Secret Files: Tunguska

The Good
The controls are more or less flawless and I think the graphics are nice, but that's about it.

The Bad
The game's main weak points are the writing and the voice acting. With just one it could work but when the dialogues are bad and the voices are even worse at times, then it's hard to feel anything but bad for the game.

Even though it has a promising setup - a kidnapped scientist, strange experiments, a love story and the connection to the mysterious Tunguska incident - the game fails at delivering even one interesting or exiting plot point. It could have worked on a decent level if the dialogues and puzzles were good, but they also fail to reach any acceptable standard. As far as the puzzles go, there is a big no-no that Fusionsphere obviously has failed to understand - and that's "backward puzzles". Backward puzzles are when you find the things you need for a solution before you're aware of the problem. It was bad game design 20 years ago and it's bad game design today. It usually means the designer(s) lack imagination and/or talent. Oh, and did I mention the voice acting is horrible? Somehow they seem to have hired people that can articulate every word perfectly in flawless english. Some of them actually try to act as well but either don't have a clue of how to actually do that, or they are given the lines out of context.

The Bottom Line
Secret Files: Tunguska shows how far adventure games have fallen since the golden era of the genre during the 90's. What could have been a tremendous immersive adventure is just boring, stupid and contrived. It feels like the designer(s) have no clue what actually makes a good adventure game. Somewhat nice graphics don't make up for puzzles for the sake of puzzles and a story that wouldn't even cut it in a B-movie. If you want a serious, adult adventure game you should check out Syberia or The longest journey. Or if graphics isn't an issue; The first two Gabriel Knight games. Hey, that's what Fusionsphere should have done.

The Good
Well, for starters, the premise of the game is promising. A missing scientist, who has been researching a strange phenomena, some weird bad guys and a general adventure/sci-fi feel to it all. The story carries some definite potential.

Also, the controls are simple and easy, just as they should be in these types of adventure games. Just point and click.

The Bad
Well, the story has potential, but that's it. The game never lives up the potential, and the story never leads anywhere interesting, but instead it gets stuck in a web of tired clichés and stupid puzzles. How about taping a phone to a cat to record a conversation? It's just too stupid for a "serious" adventure game. It might have worked in "Sam and Max", but not here.

The characters, especially the main character and her love interest, are so bland and boring I want to kill myself every time they open their mouths. There aren't a single interesting, funny, gripping or otherwise mildly entertaining character in the whole game. Even the bad guy bored my pants off. Furthermore, while the graphics might look good as still photos, it really looks "dead", especially when people move around. They look like stiffs, and the world they move around in does not, in any way, feel alive. This is in every aspect a "dead" game.

Speaking of the dead, the acting is probably the worst I've ever heard. Add some of the worst dialogue ever and you have an unbearable combination. The lines are retarded to begin with, but they become even worse with that extremely annoying actress in the main role. The rest of the cast are almost as bad, but it is a mystery as to why they chose the worst possible actress for the biggest part of the game. Then again, when you write dialogue and monologues such as these, you can't be expected to do a much better job at hiring a decent actress/actor to read the bloody crap.

The few attempts to humour are few and far between, but not far enough. All the jokes are unbelievably bad, and the actors have no comic timing whatsoever. More than often it sounds as they aren't even aware of what they are saying, what with all the strange intonations.

I hate this game, I truly do. It's made by hacks with no talent whatsoever in telling a compelling story. They should have hired a writer, as should most game developers attempting to tell a story. This ends here and now, no more of these endless, unbelievably badly written dialogues. I just can't take it anymore. It's much worse, even, than "Moment of silence", which also featured some really bad acting and a script from hell.

The Bottom Line
If you like clichés, bad acting, lousy dialogue and stale graphics, this is the game for you. But I know that you don't, so stay away from this utter garbage excuse for a game.