Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon

Back in the 1990s, there was this fascination with incorporating full motion videos into video games given the high storage capacity of CDs, on which games are starting to ship. One of the first developers who embraced this advance in technology and paved the way for cinematic video game experience was Chris Jones from Access Software. Their first effort was 'Under a Killing Moon', starring Tex Murphy, the hero of 'Mean Streets' and 'Martian Memorandum'. While 'UAKM' is undoubtedly important in the history of video game development, it is not not necessarily entertaining in its entirety. 'UAKM' was a technological wonder back in the day. Being able to play a game that looked like a movie, albeit a poorly made B movie, was astounding. (And the game starred Margot Kidder -- a big name -- so it must be something!) Not to mention there were no rule books on how these games should be made, so the fact that a big budgeted title like 'UAKM' got made was noteworthy. Given that, as long as you, as a modern gamer, approach 'UAKM' as an exploration of video gaming past, you are likely to enjoy it. However, I had more trouble doing so. I never played 'UAKM' until now in 2018. The Tex Murphy that I first got to know was the one from 'Mean Streets'. I had always envisioned that Tex Murphy to be a mix of Sam Spade and Joe Friday, who is no nonsense and will shoot his way out of trouble if need to. The Tex Murphy in 'UAKM', on the other hand, is clumsy and goofy, a 1930-style private eye that seems out of time in the future, in which flying cars and travelling off world are common place. I had a hard time playing this character who turned out to be so different from what I thought. Also, the story was more outlandish than I had imagined. While the story of 'Mean Streets' was science fiction and futuristic noir, and that of 'Martian Memorandum' began to dabble in the supernatural, 'UAKM' embraced the supernatural aspect wholeheartedly. 'UAKM' ended up being a such a mishmash of science fiction, fantasy, noir, stealth action and comedy that it seemed like it was still trying to find its tone and voice in the landscape of video games. Then there was the technology behind 'UAKM'. The 3D engine is atrociously bad. Prior to having this unspoken convention of using WASD for movement and the mouse for free look as in many first-person shooters today, game developers were still trying to figure out how to have players navigate a 3D space using keyboard and mouse. In 'UAKM', you move forward and back with your mouse, stop movement with the right mouse button, and use the up and down keys to look up and down. This configuration made movement highly difficult, and very frustrating when a good part of the game requires you to examine rooms for clues. While this exploration in first-person perspective was welcoming and provided immersion, this immersion was immediately broken when you needed to interact with the environment. Upon hitting the spacebar, 75% of the screen was immediately filled with buttons and consoles that you press and read when interacting the remainder 25% of the 3D rendered screen. I know previous Tex Murphy games were not known for friendly user interfaces, but I'm sure Chris Jones could have come up with something better! Furthermore, the 3D engine is atrocious. Objects that you need to examine and interact without are not really 3D models, so as you circle an object, its flat texture gets spun around, too, as if the objects were spinning all the time. This killed the immersion and just made exploration jarring. 'UAKM' is the product of a developer that took risk in developing and incorporating new technology into computer entertainment. While a lot of it did not withstand the test of time, the outcome of such effort is worth celebrating and checking out for those who are curious.

This game uses a frustratingly and unnecessarily complicated interface, which makes the gameplay very tedious. Before playing the game, it's necessary to study the instructions. The introduction takes at least ten minutes to complete and there doesn't seem to be a way to skip it. When conversing with a character, there is no way to speed up or exit the conversation until it's over. Attempting to move, pick up items, and go through doorways is difficult and actions require pressing various keys on the keyboard. It's much less enjoyable than point and click games, which are elegantly simple.