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Video Games : Secret Files: Tunguska (Nintendo DS)
Rating: 
- Fantastic, fustrating time killer
The story of Secret Files: Tunguska plays out like an indiana jones movie/ tomb raider game plot - in a point and click style adventure. The story is engaging enough to keep your interest, but not too in-depth or confusing to detract from the game.
Its no great shakes with the puzzles, which takes the old fashioned "combine A with B and use on C, and then D will happen" format, but enough thought has gone into them that they aren't tedious, and MOST require a reasonable amount of thinking to get the job done.
The pointing and clicking is also great - the (surprisingly gorgeous!) backgrounds are static, but the character is fully mobile, so you have to roam around the screens to solve the problems: the opposite of games like CSI.
The length is spot on - I think it works out at about 10-12 hours long all in, so would be great for holiday travelling, long journeys, rainy days off etc. And that's another nice thing to it - you can very much pick-up-and-play - you can save and switch off at any point, and its very easy to pick up where you leave off.
It doesn't get a perfect 5 from me for two reasons however:
1 - And I think this is the biggest flaw - A fair few of the puzzles - maybe 15-20% - are utterly, totally illogical and/or non-intuitive. You therefore end up frustrated after wandering around desperately thinking you MUST have missed something, then stumble onto the solution by fluke - just by literally clicking on any and everything in sequence, so there's no satisfaction when you solve it, and a degree of irritation (not because you feel stupid for missing it, but because there's no logic as to why doing that would work!)
2 - there's no increase in difficulty. Its as easy and hard at the start as it is all the way through. In fact I think the very end level is probably the easiest one! I'm sure this wont actually bother a lot of people, but it seemed odd that I was stuck for ages in an early level (which I loved, because I hate when games are too simple, and got a great buzz when I finally cracked it), then sailed through the last few stages (which confused me, as I thought itd get harder!)
That said, it IS good fun, at times actually funny, is a perfect format for the DS and would probably appeal most to the slightly older end of the DS player market - i.e. 20+ - who fondly remember the traditional point and click adventures like Monkey Island etc. Not sure how a younger audience would go for it though - So if youre thinking for a gift, its probably more appealing for 16+ rather than the 12+ it reccomends (theres nothing adult, violent or scary in it other than a few mild swearwords, but aside from that I just dont see it appealing to younger audiences)
Hopefully DS game makers will do a lot more DS transfers of other great PC adventure games, because this one is worth every penny and I highly reccomend it!
(** For fans of this game, I also read Secret Files 2 is out this September on PC - hopefully that will migrate to DS too!)
Rating:
- If you really like graphical adventures, it's okay.
This game is basically consistent with an average game from the heyday of graphical adventures. Not technologically, of course, though it is standard point-and-click affair with a UI engine which is basically a scaled-down Full Throttle-era SCUMM.
Too many acronyms for you? Well, basically this kind of game is what killed the graphical adventure genre (currently enjoying a few years of undeath) in the first place.
There are good, and fun parts; the plot is fairly interesting, and the 3D graphics are pretty good for the DS. But the puzzles are frequently non-obvious, and the overall effect is a very mediocre game for which a walkthrough is effectively prerequisite. Many of the flaws of graphical adventures past rear their ugly heads: random inventory combinations (bar + dog leash?), obtuse problem solutions (why should you have to soak the laundry in whale oil?), things not working for arbitrary reasons (you can't pick up - or even identify - the anaesthetic until you've read a patient file), and many more.
It's mostly a pleasant experience, but the bad points detract from that pretty significantly, leaving the game, overall, very average.
Rating:
- Point and Click adventure...Or should i say point and Tap..
I just bought the game today. Got to play it for a few hours. My inital thoughts were YES!! I love games like Monkey Island (classic Amiga game) and Broken Sword (another classic series). This game operates similar to these. Although it seems to be not as overtly witty. What you do is, go around and talk to people, find objects and use them to interact with your environment. If you like this you'll probably also like hotel dusk. Although this game uses static back grounds rather than Dusk's 3d first person navigation. But dusk is quite a humourous game and has a unique a-ha "take on me" comic book style. Beautiful looking game. Anyway, they don't make too many games like this (Tunguska) unfortunately. I would recommend Tunguska. If you like your point and tap adventures, chances are you'll like this.
