Can you guys recommend more detective games like this where you actually have to move from location to location gathering clues and asking questions. Stuff that isn't so linear as things like point and click adventure games.

While being point-and-click with a fairly streamlined plot, the innovative and fun solutions in Discworld: Noir deserve some mention. The main thing being that information is treated like objects in other adventure games, so are clues, names and cases the main protagonist handles. This means you can combine them, investigate further, and the whole process of deduction is simulated by connecting the facts in your "notebook" and by asking suspects about anything.

Besides the atmosphere, acting and humour of the game are all arround astounding, double so if you are a Terry Pratchett fan - in fact Terry himself was very involved in the project, which is the only Discworld gam up to date that tells a truly original story. And fans of noir titles like Marlowe, The Big Sleep, the Maltese Falcon and Casablanca will be laughing their heads of, to be sure.

Aaah, I wish GOG would carry D:N...

Discworld Noir isn't bad. The humor's good, but it's buggy as hell.

As far as other games go, There's an old game called Private Eye that's quintessential Sam Spade noir. Not quite the same interface, and it may be a little closer to point-and-click than you'd like.

Other than that, it's not noir, but the recent Sherlock Holmes games from Frogware are quite good. They use an interface somewhat similar to PD/UAKM in that you're working from a first person perspective with direct control and are having to spot/analyze clues in the environment (a 3d representation of Victorian London). Pretty much anything from Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened on is good.

One note, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened is sort of the odd duck in the series as it's more Sherlock mixed with Lovecraftian horror with elder gods and what not..

Other than that, not a lot comes to mind that isn't point-and-click.

Two words...Blade Runner

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner_(1997_video_game]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner_(1997_video_game[/url])

I'm a very big fan of Blade Runner, in fact I was just as excited about it as I was Overseer being released.

Had some really neat touches like the V-K tests and the game randomizing who was or wasn't a replicant.

That being said, I'd have to say Blade Runner, while very atmospheric and a great "play the movie" experience, is very much a linear point-and-click sort of affair. It's a very good representation of the genre, but if you're wanting to avoid that type of gameplay, it may not be for you.

Of course, now I'm tempted to dig up my discs and run through it again.....

Blade Runner is an excellent suggestion, one of the best adventure games ever made.

There's also Black Dahlia - what an underappreciated "detective adventure" - 8 CDs of awesome content.

Quoted for goddamn truth. The first half of Black Dahlia is some truly thrilling detective work. Unfortunately it devolves into supernatural mumbo-jumbo, but the first part is good!

I really wish GOG would carry Discworld Noir, too. I can't get the old Windows discs to run on a new computer, and the Playstation version was a UK only release. I'd really love to finally play that one.

If you have the original disc version, there are ways to make them work on most machines by copying their content to harddrive, and tricking the game into running them from there. That's how I've done it, but you'll have to google it yourself.

Phantasmagoria and Gabriel Knight are good ones of this genre.

Ripper was a good game, Chris Walken too. XD

"This guy... he's un-*bleep*-ing-believable!"

It was a decent game, but man, the acting is horrible. :-)

Added to the game's charm and nostalgia, I hope to see it on GOG someday... Tex Murphy games are in their own class, but agree with what the others have posted here - Gabriel Knight 2 is probably your best bet for another adventure FMV game...

I was hoping that one day gog will have black dahlia, I still struggle with the mouse spins even though I have the patched version.

Hi,

so good to hear about all these great adventure games again. Though I must admit I never knew about Ripper nor Black Dahlia, I do agree that Blade Runner, the three Gabriel Knight episodes, both Phantasmagorias (I found the first one a bit better as I found the end of the second one was really confusing and weird, but, nonetheless, great atmosphere in those) and Discworld Noir are really, really good adventure games that are truly worth playing if you enjoyed the Tex Murphy serie. Well, about the Sherlock Holmes games, I must say that I was quite disappointing by the "Awakened" (and I'm as fond of Conan Doyle's writings as of Lovecraft's... in fact, that might be why I didn't like it : Holmes' cartesian mind vs. the indicibility of the Great Ones didn't stick together !). I found the older Sherlock Holmes to be much more interesting though less good-looking (if I might say). I'm talking about "The Case of the Silver Earring" (which is available on GOG), the "Rose Tattoo" IIRC (more like a FMV game, with real actors and all...) and the "Serrating Scalpel" (with a scenario very close to the most recent one, "...vs. Jack the Ripper", but in an old-fashioned point'n'click kind of way).
Reminds me I have to ask GOG about those last two in the correct thread (I mean "the Rose Tattoo" and "the Serrated Scalpel", I don't give a shit about "Jack the Ripper" as it is not old, nor really good ).

See ya, I'm off to turn my whole house upside down, looking for my old "Blade Runner" CDs, thanks to you all, well done !!! ;-)

EDIT : Ha, ha !!! Found it !!! The Holy "Blade Runner" !!! Now, let's just hope it works under Win7...

EDIT (bis) : Of course it doesn't run under Win7 ! What was I thinking ?!
Eventually, and luckily, thanks to the providential help of Mr Steve Simenic and Mr David Millington [http://www.davidmillington.net/news/index.php/2008/03/26/blade_runner_game_vista_64] (pretty sure this link might come in handy to anyone else trying to play the game under a 64 bit OS) , I managed to make it work however ! How glad I am !!! Replicants, the hunt is on !!!