To begin with, there were things I liked about this game and things that took away from the enjoyment. This made the difference between what could have been a really great game and just an OK game for me.

I liked the story-it kept me interested throughout and made me want to keep playing to see what happens next. You play as Nina during the first half of the game. She lives in Germany. her father, a famous Russian scientist, has disappeared under suspicious circumstances. She begins to find out about his research into the mystery of the gigantic explosion that happened in 1908 in the Tunguska region of Syberia. Nina's search takes her from her home in Germany to Moscow,then on the Trans-Syberian Express,to "the forbidden zone"in the Tunguska region, Cuba,China in the Himalayas, and a huge research station in Antarctica. She has an interested friend, who had worked with her father: Max. He's her age and provides a little romantic interest as well as help with the search. Further along in the story you play as Max, who follows up a clue in Ireland, and becomes involved in Antactica.
There are some mysterious shadowy characters that pop up in cut scenes-a sinister, controlling corporate type in a penthouse and some creepy looking figures in black robes. They keep you guessing about what roles they play and there are some twists and turns where you don't know who are friends and who are enemies-just to make things interesting.

I thought the locations were well done and nicely detailed. There was variety and plenty of different screens to explore.There were different weather conditions-I especially liked Ireland with the thunder and rain. There were ambient sound effects throughout: creaking, rumbling machinery, train noises, canned music noises, distant conversations,traffic,ect.

Most of the puzzles are inventory based with just a few brain teaser puzzles. There are no mazes or sliders. Sometimes the inventory items actually made sense and it was easy to see where they fit. Sometimes you could get it by just clicking on every combination until something matched up. A nice feature is the "hot spot finder" which you can enable or disable: After you've explored a screen you can click on a magnifying glass and it will highlite all the things you havn't found yet, so you know you've got everything you need. Some may not like this, but I find it very confusing to have to backtrack and try to find items that are missing-as I readily forget where I've been.Another feature is the diary which gives a summary of the important events in the story as you go along. It also has a hint page for the puzzles, if you want to use it.
There was only one puzzle that didn't make any sense at all-the compass puzzle in the house in the forest. Even the walkthru didn't explain how they found the answer.

Now for the part that detracted from an otherwise really good game: the character acting. The first thing I noticed: Nina grew up in Russia and has Russian parents but she talks just like Nancy Drew-as American as apple pie! Her friend Max is German-he talks-and acts- like a typical American teenager. In Cuba, all the characters who live there sound and act like they live in California. In Ireland, even the bartender dosn't have an Irish accent!The Russian train driver has a Brooklyn accent. It's the details like this that make the difference between a classic that will be remembered and played for a few years to come or just a regular game that is played once and forgotten.


I played the DVD version that is included in "volume one Adventure Collection". It installed and played smoothly with no problems except for just a few times in certain locations a sort of stuttering happened when a character talked.

I will give this one a B-

Thanks Bigmamma1, I enjoyed Ireland too

Thanks for another wonderful review Bigmamma1! I made it only partway through this one, but hope to return some day and finish it.

Was it more enjoyable playing as Max than as Nina? Or did it not make any difference?

Becky- I enjoyed playing both equally well-although you play Nina way more that Max.Their personalitys are sorta like Nancy drew and Frank Hardy rather than the daughter of a Russian scientist and a German computer geek I liked the way you could(when given the icon) switch back and forth between the two.

Thanks for review Bigmamma1

Love Maria

Hi bigmamma1

Nice review !!

I enjoyed the game myself, very much

Cheers.

Mad

Sounds like a good game.

Did you play this on Windows Vista or XP?

Hi there Mission,

I played on XP with no problems.

I loved this game because I thought it was graphically beautiful.....one of my favorites of all time i think!

What are your other favorites Liz?

I would have to say that the eye candy games are the ones I like the best.....I love great looking graphics and exotic locales; guess i'm just an armchair traveler!

I liked Black Mirror a lot (very nice graphics) - and because I also like FMV I love Phantasmagoria (the old Sierra game.) There was nothing more fun than running around that spooky old house and watching Adrienne's life unravel! Then of course there's Gabriel Knight the beast within.....one of the best games ever made. Incredible!

I've also become a great fan of Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, and the Thief games........they are SO addicting!

What about you, looney, what are your favorites?

Tunguska is one of my favourite games too, I really did enjoy all those brain-aching inventory puzzles! The graphics were gorgeous, and I enjoyed the linear style of gameplay.

Thanks for the review, bigmamma1!

Thanks for all your comments-I have to agree that eye candy is very important and Tunguska was excellent in that respect.

Liz- I got hooked on those very same games-Loved Indy Jones Emporers Tomb-it would have been absolutely perfect if not for the awful save system-I had to give up on the last level where the monster is chasing indy with the huge machine. Now palying TR Angel of Darkness-have played them all except for Anniversary.Have played all the Thief games-wish they'd make another one-or update Thief I!

I liked Emperor's Tomb a lot also.....and got stuck at the very same spot you did, bigmamma1....that darn machine; Indy never did run fast enough for it...I must have spent DAYS trying to get past that part - i swear i tried about 500 times (finally used a cheat so I could continue the game)

And as far as Thief is concerned......fun fun games.....have you tried any of the hundreds of fan missions?? Some are absolutely fantastic....as good as the original games or better! This way I'll be able to play Thief forever!! Can't ask for more than that......except of course maybe a Thief 4

and hey I like your avatar lol

Hi Liz-howabout that-guess we both like big cats!

I've seen lists of fan missions but never tried any-there are so many-how do you know which one to play?

I like little cats, too......I have 5 of them.

Here's a Thief fan mission site........http://www.keepofmetalandgold.com/fmarchive.htm

They have ratings on them......so I started downloading the ones with the highest ratings first. Download Darkloader first to help manage the fan missions.....then it's very easy to go from one to another.

gee....sorry, i really hijacked this thread...and my html is not enabled so you can't just click on the URL and go to the site...bummer

Liz, that's ok. We are pretty tolerant of that over here. But do feel free to start a separate thread on the subject over on the Darkside too.

thanks, looney......

anyway......thanks for the review, bigmamma; I thought Secret Files was a great game and I can't wait for the next one!

Thanks for the info, Looney. Secret Files Tunguska looks like a good game. I like the third person point-and-click linear games.