Can noble intentions redeem mediocre game design?

Maybe.

Let’s start with the game. Legacy Interactive's The Tuttles Madcap Misadventures is a straight-up platformer in the Mario mold. The story revolves around a standard issue sitcom family called the Tuttles.

Dad Barry is a doofus with a penchant for high tech, Jess is his brilliant teenage daughter who is more concerned with her social life than her family. Zach is her preteen brother and a proto-doofus in his own right. Barbara is mother to the clan and the only one who seems to have any common sense. Their dialog is a blast from the TV past, resembling the clever back-and-forth exchanges during the heyday of ABC’s sitcom era. And, like the shows of that era, there are hits and misses in every scene.

Reinforcing the game’s sitcom lineage, Bob Saget heads up the acting crew by giving voice to Barry. He’s joined by Ashley Tisdale as Jess, Dominic Scott Kay as Zach, Jamie Lee Curtis as Barbara, and William Shatner as their intelligent, arrogant mini-van Vance. Other big names appearing in the game include Dave Thomas and Dave Coulier. As you would expect, the acting is top-notch and the lines are delivered with the manic energy of sitcom dialogue.

There is one annoying facet to the voice work. Every time a character jumps, they emit a short grunt as if they’ve been sucker-punched in the kidneys. Since jumping is a constant in the game, it starts to sound as if the characters were recorded while working at the local gym as punching bags. An option to turn off the grunting would have been nice.

After an in-game tutorial and a couple of cut-scenes to establish the story, the Tuttles are off on a road trip to visit a re-enactment of the Battle of the Alamo. Like its sitcom forebears, the game doesn’t explore why the Alamo is the ideal destination...it just is. In fact, the game doesn’t explore a lot of the odd territory it covers.

The first actual gaming experience is a side scroller that involves controlling Vance (the high-tech flying min-van voiced by William Shatner) as the family tries to avoid hitting birds and trees while collecting stars and other floating prizes. Vance runs out of fuel and crashes into the desert where Barry has to save the family by battling snakes, scorpions and mummies while collecting a more-or-less random collection of objects.

Game play is pure Mario Brothers. Using the arrow keys or mouse, you control left, right, up, and down and defeat enemies by jumping on top of them. Squash a mummy and it will transform into bundles of money. A friendly on-screen arrow will point you in the direction of the next treasure you need to locate. The graphics are attractive and gameplay is smooth, if somewhat repetitive.

To Legacy Interactive's credit, the sub-levels of the game are all short. Frequent save points mean that you’ll never have to play for more than five or ten minutes to make saveable progress. This is a boon to busy gamers who want to sit down for a quick session before turning their attention to something else. It will also be a boon for younger players who like gaming, but haven’t the patience for prolonged game play.

Periodically, comic-book-style cut scenes advance the story without really explaining how or why the Tuttles find themselves in a desert or jungle on their way to San Antonio.

In the final analysis, the game is an un-remarkable platformer which brings nothing new to the genre. The bright colors and varied environments will appeal to younger players as will the ease of play.

Yet, underneath it all, The Tuttles Madcap Misadventures has a heart of gold which makes it tough to judge it too harshly.

A portion of every sale of the game (75% of the money from each download and 50% of that from boxed sales) goes to fund the activities of the Starlight foundation. According to a company press release, "Starlight helps seriously ill children and their families cope with pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities. Its programs include mobile entertainment units and laptop computers for hospitalized children, fun family events that take children and families away from medical treatments, a social network for teens with serious medical conditions and much, much more."

That noble aim makes the game worth purchasing. Gameplay will appeal to younger players and the contribution to Starlight will make you feel good about parting with some of your cash.