The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn Review (360)

The latest outing for the 17 year old journalist and his furry pal!

Being a childhood fan of Tintin, I was slightly apprehensive when I saw the trailer for the new animated film. I find that there’s always a risk when a TV show or film I loved as a child is re-made or revived that he producers will do a poor job, and not only add a sour note to a dearly loved franchise, but also taint the stories & characters I once loved (Indiana Jones anyone?). Thankfully, when I finally got around to going to see the new Tintin film, it didn’t disappoint. Sure, I thought it was unnecessary cash in, and didn’t live up to the quality of the comics & TV series, but it was handled well. As expected, the producers simultaneously released a cross platform video game, to cash in and give kids something to do over the half term after watching the film. The majority of the resulting game takes the form of a 2D platformer, which, while extremely simple and child friendly, incorporates elements of stealth as well as action, and reminded me more than a little of the original ‘Prince of Persia’ while I was playing it. Admittedly it’s a little more infantile, and they have replaced the sword with a host of weapons like beach balls, banana skins, dustbin lids etcetera, but the core style of the game reminded me a lot of the platform classic, which is no bad thing!

Where Tintin succeeds as a 2D platform game, it fails as a tie-in

The game does interject some variety, including (but not limited to) some 3D exploration, swashbuckling sections, driving sections, flying sections, and even a few scenes you get to play through as Tintin’s trusty sidekick Snowy. Sadly these sections usually feel a little shoehorned in, and the graphics particularly in the 3D sections are drastically below the level set by the excellent looking 2D/stealth sections. This is also the case with the cut-scenes, which (like the 3D sections) just feel like they have been thrown in at the last minute to add a little extra appeal! The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn Having watched the film before playing the game, I expected the story to be practically identical, as is usually the case with this type of game. Somewhat strangely though, the story in the game actually differs fairly wildly from that of the film. Sure, the basic storyline and some of the characters are the same, but that’s about where the similarity ends. Understandably some of the subplots were cut from the game, but along with some of the more minor characters, they also removed the film’s main antagonist, leading to a rather strange & disjointed story that doesn’t really feel like it’s being moved forwards by anything. While this wasn’t a particularly big thing for me, I can imagine it being a massive disappointment for a child playing the game after watching the movie, and expecting to be able to play through some of the bigger set pieces from the latter. Presumably this came down to budget constraints, but it felt a little dishonest for ubisoft to release a kids film tie-in that doesn’t actually tie-in. The game’s soundtrack was of a surprisingly good quality, and felt pretty immersive. Voice acting was also of a fairly good quality, but unfortunately the dialogue was fairly cringeworthy in places, and had me wondering what chump approved the script, but overall, I’ve played games that have been far worse in audio terms. The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The UnicornIt would be unfair not to mention the game’s co-operative element, which allows two players to play through a series of levels based in Captain Haddock’s dreams. This seems a slightly strange concept, but the actual gameplay functions well, and this does add some more life to the fairly short single player mode. The game also features a challenge mode, which allows players to attempt increasingly difficult challenges in sword fighting, flying, driving etc. All of the challenges are kinect compatible, but I played through a few of them using a regular controller and didn’t get particularly bored. Despite these things, I do think that the bulk of the game really works, and despite them being simple, I did enjoy the 2D stealth sections. Unfortunately the 3D sections did detract massively, and just felt really clunky. Where Tintin succeeds as a 2D platform game, it fails as a tie-in, and despite some great gameplay, there’s enough bad to balance it out. You could probably pick this up in a bargain bin in a few weeks time, it might make a nice stocking filler, but don’t expect too much.

The Good: Great 2D platforming, some varied gameplay elements, co-op and challenge modes add some extra life.
The Bad: Some of the 3D sections look & feel out of place, the story feels somewhat weaker than the film’s.


The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn 


3 3 / 5

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.