It’s been 65 years since Charles M. Schulz thrust the Peanuts gang onto an unsuspecting world. With a film about to hit the big screens, Activision and Behaviour Interactive have dropped into the video game universe with a side scrolling platform adventure featuring that lovable hound and his friendly troop.

Now, without even passing through the delightful title screen, complete with piano accompaniment, it’s obvious to see that Snoopy’s Grand Adventure hasn’t in any way been created with the likes of the hardcore gaming fraternity in mind. Running with the same glorious style as the comic strip, it’s bright, it’s colourful and it’s simple enough for everyone and anyone to pick up; whether that be your six year old daughter, your 60 year old parents or your 600 year old Gran. It really is the ultimate Xbox One ‘game for everyone’!

Charlie Brown and his friends have run off for a game of hide and seek, and it’s within Snoopy’s vivid imagination that the game is set. You’ll need to help old Snoops navigate his way across the Peppermint Jungle, the Temple of Bunnies, Lunar Surface, the Parisian Underground and through the Melody Chateau as he hunts down each of the friends. Each of the six areas contains a number of set stages all unique to the area they are in. You’ll find Snoopy jumping and gliding his way across many platforms, riding musical scores to safety and diving under the waves in order to collect the 300 or so jelly beans that are scattered around each level. Unfortunately, the jelly bean collection never really gets going as other than picking them up to satisfy your own OCD level, they bring nothing else to the game.

The levels are however very cleverly designed, and whilst not ground breaking, offer multiple routes and plenty of chance of exploration. They do however all follow one rule…that of moving left to right in order to find Snoopy’s kennel and progress on to the next stage, so if there is ever a time when you are not sure where to go – head right and all will be revealed! There are obviously a few enemies populating the stages but on the whole they are pretty sparse in both quantity and quality, with a swift jump on the heads enough to stop them dishing out any harm to our favourite white dog.

There are times when you’ll have to discover and unlock hidden costumes, all of which can play a part if you wish to fully 100% complete each section. These include the famous Joe Cool shirt, an Astronaut suit that enables higher jumping and the Beagle Scout uniform which gives Snoopy the chance to climb vines. None however work as well as Snoopy’s standard ‘gift’ – that of rotating his ears with enough speed to help him fly and glide his way around the levels. It is this unique skill that ensures that each level can be completed in a matter of minutes should you not wish to bother searching for all the collectibles. I would have loved to have seen better uses for each of the various costumes, perhaps ensuring that they must be worn in order to actually reach the end, but they’re not and they are ultimately pretty pointless fillers to the main act.

Aside from the levels already mentioned, there is one quirky little section, the ‘Skies of Paris’ which is completely unique to the rest of the game. This sees Snoopy sit atop his flying kennel and scoot his way around the open skies collecting jelly beans, shooting down balloons and planes on his way to completing the ultimate Grand Adventure. It’s strange to see these levels just plonked right on the end of the game with a completely different style but it works well and ensures that Snoopy’s adventure ends with style.

Once you do reach the end of each group of stages (and due to the trouble free, undemanding style, there is no way on this earth that you won’t be able to complete all the levels), you’ll come across a quick boss level that sees you needing to fling balls at the big bad mask guys, run away from them as fast as you can or just hop skip and jump your way to the top of the screen. If you thought the standard levels were somewhat simplistic and easy to complete, then these end of level bosses are on another level…another level of easiness. In fact, I’m pretty certain that the end of stage guardians that are in place to try and stop Snoopy from reaching his friends, are quite possibly the least offensive, least tricky currently found in any Xbox One title.

Snoopy’s Grand Adventure has quite obviously been pointed at the casual gamer who wishes to get involved with their kids. The levels are simple to complete, too simple for anyone serious about their gaming in fact, but that in turn gives the children and older generation a chance to enjoy everything that is being thrown at them. With the inclusion of numerous ‘Woodstock’ moments, a second player can jump in with another controller and attempt to help Snoopy overcome tricky enemies, find new routes or track down more jelly beans and Beagle Scouts. The multiplayer side of things is a little bit of a gimmick, but again, it does enough to keep the kids entertained and encourages cooperation.

If part of your Xbox One gaming sessions centre around the addictive Achievement and Gamerscore gathering, then you should be getting Snoopy’s Grand Adventure up onto your purchase list without another thought. With no less than 21 of the 22 available achievements popping as you complete the game, this comes in as one of the easiest Xbox One titles to fully complete and grab points from. You will however need to work for the final one, as that requires you to collect everything on every level. That in its own right is simple enough as well, just it’ll just take a bit of a grind in order to finally uncover each and every one of those collectible jelly beans.

Overall then and Snoopy’s Grand Adventure isn’t quite as grand as it should be. It’s not much of a full on adventure either but that said, and even though it hasn’t in any way been created with the likes of myself in mind, I enjoyed every single minute of my time with Snoopy and the Peanuts gang. If you’re looking for something to sit down with for just a few hours and want to happily jump and swing your way around, then it just about meets the set requirements.