals for each challenge if you wanted, but only completionists will go for this unoriginal concept.

The most disappointing thing about The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is the presentation. The music for the most part is suspenseful, but not entirely inspiring about it meaning you never really feel tense throughout your skulking around the place. Controlling Snowy brings a rather pleasant tune that enables the game to retain some kind of Belgian charm, but these moments are few and far between. Whilst the style resembles the film very closely, but one still earns for an homage to Hergé’s original artistic style to be fully recognised as the characters there at least had life in them, these character models are as lifeless as porcelain dolls. Cutscenes have an unpolished element to them that cheapens the package to make the full price tag seem outrageous. However, the worst thing of all are some of the loading screens. In the campaign they’re non-intrusive, but start-up most levels in cooperative mode and you’ll want to reach for the mute button faster than humanly possible.

Perhaps rather expectedly, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is a brief foray into a quaintly European concept that fails to engage. It’s core design model of being a 2D stealth-platforming is a good one and works very well in the beginning, but it is evident that the developers ran out of ideas half way through on how to expand on it. The constraints of the cinema release also don’t do any favours as they share the same plot line. Presentation could do with work in the visual department as they look horrible during cut scenes and expressionless during gameplay. The best section did get cooperative play in the form of a second mode, but by this point your adventures with Tintin will be drawing to an end. The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is therefore a prime examples of what happens when a game loses sight of its main concept and has surgery to add more limbs – like Jake the Peg and his extra leg. Hergé will not be turning in his grave just yet, but the “additions” spoil an otherwise excellent concept.