- Fantastic, fustrating time killerThe story of Secret Files: Tunguska plays out like an indiana jones movie/ tomb raider game plot - in a point and click style adventure. The story is engaging enough to keep your interest, but not too in-depth or confusing to detract from the game.
Its no great shakes with the puzzles, which takes the old fashioned "combine A with B and use on C, and then D will happen" format, but enough thought has gone into them that they aren't tedious, and MOST require a reasonable amount of thinking to get the job done.
The pointing and clicking is also great - the (surprisingly gorgeous!) backgrounds are static, but the character is fully mobile, so you have to roam around the screens to solve the problems: the opposite of games like CSI.
The length is spot on - I think it works out at about 10-12 hours long all in, so would be great for holiday travelling, long journeys, rainy days off etc. And that's another nice thing to it - you can very much pick-up-and-play - you can save and switch off at any point, and its very easy to pick up where you leave off.
It doesn't get a perfect 5 from me for two reasons however:
1 - And I think this is the biggest flaw - A fair few of the puzzles - maybe 15-20% - are utterly, totally illogical and/or non-intuitive. You therefore end up frustrated after wandering around desperately thinking you MUST have missed something, then stumble onto the solution by fluke - just by literally clicking on any and everything in sequence, so there's no satisfaction when you solve it, and a degree of irritation (not because you feel stupid for missing it, but because there's no logic as to why doing that would work!)
2 - there's no increase in difficulty. Its as easy and hard at the start as it is all the way through. In fact I think the very end level is probably the easiest one! I'm sure this wont actually bother a lot of people, but it seemed odd that I was stuck for ages in an early level (which I loved, because I hate when games are too simple, and got a great buzz when I finally cracked it), then sailed through the last few stages (which confused me, as I thought itd get harder!)
That said, it IS good fun, at times actually funny, is a perfect format for the DS and would probably appeal most to the slightly older end of the DS player market - i.e. 20+ - who fondly remember the traditional point and click adventures like Monkey Island etc. Not sure how a younger audience would go for it though - So if youre thinking for a gift, its probably more appealing for 16+ rather than the 12+ it reccomends (theres nothing adult, violent or scary in it other than a few mild swearwords, but aside from that I just dont see it appealing to younger audiences)
Hopefully DS game makers will do a lot more DS transfers of other great PC adventure games, because this one is worth every penny and I highly reccomend it!
(** For fans of this game, I also read Secret Files 2 is out this September on PC - hopefully that will migrate to DS too!)
Rating:
- If you really like graphical adventures, it's okay.This game is basically consistent with an average game from the heyday of graphical adventures. Not technologically, of course, though it is standard point-and-click affair with a UI engine which is basically a scaled-down Full Throttle-era SCUMM.
Too many acronyms for you? Well, basically this kind of game is what killed the graphical adventure genre (currently enjoying a few years of undeath) in the first place.
There are good, and fun parts; the plot is fairly interesting, and the 3D graphics are pretty good for the DS. But the puzzles are frequently non-obvious, and the overall effect is a very mediocre game for which a walkthrough is effectively prerequisite. Many of the flaws of graphical adventures past rear their ugly heads: random inventory combinations (bar + dog leash?), obtuse problem solutions (why should you have to soak the laundry in whale oil?), things not working for arbitrary reasons (you can't pick up - or even identify - the anaesthetic until you've read a patient file), and many more.
It's mostly a pleasant experience, but the bad points detract from that pretty significantly, leaving the game, overall, very average.
Rating:
- Point and Click adventure...Or should i say point and Tap..I just bought the game today. Got to play it for a few hours. My inital thoughts were YES!! I love games like Monkey Island (classic Amiga game) and Broken Sword (another classic series). This game operates similar to these. Although it seems to be not as overtly witty. What you do is, go around and talk to people, find objects and use them to interact with your environment. If you like this you'll probably also like hotel dusk. Although this game uses static back grounds rather than Dusk's 3d first person navigation. But dusk is quite a humourous game and has a unique a-ha "take on me" comic book style. Beautiful looking game. Anyway, they don't make too many games like this (Tunguska) unfortunately. I would recommend Tunguska. If you like your point and tap adventures, chances are you'll like this.