Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon

This was my first Tex game back in the 90s and it blew me away! The 'movie' cut scenes and the witty sometimes cheesy humor was awesome and extremely entertaining. I loved this game as a kid and I'm still loving it!!!

I bought UAKM (Under a Killing Moon) back in the 90's. I am very picky what games I buy or play. So picky, that during the 80's, when I didn't find a type of game I wished to have, I wrote one (for the Apple II line computers) and it was published by MUSE Software (Intellectual Decathlon, you can find it on Wiki). I wrote it just for the heck of it, just so I will have such a game, not for the money. That's how picky I am with games. UAKM is better than good, it is outstanding. Most other writeup here described already most of the positive aspects of this game. What I would like to add to it is that this game have an atmosphere, a kind of feel what makes one to wish to be there. In the game. Wish to be part of the game. Because that's how I felt when I played UAKM. And that is a huge positive plus. In these days games are lousy. They are faint copies of the copies of the copies of some great original back in the 80's and the 90's. What improved of course is the computer technology, the graphics quality, but not the games themselves. UAKM is a true original. It is of course an adventure game. Many other reviewers already mentioned the fully 3d environment, the "no pixel hunting", the outstanding built in help system, the easy enough to play without aggravation, but difficult enough to be a real challenge. Because if you resist using the help system, it is a real challenge, but the challenge is always logical. No stupid "gotcha" situations, often used by adventure creators. Tex Murphy, the main character is from the future, but totally based on the past, from the first part of the 20th century type detectives. A huge plus: he is funny. Very funny. You click on virtually anything, even if the object has absolutely no role in the game, Tex will give some very funny remark or comment. Thus even the "wrong clicks" will produce a huge entertainment value. There is no "timeout", no matter where you click, you either make progress in the game (find an important object, etc.) or just being entertained by Tex's remarks. The story is unique and outstanding. An unknown, unimportant, down to earth guy, who barely survives in a post WW III imaginary situation and scenario, by progressing scene to scene ends up saving the world. And there is no brute and artificial transition, it just happens that way. I personally loved the music, always perfectly fitting the given scenario. One thing I disagree with some other reviewers, I thought Chris Jones is an excellent actor, and made a perfect Tex Murphy. Both his looks and his voice perfectly presents the character. The other characters are very well played as well. And because of that, one quickly becomes (the player) sort of "part of the story" or rather wishing that. I sure have. No matter how long it will take for you (the player) to finish this game, it won't be perceived as a waste of time. UAKM is totally entertaining and worth every penny. I found GOG after attempted to play UAKM after finishing it 14 years ago. I tried DOSBOX, but I couldn't find the settings under which it worked with my original CDs on my Vista based computer. It was fantastic not having to bother with swapping the CDs, it was fantastic that it worked without a glitch, it was great not having to wait for loading the scenes, because today's computers are much faster. So, no matter who you are, whether you played UAKM back in the 90's or not, I highly, very highly recommend to get this game and immerse yourself in the outstanding atmosphere. Once you finished it, you will rush back and you will surely get the sequels, Pandora's Directive and the Overseer. If other adventure games were as good as these, perhaps the genre wouldn't have gone out of fashion.

