Tunguska takes us back to the basics of a traditional point-n-click third person adventure, in the style of Broken Sword. This means plenty of dialogue, inventory item-based puzzles and a mysterious plot. The result is a mostly pleasing, albeit average adventure.

Until now, I had never heard of the Tunguska explosion. This event must not be in any of my history books, and considering the magnitude of the event and the mystery surrounding it, this silence seems odd. However, this is the story: in 1908, an explosion caused by a fiery object from the sky caused extreme devastation in Siberia, over an area of 800 miles. No one knows what caused it, but of course, there are many, many theories on the subject, ranging from a meteor hit to a spaceship crash. Tunguska, the game, takes this mystery and uses it as the story for the adventure.

Nina Kalenkov was supposed to meet her father for a relaxing evening dinner and game of chess, but when she arrives at his office at the Natural Museum, she is greeted not by her father, but by an empty room that has apparently been ransacked. Nina looks for her father, but can’t find him anywhere.  He appears to be missing.  When she calls the police, they are less than helpful, and so she decides to search for him herself.

The game begins in the Natural Museum, which has a few rooms to explore. Nina will encounter her father’s assistant inside one of the rooms, and a few other characters out in the city. For the most part, each locality is confined to a few areas of exploration, as this is an extremely linear game.  Players won’t be able to move around too much without first accomplishing whatever the game desires at the moment.

The puzzles are almost entirely inventory-based, which means that players will have to figure out what items in their inventory will need to be used on certain objects in the game. These types of puzzles can be either fun or frustrating, depending on their logic, their appropriateness to the situation, and how difficult the clues are. Some of these puzzles are well designed and fit the story fairly well, but too many others are baffling in their placement and defy logic. At one point in the game, Nina has to mix together ingredients to make a treat that will affect a character’s behavior, but the whole thing is pretty silly, as this is a common item that is much easier to buy at a store than to make from scratch. 

Often, too, the solution to a puzzle is obvious, but the actual solving requires a rigid placement that is hard to discover at times.  For instance, early in the game, Nina will need to find a source of water, but she can only use a certain arbitrary source that is actually what would have been my third or fourth choice of water to use for this particular puzzle.  

Other puzzles are the dreaded “you can’t do that yet, but come back and try it later” type.  This is irritating because if something is tried and doesn’t work, players usually don’t go back and try it again later. Some puzzles are good, though, as one in which Nina must figure out how to get an object out of a tree without it crashing to the ground and breaking, and one later in the game when she must take care of a guard in order to escape.  

There is a LOT of dialogue, which can fortunately be clicked through.  I don’t have any complaints, as I love lots of conversation in my adventure games, but I do appreciate the clicking through option, as I can read faster than they can speak. Others may find the conversation wearing after a while. The voice acting is pretty good and the translation to English is decent, with some good idioms and common American sayings included.  However, Nina often sounds like a whiny Valley girl, instead of an educated adult. The scripted conversations are a mixed bag, with some characters sounding very improbable, like the police officer that finally shows up at the Natural Museum and browbeats Nina over her father’s disappearance. Also, the first conversations between Max Gruber, a staff member of the Museum, and Nina are somewhat strange, in that he is singularly unhelpful at first and doesn’t seem to be very worried about her father. This is doubly strange given that he becomes very involved in helping Nina later in the story.  

The interface is a typical one for an adventure game, but a handy magnifying glass option makes it much easier than usual to find items that can be used or taken. Double-clicking a new location will move Nina immediately to that location, without having to wait until she walks across the area. Dialogue can also be ended with a mouse click.  

The game looks great, with attractive characters and locations. With so many interesting items in the locations, it’s a shame that only a few are actually interactive. More interaction and comments would have been nice, instead of the sterile nature of many of the rooms and areas.  

On the whole, this is an average adventure that is fairly entertaining. The story is intriguing and mysterious, but is handicapped by dialogue that is silly and mundane most of the time. The puzzles are tiring after awhile, too, and just don’t make sense all of the time. Puzzles in humorous games such as Monkey Island are supposed to be bizarre, but a serious game such as this shouldn’t have the same type of puzzles. Still, the game is fun enough and most fans of adventure games will appreciate the style of gameplay.  

Gameplay: 7
The gameplay is entertaining at first, but soon becomes tiresome because of the endless inventory puzzles that require a “sticking items together until something happens” approach much too often. The story itself is interesting, but is hampered by silly dialogue.

Graphics: 8
It all looks pretty neat! Much of the artwork can’t be acted upon, though.

Sound: 6
Unmemorable music.

Difficulty: Medium
Easy enough to play, and the manual explains all the new items in exhaustive detail.

Concept: 6
Been there, done this many times before.

Overall: 7
Tunguska is a decent adventure game, but one that doesn’t rise above the crowd in any significant way. Still, adventure game enthusiasts will probably enjoy it anyway for the good story and nice graphics.