Review Secret Files: Tunguska Developer: Fusionsphere Systems Publisher: The Adventure Company Genre: Adventure Release Date: Fall 2006 Platform: Review by December 8, 2006		Buy this game at Trade for this game at:

On June 30, 1908 a mysterious explosion shook the Tunguska region of Siberia, Russia.  Numerous theories exist - from comets to UFOs - but no one knows for sure what happened that day.  Now, developer Fusionsphere Systems offer their own theory on the explosion with their new release Secret Files: Tunguska.

Upon opening the box, the first thing I notice is that for some reason the North American publisher has eschewed the single DVD of the European version, in favor of 4 CDs. This is an unexplained phenomena in the North American market, and it’s not limited to Tunguska alone – for example both Dreamfall and Barrow Hill increased from 1 DVD to 6 and 2 CDs respectively.  And yes, Tunguska installs entirely on the hard drive, so there are no disk swapping issues while playing, but there are while installing.  Why should the players have to hover over their computers during installation time in order to swap disks?  No matter how hard I try, I cannot think of any reasonable explanation.  Almost everyone has a DVD-Rom nowadays and those who don’t can purchase one for about $15.  And considering that the cost of one DVD disc is much lower than that of multiple CDs, this mystery becomes more obscure than the Tunguska one!  I believe it’s time North American publishers woke up and checked their calendars. It’s almost 2007, it’s time they moved on.

So, begrudgingly, this multi-CD nuisance is installed and the game begins.  We find ourselves in the Berlin Museum of Natural History where Nina Kalenkov has just arrived to pay a casual visit to her father, professor Vladimir Kalenkov, only to find his office a mess and him vanished without a trace.  His colleague, Max Gruber - who was in the office next door - seems to have noticed nothing.  Nina, worried about her father’s sudden disappearance, will set off on a quest that will unearth secrets about her father’s past, his kidnappers and his connection to the Tunguska incident.  Questions that she must solve if she wants to ever see her father again.

Tunguska is a classic 3rd person, point ’n’ click adventure game.  For the biggest part of the game you control Nina, but there are sequences in which control is given over to Max.  Nina and Max can walk around with a left click of the mouse button, while double-clicking on exits makes screens change immediately.  The pointer is shaped like a mouse - a computer mouse that is, not the one that steals your cheese every night.  When the pointer is over a hotspot, the mouse buttons turn green according to what you can do.  A green left button means action, i.e. take an item, push a button, talk to a person etc. A green right button means you can examine the item or person.  All in all, the game’s interface is very simple and very user friendly. Interaction is not limited only to the few items or persons that are needed in your quest, which is what has been the recent fad in adventure games, but there could have been a little more involvement.

The majority of puzzles are inventory based, with a couple of logic puzzles thrown in to keep you busy.  The overall difficulty level is not high, but it does surpass the dead-easy level of most recent adventures.  The logic puzzles are very simple, but the inventory ones require some thinking and a lot of imagination.  Although the number of items carried never reaches truckloads, it did bring back memories of the inventory heaven days of Discworld and Monkey Island.  Of course there were a couple of puzzles that crossed the line and wandered into the realms of the outrageous, but we inventory lovers can forgive that, can’t we?  Now what can I use for bait? I bet you’ll never guess!

One very unique feature of Tunguska is the help option, which does two things: it gives hints for puzzles and it shows all hotspots on one screen.  Hints aren’t available for all puzzles, but mainly for the logical ones.  When a hint is available, an icon flashes on the top left of the screen, and the hints can be read in Nina’s journal, where all important events of the game are logged.  The available hotspots on one screen can be shown by clicking the corresponding button, and this eliminates pixel hunting once and for all!  If you are stuck, revisit all areas and use the help to check for hotpots you missed. There are a couple of severe pixel hunting issues, where this help button turns out to be priceless.  If only we could have had that option when we were playing Future Wars!

Another unique move from the game’s developers is the recent release of the v1.02 patch.  Yes, I know patches get released all the time, but not ones that change the ending of the game!  The new ending is certainly more fulfilling and also deals with matters that, let’s just say, seemed to have been forgotten in the original ending!  Don’t rush to install the new patch though.  Unless you are encountering the graphic drivers or dual-core processor problems that it fixes (I didn’t encounter either on a Core2Duo and an ATI x1900GT), save the patch until after you’ve finished the game.  Since the patch does not invalidate your saves, you can watch the original ending, install the patch, load your last save and watch the new ending!  Finally, the patch also introduces a “cinema” menu option that allows you to view all the game’s cut-scenes.

The major weaknesses of Tunguska lie in its story, atmosphere and character development – all crucial areas for an adventure game.  Even though all the elements for a good mystery are present, for example the Tunguska event, the disappearance of Nina’s father, the ominous bad guy, nothing ever clicks.  To make matters worse, Nina acts and sounds like she sprang from some teenage television drama and the developers’ efforts to add “coolness” to her character only adversely effect the game’s atmosphere and make it impossible to identify with the character.  Add to that the totally unnecessary romantic vibe between her and Max, and you get a result which can hardly be considered riveting, and delivers more yawns than chills.

In the visual department, Tunguska is exactly how a 3rd person adventure should look like.  Instead of trying to impress with 3D stunts and fanfares, Tunguska instead offers gorgeous backgrounds with warm colors that are a pleasure to look at, nicely designed characters and some beautiful cut-scenes.  Musically the game scores pretty good also, but things quickly sour with the voice acting, which leaves a lot to be desired – especially Nina.

If you love inventory puzzles, and that is what you mainly want from an adventure game, then Tunguska is certainly worth checking out.  Unfortunately, it offers little of everything else and overall you will be left unsatisfied.  That doesn’t mean that Tunguska is a bad game as it is certainly better than a lot of movie-like minimal interaction “adventures” that have been released in the past couple of years.  It just doesn’t do anything to make it stand out from the crowd.

Final Grade: C (find out more about our grading system)

If you liked this game, then Play: Tunguska: Legend of Faith (action/adventure), adventures heavy on inventory puzzles Watch: The X-Files: Tunguska & Terma (Season 4) Read: Books about The Tunguska Event

System Requirements:

• OS: Windows® XP/2000
• CPU: 500 MHzPentium® 3 or Equivalent
• RAM: 128 MB
• Disk Space: 2.5 GB
• CD/DVD-ROM: 16x
• Video Card: 16 MB DirectX 9.0 Compatible
• Sound: DirectX® 9.0c Compatible Audio Device
• Other: Mouse, Keyboard, and Speakers