Secret Files: Tunguska (Nintendo DS)

Newly Released in the UK

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.jpg

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.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Files...327989&sr=1-24