Tex Murphy: Mean Streets + Martian Memorandum

After 60 minutes I hit the gun fight. Unfortunately for me it was an "arcade based" blaster which requires good reflexes. Worse was that without "winning" it I would not be able to interview the "witness". I gather there is more than one gun fight. So after an another 30 minutes I uninstalled the game. Enjoyed what little of the story that I had seen so far and the graphics were what I expected from a very old game. Without the gunfight I would probably have suggested a 3 star based on what I experienced so far.

The 1st game was much clunkier than the second, but made way more sense in terms of progression and story telling. Characters/locations generally lead to a few different locations and people to talk to and it's pretty easy to figure out where to go after you invesigate a few places (providing you take notes). The 2nd game has some of the worst parts of adventure games of it's time such as pixel hunting, need item X from Y scenes ago in order to progress. It's also more of a pain in to figure out what your supposed to do or where your supposed to go that the mean streets (and as a result I felt that the story was weaker). If you like adventure games they're worth a shot; otherwise try something else as an intro to the genre.

Includes the first two games of the great Tex Murphy series, Mean Streets and Martian Memorandum. Mean Streets was originally meant to be a sort of flight simulator with adventure-game elements to it. The flight sim is the weakest part of the game and frustrating, but the story is pretty good. Martian Memorandum is my favorite Tex game. Chris Jones and co. clearly understood what worked and what didn't with Mean Streets, so Martian Memorandum takes the form of a straight-up point-and-click adventure. It's my favorite point-and-click ever. The cheesy FMV and voices were revolutionary for their time (pre-7th Guest and Myst). Plus, the Tex Murphy games were the only really good post-nuclear computer/video games around until Final Fantasy VI came out for SNES in 1994.

Mean Streets is the most ambitious game from the 80s that I've ever played. The developers tried to deliver a multi-layered cinematic experience with real character and emotion using only a 286 computer with 256 color VGA and a PC Speaker, and you know what? They succeeded! Mean Streets is the first game in the seminal Tex Murphy series, a collection of classic PC adventure games that are held in high regard with other classics like Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry or Maniac Mansion. Access Software has created a realistic dystopian future with a living, breathing city. You play as Tex, a classic gumshoe private eye. It's your mission to solve a murder mystery that quickly unravels into a global conspiracy. You'll fly your hovercraft through a polygonal open world San Fransisco, engage crooks in shoot-outs, raid homes and offices for clues, question witnesses and interrogate criminals. The story is well written, the graphics look like filmed actors and the audio (despite using your PC Speaker in the original release) features digitized sound effects and voice acting. Access Software has also managed to find a balance between drama and humor in a way that surpasses LucasArts adventures, the writing is that good. Mean Streets is a treat to play and witness. Martian Memorandum is more of the same but without the elements that made Mean Streets so original. Instead it plays more like any other point and click adventure, and there's nothing wrong with that but it stands out as the black sheep in the series and isn't nearly as engaging. But while the gameplay may be a step back the presentation is a definate step up. If you have played the legendary Under a Killing Moon then you owe it to yourself to see the series' origins first hand. Mean Streets alone is worth the price of admittance and Martian Memorandum comes as a nice bonus, a must buy.

These two games were my first intro to Tex Murphy, and the excellent software from Access. Rich in detail and just funny enough to keep you interested, these are some of the best adventure games ever written. Chris Jones, where are you now!! We need more Tex!!