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In his first adventure Snowy boldly goes where no dog has gone before - to the moon. Tintin tags along for a laugh and brings Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus and engineer Wolff too.

Before the game begins there's an impressive cartoon-like launch sequence in which you see Tintin and crew approach the rocket in a car. Then there's the final countdown followed by "Blast Off".

Your journey to the moon is split into stages. First you guide your tocket through a meteorite storm. Avoid the rocks and collect the red and yellow globes. Eight red globes must be collected to take you to the next stage; the yellow ones build up your energy. Run out of energy and you drift around in space for eternity.

In the next stage Colonel Boris has somehow managed to stowaway on the ship and is determined to destroy it. This is a bit silly, because he'll die too, but that's loonies for you, I suppose! To reach the next staeg, you must satisfy four conditions: capture Colonel Boris, put out all the fires, free your companions and disarm the bombs.

Disarming bombs and freeing your companions is simple to do - you just have to touch the bomb or person. Fires are put out by giving them a quick squirt with an extinguisher - assuming that you've found the extinguisher of course. If it's out of puff then you'll have to find another one. Capturing Colonel Boris is a matter of spraying him with the extinguisher or jumping him from behind.

When you reach the moon you control the rocket for a lunar landing. Watch the surface draw closer as you prepare to touch down. After a brief test it's time to take off and head back to planet earth again.

Infogrames have a good reputation for graphics and Tintin is no exception. The opening sequence is excellent and proves that you can indeed get cartoon-style graphics out of your ST. The in-game graphics are still very good and Tintin and co are beautifully animated. Soundwise there's a few good effects, but these are in the opening sequence as well. In-game effects are alright, but nothing spectacular.

Tintin On The Moon is a combination of dodge-the-asteroids and a platform game - and they combine surprisingly well.

It's frustrating when you run out of energy if there's a red blob in sight, but that's just a fact of death. The platform game is hard work; the closer you get to the moon the meaner it gets. But the two types of game become repetitive, with difficulty being the only variable. Nice opener, shame about the game. Let's hope they do better with any subsequent Tintin games.