Under A Killing Moon is a game that lots of people had recommended to me before I played it based on my love for another detective game that used lots of full motion video, The Dame Was Loaded. Although there are similarities, Under A Killing Moon is a completely different beast. Gameplay What sets Under A Killing Moon apart from other adventure games of its time is the fully 3d environment. Instead of pointing and clicking through stills, you can actually walk around! This type of gameplay reminds me of the more contemporary Hotel Dusk Room 215 for the Nintendo DS. Getting around in UAKM isn't too difficult once you take three minutes to get used to the controls. Beyond that, most of the puzzles involve the player talking to non-player characters to gather clues and finding/using objects in the appropriate manner. Graphics The graphics are actually really impressive when you consider that this game wasn't released long after Doom and uses a true 3d graphics engine instead of ray casting. That said, it is very obvious that this is an early 3d game. There are lots of technical shortcomings like textures randomly moving around objects while you are walking around. That said, the game's creators did a good job of creating varied and believable environments. You actually feel like you are in a decimated San Francisco as you walk down Chandler Street in the game (well, it could use more fog and hills, but that's getting picky). Each location is unique and memorable in some way. Challenge I've played harder adventure games, MUCH harder adventure games in fact. UAKM is a game that never really stumps the player, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. There are a few puzzles that involve some pixel hunting. Oddly enough, I find myself enjoying pixel hunting when it's taking place in a 3d environment. Even if you do get stumped, there is a hint system that will basically provide you with the solution for the cost of a few points. The game starts off at a moderate difficulty level and doesn't change too much throughout the game. Unlike games like Myst, the player almost always knows what he is supposed to be doing. There are a few situations that hand the player a cheap death, but the ability to save almost anywhere doesn't really make this a big deal. It's best to increment your saved games, because I have noticed that it is possible to save your game and get 'stuck' in a few places where the only outcome will be a game over. Story The post-World War 3 San Francisco setting of the Tex Murphy games have a lot of potential. Some type of chemical weapon has mutated many of the inhabitants, causing a rift in society between the 'norms' and the 'mutants'. Old San Francisco is now a run-down refuge for the mutated second-class citizens while the norms live elsewhere. Unfortunately, Under A Killing Moon doesn't have a very good story past its setting. It's a watered-down version of the Moonraker 007 movie, only cheesier and without memorable characters like Jaws & Hugo Drax. I'm not sure how you can make Moonraker cheesier than it already is (remember the inflatable gondola?), but UAKM manages to do it. To add insult to injury, the acting is some of the worst I have ever seen in any medium. I watch a lot of B horror films and am usually forgiving about poor acting, but a line has to be drawn somewhere. It almost seems like they were trying to be bad. The only redemption the cast has are the voice-overs done by James Earl Jones, but he plays a limited role in the story. Some of the jokes did make me chuckle a little, but for the most part, the humor was wasted. I may be a little too harsh for the the acting and story, it isn't too terrible when comparing it to other games that were released at them time, but if something says it's an 'interactive movie' instead of a game in the opening cut-scene, I'm expecting for the production values to be a little higher. Overall Impressions Under A Killing Moon is a very fun game if you are looking for an adventure title that isn't too difficult. It does have it's shortcomings in the acting and story, but the 3d environment & moderate puzzles are done well enough to forgive this. UAKM will give you a couple of hours of pretty decent gameplay and for 10 bucks at gog.com, why not? Overall, I'm glad this title was recommended to me and I look forward to seeing what improvements were made in the two sequels. Least Favorite Moment The shell game you have to play toward the end of the game really seems impossible without trial and error. It could have been fun if it didn't seem impossible. Favorite Moment Breaking into the suite at the Golden Gate Hotel to find evidence for Francesca. Decoding the letter from the escort agency was a pretty good challenge, and looking for the film roll afterward in the suite was a rewarding pay-off.

When it first released, Under A Killing Moon blew me away with its complex plot, 3D puzzle solving environments, and rich characters presented in FMV. It's a great game that builds towards a satisfying climax, and the in-game hint system almost entirely removes the need to search the internet. But it hasn't aged as well as it could. The semi-professional FMV looks much more wonky by today's standards, and the non-professional actors provoke cringes. The interface is well-intentioned but imperfect, there's a fair amount of pixel-hunting to avoid overlooking things, and not all of the puzzles are designed intuitively or cleverly. It's still a great game but you'll need to be prepared to engage with it as a product of its time rather than a competitor against modern releases.

I remember playing the demo of this game and shortly thereafter rushing out to buy the full version. I had to tone it down to run properly on my system but I enjoyed it. Visually very nice, great puzzle solving (at least earlier on in the peace) and a pretty good storyline. Not perfect, as later puzzles seemed a little frustrating, and the acting was very hammy, but a worthy purchase nonetheless.