UK REVIEW–Between the staring blankly at a screen for hours during the name of research, energy-drink-fuelled producing marathons to meet deadlines, and the knowledge that your editor can (and will) drop a story on you last thing on a Friday, journalism isn’t always the most glamorous of professions. But for intrepid reporter Tintin, it’s a far more adventurous pursuit. The Adventures of Tintin: The solution of the Unicorn sees him sailing over stormy seas, piloting planes through treacherous caverns, and uncovering historic artefacts while being pursued by legions of bad guys–all during the name of a good story. Sadly, the underlying platforming match is the antithesis of these exciting events: dull, repetitive, and far too easy. The good voice acting and appealing narrative might entice Tintin fans and kids, but for everyone else there are far better platformers to sink your teeth into. The Adventures of Tintin follows the functions of the corresponding film, in turn based on stories from your original comic books. You play as Tintin, a young reporter who’s always on the hunt for a good story, no matter how much trouble it gets him into. On a whim he buys a model ship named Unicorn, but he shortly discovers there’s more to it than meets the eye. It’s your employment to unravel the mystery behind the ship and fend off bad guys along the way.
Most of the match plays like a 2D platformer, interspersed with short vehicular and third-person sections to break things up. The action takes place in mansions, in underground caverns, and deep within the bowels of a ship, meaning you devote plenty of time crawling through vents and avoiding bottomless pits of doom. Tintin’s abilities let you navigate these environments with ease–too much ease, in fact. Running, jumping, climbing, and wall-jumping over obstacles such as spikes, moving platforms, and steam vents are smooth enough, but it never seems like there’s any real ability involved in doing so. Your movements are partly automated, which makes the match basic for kids to pick up, but also uncomplicated to breeze through several sections without breaking a sweat. That applies to combat too. just one attack button lets you hammer your way through most enemies with little difficulty, but there are enemies that wield umbrellas as shields, so you need to use underground passages to sneak up behind them. Others wear armour, so you need to throw nearby banana skins to make them slide into walls and shatter their protection. The match also shakes things up with puzzles, but they’re on the basic side. They include finding levers to available doorways, pushing blocks to reach increased platforms, or using weights to balance seesaw mechanisms.
There are also vehicle sections to play through, but much such as the puzzles and platforming, they’re very easy. One has you pilot a plane through a storm, by which you need to prevent tornadoes and attacking planes. Making it in the tornadoes just requires a fast press of the boost button, while destroying attackers is as uncomplicated as holding down the fire button and aiming vaguely in their direction. A later part on a bicycle is developed a little more exciting in the inclusion of ramps to jump off, but there’s nonetheless no challenge to it simply because it’s so uncomplicated to get your bicycle around corners or concentrate on pursuing bikes with your slingshot. Whichever component of the match you’re playing, it’s not extended prior to you get a distinct feeling of deja vu. Puzzles and platforming sections are repeated often, so you end up solving the similar thing over and over again. And let’s hope you’re not claustrophobic, simply because if you’re not only a fan of crouching through tunnels every individual level, you’re out of luck. Likewise, the vehicular sections are repeated, so you quickly grow tired of them. Except for several collectible golden crabs, there’s little reason to replay the story mode once you’ve completed it, but the game’s Tintin and Haddock offline cooperative mode fares a little better.
It takes place within the dreams of Captain Haddock, meaning there’s little rhyme or reason to what’s going on. But being freed from your shackles of the movie storyline makes the mode a little more interesting. There are many levels to play through, all accessed via doors in a hub world. Each platforming level has similar challenges to those during the single-player adventure, but there are additional considerations, such as using Tintin’s harpoon to access unknown areas or Haddock’s brute strength to bash through walls and discover new paths. You can switch between the two characters at any time using the D-pad, or perhaps a friend can jump in and play through a level with you. There are also coins to collect, which you can use to purchase new costumes for Tintin and Haddock. There’s even a somewhat satisfying boss to battle at the end of it all, though you end up doing it three times. If you’re following more of a fast Tintin fix, a challenge mode lets you play through some of the vehicle sections again, only with time limits for making it across the course or shooting a certain amount of enemies. You can even play them with the Kinect if you want to, though never has the box phrase “Better with Kinect” been more dubious than here. The motion controls are flaky, meaning there’s a 50/50 chance as to whether they’ll purpose correctly and let you properly control your vehicle.
It’s not all bad for Tintin, though, particularly if you’re a fan of the comics or cartoon series. The voice acting is great, while the songs and animation exude a Tintin vibe that fits nicely with the narrative, even if this isn’t the prettiest match out there. There are plenty of common characters throughout, which includes faithful companion Snowy and a cameo from bumbling police officials Thomson and Thompson. If you’re not only a fan of the fiction, though, or you don’t have younger children who might appreciate simplicity, there’s little incentive to play The Adventures of Tintin. It’s boring. You can sit back again and coast through it without even thinking, and the somewhat interesting story is little compensation. Repetitive levels, overly basic puzzles, and poor Kinect implementation just add to the game’s troubles. The Adventures of Tintin: The solution of the Unicorn is another match to add to the pile of movie tie-in games that missed that mark, and it’s a failed opportunity to do anything great with a well-loved character.