As a video game, Tintin is a gross disappointment

Tintin. Reporter. Adventurer. From humble beginnings in Belgium, his stories have crossed international boundaries, being translated into more than 50 languages. As a struggling reader in my youth, Les Aventures de Tintin was my saving grace while in French immersion, rescuing from the torture of reading an actual full novel. With the release of The Adventures of Tintin: The Game – an accompaniment to the Spielberg animated movie – I sat cosied down, ready for a little nostalgia, ready to relive my days at ESSMY, ready to re-connect with a childhood hero. I was to be grossly disappointed.

The game’s greatest fault is not staying true to a particular target audience. For younger players who thrill at bowling gutter balls in Wii Sports, the shabby graphics and simplistic game play won't matter, but the game's control systems may be a bit too challenging at times. The reverse holds true for older players, those in the over-10 category that the E10+ rating insinuates. Though there are moments when the non-stop action creates a palatable platformer, ’tween gamers will find the linear game play dull and soon lose interest, either from the stick-to-the-path style of play or from the single button-mashing combat.

Graphically, the game is hit and miss. It boasts a visual style all its own, with smooth textures and consistent lighting effects. Close up, Tintin's skin and hair textures are almost impressive. Settings and characters, however, tend to have little life and be overly simplistic. The developers had a great chance to apply the same colour style as the comics. Instead the colour scheme is diluted and lacklustre. Gamers in the E10+ category will have been exposed to far greater graphics.

Character movements are well executed and you certainly embody Tintin's agile, nimble persona. Voices are also relatively well done and characterization plays on the classic archetypes developed in the graphic novels. Yet the lip-syncing in Tintin is simply atrocious, looking like a poorly dubbed import. Of course, considering this game was developed in France and released in Europe before North America, this brutal oversight might very well be explained, though not forgiven. And with its French roots one wonders why there is no option for French dialogue.

When it comes to combat, there are few surprises. True to form, Tintin never kills anyone, simply knocks them unconscious. This often plays on the comedic styling of the original novels, with such antics as hiding in a barrel and whacking the unsuspecting with the lid or tossing a banana peel sending enemies careening into one another.

While the combat adds a humorous element, the overall repetitive game play lacks the intelligence of Tintin. Little environmental interactivity means the world that comes to life in the graphic novels is left rather sterile and lifeless. The golden crabs you collect as you explore are relatively meaningless and could have unlocked other abilities to help during the adventure such as super-dash, faster punches, or double-jumps.

Despite the drawbacks, there are some highlights to the game. The action is non-stop and the story progresses well. There are a variety of locales as, true to Tintin style, the adventure brings him from Brussels to the Middle East to Brittany and back home. The musical score harks back to the glory days of cinema with overtures of adventure a la John Williams. Controls are tight and responsive, especially when it comes to the various vehicles you'll use. When moving Tintin by himself, controls are more forgiving allowing greater success. The game is enabled for motion gaming – the Nintendo Wii, Xbox Kinect or the PlayStation Move – though without a solid game, no amount of tech can allow it to rise from the ashes of its disappointing showing.

In spite of its potential charm, Tintin doesn't have a consistent package to appeal to any particular age group. Though the action is non-stop, over time the repetitive platforming and uninspiring presentation drains Tintin of any redeeming fun factor.

When he’s not teaching junior high school, St. Albert Catholic High School alumnus Derek Mitchell can be found attached to a video game console.