Young or old, you should have heard of Tintin. He is a likable reporter, with a nose for a good story that has a tendency to land him in the most diabolical of situations. Now whilst you are not playing as Lara Croft or Nathan Drake in this action adventure game, there is something special about going on this adventure as Tintin and his awesome dog Snowy. Better yet, no one dies in these stories, they just get dazed with little stars whirling above their noggins. How refreshing in this world of high definition gore.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Game is closely based on The Adventures of Tintin movie, directed by Steven Spielberg. The game provides an extension of the movie, allowing you to explore more of the environments at your leisure. The Ubisoft Montpellier team worked very closely with the filmmaking unit to bring a high level of synergy between the movie and game. I have not yet had the pleasure of watching the movie to let you know if they achieved their goal. The plot for the movie and game revolves around the merging of three of Tintin’s classic adventures: The Crab with the Golden Claws; The Secret of the Unicorn; and Red Rackham’s Treasure. I am not going to spoil any of the surprises for you, but suffice to say the timeless tales of Tintin’s adventures have been dealt with with the respect they deserve, and the game story is a fine tale indeed.

There are a couple of gameplay options in The Adventures of Tintin: The Game. You can go it alone in the singleplayer mode or tackle the separate co-operative mode with a friend. Most of the time you play as Tintin and navigate your way through levels in a platform format, but you also get to call on the skills of Snowy at times to help you out in tight spaces. It is fun to take control of Snowy and explore areas too small for Tintin. You get to sniff, bark, dig and explore, which really helps to mix up the action. When not platforming as Tintin or Snowy, you get to fly a plane through some arduous weather conditions and navigate some hair raising caverns. All in a day’s work for Tintin.

When it comes to fighting Tintin is no slouch, and his on-screen antics will bring many a chuckle. You sneak up behind people, expecting to pull off this extreme silent killer takedown move, and in reality all you do is grab them by the legs and drop them on the ground to knock them out. If you don’t manage to sneak up on the guard then they are alerted and it is fisticuffs for you. Fight! Fortunately Tintin is a consummate boxer and you should not have any problems overcoming the abundant guards.

In the co-operative mode each character gets a special ability and Tintin’s grappling hook makes for some interesting gameplay mechanics. I had a lot of fun pulling enemies towards me with the grapple and then punching. Using Captain Haddock’s special ability of strength I was able to move big crates and smash down certain walls. Playing the co-operative mode by myself I was able to switch between the two players with a flick of the D-pad. There are many more characters you can play with to collect the treasures, which provides you the cash to spend on new costumes.

There are also bonus challenges available to extend your time in the Tintin world. Choose from sword fighting, where you get to knock out as many pirates as you can in a limited time period, or pilot a plane where you can try your hand at photo taking, flag collection or good old fashioned dog fighting. Last but not least, you can hop into a Motocycle Sidecar and try the time trial and other challenges. All of the challenge modes have multiple levels of difficulty to unlock as you master each one.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Game has support for both Kinect and Move if you prefer using those control schemes over the traditional controllers. I gave the Kinect option a go as I was reviewing on the Xbox 360. Playing the sword fighting was fun albeit exhausting flailing my arms around, yet a rewarding experience in the end. I had much less fun with the dog fighting using the Kinect. You have to chase down the other planes by leaning back or forward whilst having your arms outstretched in front of you to set your direction. Once you eventually manage to locate a plane you then have to hold the position so you can get a lock-on. This is a hit and miss affair which is more frustration than fun. It is enjoyable finally shooting the plane that is locked-on by pulling your arms towards you and pushing them out again rapidly.

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