Secret Files: Tunguska

I am a lifelong adventure / point-and-click games fan, but this game actually passed me by on release. It wasn't until I purchased it for the Nintendo DS that I discovered it was originally a PC game, and bought the PC version accordingly.

In many ways, the game comes across as a 'Broken Sword' wannabe (the 'Broken Sword' series, in case you don't know, being one of the leading and most popular point-and-click franchises of the last few years); but that's no bad thing.

I wasn't sure about the game at first, but I quickly found myself immersed in the plot and its characters. There are no fussy controls to get to grips with, and a nice feature is the hotspot finding icon, saving hours of aimless pixel-hunting (something that often blights other adventure games).

One thing I must comment on is the graphics. Crisp and detailed, they really bring the game to life, and are amongst the very best that I have seen in a point-and-click game. There are some impressive cut-scene videos, too.

Many players have complained about the dialogue volume shooting up and down during the game. I did notice this, but what bugged me more was that many of the pieces of dialogue were read out of context, with emphasis on wrong words.

The game is generally quite fun, although there are some obscure puzzles. One of the most bizarre comes quite early on in the game, where you have to tape a mobile phone to a cat to record a telephone conversation! (Yes, really!). This sort of bizarre puzzle might have been amusing in a 'Monkey Island' game or suchlike, but in a game such as this, it just seemed totally out of place.

There is an overall plot to investigate, but the game is generally broken up into smaller scenarios, with you having to solve a series of puzzles and actions before you can progress to the next section of the game. I found this design to mostly work very well. The only real gripe that I have, as mentioned above, is that some of the puzzles are just too obscure - often you have no real clue what you're supposed to be doing, and even though I am a hardened adventure gamer of over 20+ years, a few times I admit to resorting to a walkthrough, just to give a me a clue what on Earth I was aiming to do in the game.

The dialogue is mostly serious, but has the odd humorous line thrown in here and there (which work with varying success). I was glad that it was nowhere near as heavy going as some point-and-click releases of recent years.

I finished the game in about a week, but that was after putting some serious hours in, and As soon as I finished it I ordered a copy of the sequel. The adventure game market has seen a sharp decline in the last few years, and what ones that have been released, I have mostly (with a couple of exceptions) found disappointing and hard to get into. But I found 'Tunguska' to be very engaging and addictive. For the cheap price I got it for, it was well worth it and I would recommend it to adventure game fans. ...Though I do feel they could have gone for a more catchy title than the generic-sounding 'Secret Files'.

A very good game in the tradition of Broken Sword!!! I thoroughly enjoyed this game and would highly recommend it to anyone who likes a point and click type of puzzle adventure game! There are not enough of these kind of games these days!!!

Echoing the sentiment of others, it's rare to find a good point & click game these days. I fondly remember playing Broken Sword 1 & 2.

The graphics in Secret Files: Tunguska are acceptable by anybody's standards. They really do help build an atmosphere. The script is actually quite interesting, reminds me in a strange way of a Clive Cussler novel without the nautical elements! The whole storyline centres on the events of 1908 when an explosion occurred in the skies over Tunguska - now people are going missing, strange hooded figures, the Russian secret service and all you want to do is find your father.

The only downside I experienced was the voice acting which isn't very good. Halfway through a sentence the voice can change in pitch entirely. I'm looking forward to the 2nd installment.

When I first saw this in the shops I assumed the "Secret Files :" part meant this was part of a series, but it seems this is a stand alone game. The first thing that strikes is the amazingly hi-res backgrounds and details. The last game to really catch my eye in this way was Black Mirror. The voice acting whilst not overly amazing is acceptable, though there are a few anomalies in the grammar, which I'm assuming is some poor script translation. One of the early puzzles is so obscure that it's not even funny. This seems to be setting the mark for the rest of the puzzles, some of which are incredibly tedious, especially when you can pass items up through a hole between two of the main characters, who may or not need them at that point. But you cannot skip them crouching s..l..o..w..l..y..to pass the items up and down the drainpipe, and it's not even clear if you even need to be doing what you're doing because you can just pass them up and down between them all day if you like - which when the puzzles are as obscure as this game's can be is really something I'd want ironed out. But kudos back to the game because you CAN skip the often tedious 'walk from one door one side to the other door the other side 10,000 yards away' action, and you can also skip dialogue which you might have already heard. I wouldn't recommend this over Black Mirror but it is a solid enough point and click adventure game and definitely worth picking up for less than a tenner.

Nowadays point&click adventures are very rare, and it is also very difficult to find one of this quality.
Graphically the game looks gorgeous and the story is very interesting too: It keeps you stuck on the chair and you won't stop playing until you've finished the game.
The only down points are that there's some pixel hunting (but fortunately you can click on an icon in order to mark the hot spots of the scene) and some puzzles are a bit "extravagant" (in fact I solved them with the "try&see" method thanks to the fact that the interface/object management is not so complicated).
In conclusion, if you are a fan of adventure games you must absolutely buy this game!

I bought this some time ago; this is a typical point&click adventure game, but with absolutely great graphics and very good music and atmosphere too.

I would compare it to Gabriel Knight I and The Longest Journey, in the way that you travel around the world solving a mystery and living exciting moments.

Tunguska is not quite as deep as GK1 or TLJ though, but still one of the best adventure games of the past couple of years. The voices got some criticism from the gaming press, but I think they are okay really.

The puzzles get more complex as you progress; which may especially be frustrating in the last chapter(s). Otherwise the puzzles are well done.

And at the price it is currently at, it's a steal. I'd highly recommend it to any adventure fan, except maybe for absolute newcomers to point&click adventures.

ive been a avid 3rd person point and click fan since the early 90s so ive played some real stinkers broken sword 1/2 and gabrial knight set the standard for me. this is a brilliant game best ive played in a long time.

This game is yet another in the point and click genre that seems to have been pretty unnoticed. If you're wanting something in that style, go for this. Graphics are gorgeous, gameplay puzzles can be a bit irritating, but never overly so. Great game. It also runs well on my four-five year old rig.