How to Train Your Dragon

There are films that immediately lend themselves to gameplay. On the other side of the coin, there are movie-based games that seem to exist purely because the studio's marketing department thought it would be a good idea – presumably during the mini 'brainstorming session' they had on their whiteboard before tucking into their M&S sandwich platter.

How to Train Your Dragon, with its mythology, fire and – need I say – dragons in tow, should certainly lean towards the former. Sadly, despite having smacks of undeniable quality here and there, it's a bit of a plain Jane.

Besides pleasing the bods at Dreamworks, it's hard to fathom just what this game is here for.

It's certainly not a disaster, however. What lets How to Train Your Dragon down is the underlying feeling that it really doesn't make the most of its franchise, play lacking the spark a family friendly film license should surely call upon.

The way it utilises the film's plot certainly doesn't help, reams of what could admittedly be fairly witty and lighthearted lines lost in a tight window squashed at the bottom of the screen.

But though film lead Hiccup's drive to bring his new found friend – a fabled “night fury dragon” - back to full health dominates the early levels, in truth How to Train You Dragon actually comprises a series of slow-paced platforming stages viewed from above that are made up of puzzle after puzzle.

Dragon drain

It's your job to piece together the elements at your disposal within set areas so that you can move forward. For example, many areas are locked off, requiring keys – big discs that fit into slots on the floor – to open up the path.

Often finding these keys is a simple case of exploration, but they increasingly require the use of your noggin as the stages get more difficult, an entire ensemble of elements needing to be slotted into place.

There's something for everyone in all these levels, while taking on the game's foes – wild boar and polar bears for starters – calls upon boss stage staples of old (avoiding the enemy's attacks while drawing them into your own line of fire).

Nothing feels entirely smooth, however. Instruction is surprisingly low on the agenda, meaning your first encounter with a boar can be a rather confusing one. Firing at him with your slingshot is the key, but the boar only takes damage if you hit him from the side.

Likewise, dropping keys into their slots is unnecessarily fiddly. Laying them to ground requires nothing more than a tap of the '5' key, but How to Train Your Dragon makes you place the disc exactly into its hole. Given the game's top-down view, that's an especially tricky – and, indeed, unnecessary – challenge.

Most disappointing of all is the creativity that's sadly lacking when it comes to actually flying How to Train Your Dragon's sky-bound beast. Tapping left and right to avoid static obstacles does not engaging play make.