December 13, 2006

Tunguska (**** out of four) is an animated adventure game that unfolds like a mystery novel, except that you play an interactive role.

The game’s title, Tunguska, refers to a province in Siberia, Russia, where a mysterious event occurred in 1908. A huge explosion leveled nearly 1,000 square miles of forest, and the brilliant flash of light was witnessed by hundreds of people. The blast produced a seismic wave recorded in Europe and America, knocked down military men and their barracks more than 100 miles from the center, derailed a train 400 miles away and much more. Despite numerous expeditions to the area and many studies by different groups over the years, no evidence as to the cause was ever found, and this historical phenomenon remains unsolved.

The game takes place in modern times. Nina, the heroine of the adventure, discovers that her father, a scientist and director of a Berlin museum, is missing--under mysterious circumstances. His office and apartment were torn apart by someone looking for something. Nina finds that her father had been involved in a research exhibition to Siberia to investigate the Tunguska event and may posses secrets that unnamed powers are seeking.

Nina’s adventures start in Berlin but take her to Moscow, Cuba, China and the Antarctic. You control the actions of Nina and must search out clues, pick up pieces of evidence and other items that may be useful later, interview various people, find out who the unnamed powers are and what they want, uncover the secrets of Tunguska and save Nina’s father. Along the way you must investigate the various theories of the event. It is dangerous at times but all in a day’s work for this young woman, who is feisty but has a touch of humor.

The graphics are very good, with interesting locations and adequate control of Nina. Later in the game you can choose to control the actions of Nina’s friend, Max, who is helping in her quest. The cinematic cut-scenes are very good and add much interest to the story.

Game play is interesting and has a compelling storyline, but becomes a bit tedious as you try to solve puzzle after puzzle and deal with various items before you can advance in the story. For example, you have to fix a bicycle tire to get a magnet from the bicycle owner. The magnet is needed to help retrieve a key to open a lock on an address book to find the address of the next character in the story. But to fix the tire you have to jury-rig a patch for the tire tube from a rubber glove and a tube of adhesive--and so it goes.

If you have time and patience and love a mystery, especially with a little sci-fi overtone, you’ll love Tunguska.

Morton Subotnick’s PLAYING MUSIC (****) lets children explore music by learning the elements of expression and then allowing them to apply their own expressions to the included music. The colorful, interactive program features selections of music from 10 famous classical composers and lets children hear the music, see the changes expressions make, create their own expressions and then hear or play the music with the changes they have made.

Children can visit the Expression Room, where they discover the differences made by the use of expression (loud, soft, fast, slow, staccato, and more), or the Music Cinema, where they can see and hear a pianist performing music and demonstrating the differences expressions make, the Glossary, where there are explanations of musical expressions, or they can play games in the Game Room. There’s also an Auditorium, where children can use the Performer’s Entrance to perform their music note by note using the expressions they have added, or the Audience Entrance, where they can hear it played by a performer. Each area provides a wonderful introduction to music and expression.

Games and quizzes led by animated characters provide a fun way for children to learn and explore music. A selection of five games allow players to compare musical performances and find two that are the same, watch visual kinetics to compare what they see to what they hear, listen to music and choose the correct notation, and listen to music while reading the score and then choose which expression marks are missing.

A video featuring a live piano performer lets children hear their choice of musical selections, hear the pianist talk about how he became a performer, and listen to him compare expressions to the experience of walking through a garden.

The program is suitable for individuals or multiple users. Each user can record and play the music of their choice and save their edited music. The program can be optimized for playing on a Disklavier, allowing even more options. An introductory tutorial is included, and help is available in your choice of voice instructions or screen tips.

The program offers a fun way to learn musical expression and is likely to inspire users to learn more and to listen and enjoy music. Recommended.

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