Secret Files: Tunguska The Adventure Company, 2006. Windows 2000 / Me / XP. Rated T for Teen. Available online at Amazon.com.
Nina Kalenkov's father is missing. Vanished, out of thin air. The police won't help her; the FBI seems more ensconced in the mystery than they're letting on - and it doesn't take long for Nina to find out that apart from some help from a few newly discovered friends, if Nina wants to find her father, she's on her own. Russian conspiracy theories, scientific experiments gone bad, evil and mysterious beings in black robes... So goes the story of Secret Files: Tunguska, another puzzle-based mystery game by the folks at The Adventure Company.
In many ways, Secret Files: Tunguska plays the same as many other similar games. There is an objective, and you find items along the way that you use - or combine together - to solve puzzles and move on to the next objective. The pairings here are particularly obscure, combining items that wouldn't make sense to anyone in real life except, perhaps, MacGyver himself - but I quickly found that the best way to play the game is, every time you find an item, look at it, then try to combine it with anything or everything else you have in your inventory. Sooner or later you're bound to make a match. With that said, the gameplay of Secret Files: Tunguska gets a bit tedious after a few hours, as you find yourself not necessarily using your brain to crack the puzzles and follow the clues but, rather, simply combining random items (a rat and a chair leg, anyone?) to make completely inane uber-items, which have been (apparently) designed to help you crack open the clue and move on.
The game isn't all bad, however, especially for the beginning gamer. While you are free to explore a particular scene or room on your own, with just a press of the space bar the game will point out all of the places you should be looking. (That way, you won't overlook something that could be important later on.) The newbie gamer will find this particularly helpful when trying to mesh together confusing clues or random plot changes in the storyline - but more experienced gamers, I'll warn you, may simply find it a tad boring.
It is fun, though, to play as Nina - a young woman who, while a bit stereotypical, is pretty self-reliant. She shuns the advances of creepy men, and gets herself in and out of her own predicaments (mostly). Ultimately, though, while Nina is a fun character to play, the tediousness of not being able to use your brain to advance in the game is little more than a small diversion, a way to pass the time when you have nothing better to do. Visually and technically, Secret Files: Tunguska is quite good, with slightly better than the norm voice acting as well. As for the gameplay, though, I found it to be fairly average.
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About the Author
Carly Hope Finseth spends much of her time pondering what she wants to be when she grows up. She alternates between days filled with cozy socks, hot tea, and meditative reflection - and others, which are loaded with caffeine fixes, grueling commutes, and one fire to put out after another. When she’s not sifting through e-mails, dropping her cell phone, or sticking another reminder Post-It on her desk, Carly also somehow finds the time to write and reflect on important (and the occasional not-so-important) feminist issues.
My curse is my gift. My nightmares, deep sensitivity, and emotional instability gives the best (and most uncomfortable) inspirations I could ever have. For me, art is passion - and visions are the mirror, which show my feelings and connect me with the rest of the world. Read More...
Secret Files: Tunguska
Carly Hope Finseth spends much of her time pondering what she wants to be when she grows up. She alternates between days filled with cozy socks, hot tea, and meditative reflection - and others, which are loaded with caffeine fixes, grueling commutes, and one fire to put out after another. When she’s not sifting through e-mails, dropping her cell phone, or sticking another reminder Post-It on her desk, Carly also somehow finds the time to write and reflect on important (and the occasional not-so-important) feminist issues.
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