There's a Tintin game now

And nobody told me.

I'd wager there currently a decent amount of folk in the world right now who have no idea what a 'Tintin' even is and finds the assumption that they should know as somewhat condescending. But as a boy who grew up reading Tintin, watching the cartoon, and always thirsting for more of Hergé's work ever since; I find it a little insulting that anyone would not know who Tintin is. Because you see, Tintin is a rockstar. Not really, he's a journalist. But he's a world famous, investigating, deep sea diving, gangster battling, space exploring, kick ass hero of a journalist; all of which makes him even more rock and roll than a rockstar in my book! He, Snowy and Captain Haddock are also the front characters to one of the most enduring and beloved old comic series' to grace the entertainment medium, telling genuinely well drawn, funny and sometimes even quite poignant stories during his world adventures.

A brussels born native, Tintin's adventures would regularly take him all over the world to the middle of civil wars, dense jungles, snowy alps, sandy dunes and, as I hinted, even the surface of the moon. And his wide reach would not just be limited to the realms of the books; Tintin is a hugely recognisable 20th century icon for his and Snowy's iconic spotlight silhouette, a fame indicative of his vast appeal across the borders of culture and language and unto the future. So well was he renowned that Steven Spielberg, apparently the only man that Hergé ever considered correctly talented for an adaption of this work, made a great 2011 adventure movie about Tintin called 'The Secret of the Unicorn'. And then Steven subsequently disappeared behind the dozens of other projects he signed himself off to work on, and at this rate we're likely to see an adaptation of poxy 'Ready Player Two' before a sequel to that well animated and just all around fun first Tintin movie.

But if there is one medium that Tintin has never made a significant splash in, it's video games. For better or for worse, the realm of gaming has been largely devoid of the Belgian reporter's charming spirit throughout the rise of the entire gaming industry. There have been the odd outings here and there, but nothing that enters the lexicon of gaming. You'd have thought that in the decades of people plumbing every bloody fictional property to make some stupid tie-in game, we'd have gotten some 80's incoherent mess of a game that is attributed to Tintin's brand; and there is. Although 'Tintin on the Moon' does actually do a decent job of capturing his visual appeal, I'm actually rather chuffed with it's looks.  Outside of the movie tie-in game there hasn't been a single adventure game dedicated to really nailing the overall eclectic appeal of the Tintin stories. I suppose the franchise rights holders had the good sense to at least try keep the franchise respectable. Which is more than can be said for the Godfather rights holders. (I cannot believe there's two Godfather GTA clones; and that I've played and owned both of them.) Still, as gaming grows the powers that be were going to get their grubby mitts on Tintin sooner or later, so I guess today should not be as much of a surprise to me as it still, inexplicably, is.

Because yes, recently it was announced that there is a Tintin game in the works looking to adapt 'Cigars of the Pharoh'; I would say that's one of my favourite adventures but, cheesy though it is to say, Tintin goes back to such a pure part of my youth that quite literally every adventure has parts to them that make it a contender for my favourite. The developer behind the project, Pendulo Studios, seem like a scrappy little Spanish studio that have a tendecy to specialise in games that land better for Steam critics than Metacritics; and the publisher, Microïds, haven't been shy about announcing their delight for working on a property like this. They've gushed about the honour and promised to do it justice by the beloved fans of Hergé's work, which is all anyone really wants from a game like this. Yes, they do sound committed, that Microïds. Hmm. Microïds... Where have I heard that name before? I think- I think I've written that name in this blog before... yes, I have! And just what was that article covering again... Oh. Oh no.

So... Microïds. They're the guys behind the 'XIII Remake'. Yeah, that 'XIII Remake'. The one which screwed up the fundamental style of that comic-book based game, the general smoothness of the gameplay from a technical level (It was buggier than the Amazon) and the basic controls of shooting in a shooter so badly that the original XIII started to trend and sell more on Steam. In fact, it was this whole chaos that drove me to go out and buy the original, and it was a ton of fun I should add. Although to be absolutely fair to Microïds, they were involved in publishing the thing rather than developing it. (Although that does very much mean they're happy selling a god-awful product.) Actually, no. That's unfair. Microïds have dedicated themselves to funding a remake of that remake out of their own pocket to make things right; which is a hell of a lot more than a lot of bigger studios end up doing in times of disaster. You want a good comparison case? Take a very close look at how Volition are about to handle the next few months after the embarrassing Saints Row launch; you'll see the distinction.

Divorcing the unfortunate circumstance of the publisher from the game being made, I do wonder what it is that Tintin can bring to the format of video games that it hasn't already to other mediums. I mean what style of game is this even going to be? The video game tie in to the Spielberg movie was predictably low-concept, with the game being more about punchups and platforming; but I think there's a real potential for a Sherlock Holmes style investigation game here to be bought into the loop. Tintin is no stranger to action, of course, he's traded bullets with criminals and punch-up brawls with sailors. But he's more of an adventurer and investigator, not so much a pugilist. Or even a reporter, really. The intrigue of his stories are what brings a lot of them to life, as well as the exploration of various worldly locations and secrets. In a way, Tintin is the original Lara Croft and/or Indiana Jones. Although Indiana Jones did rather intentionally, have ties to old adventure pulp comic as well.

I think there's a decent case to be made that a Tintin game should balance itself between action and investigation gameplay in a manner beholden of, but not aping, the L.A. Noire model. Wherein you had specific scenes of mystery solving and mechanics built to flesh out that experience and well as some built for gun-fighting and how that played out. Of course, they maybe could tune down the open world aspects, but there's a game to mimic in those confines somewhere. And the cool thing is that when they manage to get a balance of gameplay that feels about right, there's literally dozens of great books to pull stories from that they can focus on next. If the team manage to pull this off they could go down a rabbit-hole of adapting as many great Tintin stories as the team can handle, improving their craft and riding off that strong name at the same time. It really is a dream licence to work with.

As a fan from childhood, I'm going to have a higher level of expectation than your average fan; but that's not born out of snobbish prejudice against anyone daring to touch my childhood, but a love for a set of stories that I really think could make a splash with a whole new generation through the medium of video games. I'm not expecting anything revolutionary that's looking to break any banks or rewrite what it is to be a game, but a special blend of excitement and intrigue that conjures up the charm of the Belgium reporter and his adorable dog's adventures would be more than enough to elevate any game experience like this into an idea worth paying attention to. I just pray they don't take the low route and make this an arcade game but looking at the devs I see a hearty dev team looking for their break. This may just be it, and I really hope that it is.