The Adventures of Tintin – Review – Relive Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation on your iOS device

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By: Gameloft

Version #: 1.0.0

Date Released: 2011-12-15

Developer: Gameloft

Price: 4.99

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The Adventures of Tintin – The Game is an iOS game—make that THE iOS game—based on the new performance-capture CGI film directed by none other than Steven Spielberg titled The Adventures of Tintin, which in turn is based on the famous comic books written and drawn by Belgian author Hergé, chronicling the adventures of an intrepid journalist named Tintin. While the film adaptation took all its cues from Hergé’s original comics, the game understandly took its own cues from Spielberg’s film. Not surprisingly, especially since it’s developed by electronic gaming giant Gameloft, The Adventures of Tintin boasts rich 3-D graphics, sounds, and environments akin to those found in the film.

The story that runs through the game is also drawn straight out of the film. In fact, the game lets you revisit the plot of the film through game chapters requiring you to perform various tasks. But liberties concerning characters and plot points were of course taken in developing the game so as to significantly differentiate it from its immediate source material. And between this welcome innovation and the numerous clever touches in gameplay, The Adventures of Tintin is easily one of the best and most interactive games on iOS, whether film-based or otherwise.

As in the film, the story starts with Tintin getting ahold of a miniature model of an ancient galleon called the Unicorn, which, legend has it, holds a treasure trove of secrets. From there, Tintin—with his famous tuft of hair at full mast and his loyal fox terrier companion, Snowy, in tow—gets entangled in a globe-trotting web of mystery and intrigue involving a habitually drunk but ever faithful ship captain named Haddock and a monomaniacal man dubiously named Sakharine.

Formally, The Adventures of Tintin is a mish-mash succession of semi-static chapter introductions, cinematic in-game clips, and, most prominently, interactive mini-games. In presenting all of these the app takes advantage of the touchscreen and tilt capabilities afforded by the iOS platform. For instance, provided the optional motion controls are activated, you can hold and move your device 360 degrees while searching, as though through a pair of binoculars, for stranded soldiers in a desert, whom you must tap before they’re hit by an imminent sandstorm.

But Tintin isn’t the only game character you are required to control. Where logistically necessary, you’ll be tasked to guide Snowy through burrows and air vents and Capt. Haddock across the deck of his ship while avoiding the attention of his double-crossing crew. This multi-character gameplay and much, much more, including jigsaw puzzles and turnaround character models external to the game itself, makes The Adventures of Tintin worthy to carry the beloved boy reporter’s name.