Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon

When UAKM first arrived on the scene there had been some rather lackluster attempts at using FMV in games. But Access got it right - the acting even when cheesy fit right into the world, the story was fun, the characters were great, the mystery was even good. The humor! Oh the humor. I fell in love with Tex Murphy all those years ago and I guess I still am. In fact, I've plunked down my cash so I can play the Tex games again before Project Fedora comes out, without having to dig up my CDs and mess with them. This game is a must have for any aventure gamer.

The Tex Murphy series is without question one of the best FMV adventure game series and this is usually the first Tex Game people play first. When people get to the last game in the series they will realize that it was meant 'to be continued'.But the era of Good Old (Adventure) Gaming was coming to a close with mindless games for the masses taking their place. Now, however, people are finding that there is more to a game than mindless hack-n-slash or mindless crafting. Yes, these are also fun; but true immersion must always combine our creative imagination with the world we are being immersed in. In this case, you really feel for Tex as you are Tex, that hard-boiled P.I. down on his luck, and you do spend time to think over where the story needs to go and what choices you need to make as a detective. Fortunately, people are becoming aware of the well-known fact that there is more to a good game than good graphics (though FMV video sequences still look pretty neat today), for creative story-telling has been at the heart of our social interaction as human beings, right from the start. So now that the Good Old Games are making a comeback, from adventures like 'The Book of Unwritten Tales' to dungeon crawls like 'Legends of Grimrock', it is probably high time we all helped to also bring the best of the FMV series back to the people. And king among them is the humble P.I. we all loved and cherished on cold nights in the company of good family, friends and possibly of a glass of good bourbon. For this reason, I address my point here: please support the Kickstarter Project working to give us a Tex Murphy 6. It will not only continue the storyline cut off so abruptly from Overseer, but it will even help bring back quality FMV gaming to the masses. I think that we as GOGers should always support such projects. Google the words 'tex murphy kickstarter'. Give whatever you can so that we can have the Good Old Games come back: give the next generation a chance to appreciate once again the qualities of exploration, humor, note-keeping, interactivity and patience. Most of all, let us remember that the Tex Games are also social events meant to be shared with friends and family, each one making their one recommendations of 'what to do next'. Games that are as fun to watch as they are to play.

The answer is no.

I enjoyed the noir genre to begin with, so liking this game comes easy. The plot is good, it keeps feeding you, teasing you to keep playing. I also appreciate the humor, and iinuedo found liberally throughout the game. My only complaints may be simply because of the lack decent resolution. It makes finding some the items and hotspots difficult. Not difficult in the good way, but more like "where the heck is that?!" Anyhow I recommend it to anyone.

Let me just say that this game is one you'll love to play in spite of its horrid controls. this one kept me fiddling with graphics and control options for hours just because I was so invested in it after only an few minutes of gameplay. If you can last long enough to get used to the bizarre movement which resembles driving a tobogan over ice and complicated mouse interface and no less than10 different camera angle keys then its totally worth it. pros: delightful film noir done right, fantastic real star (james earl jones!) voice acting and live actor film clips, funky post apocalyptic cities to explore, awesome music track full of cool jazz which brings home the genre. sorta logical puzzles (its an adventure game after all so dont expect reality) that makes sense and actually can be worked out without a walkthru, intriguing story cons: the controls are a nightmare. you 'steer' with keybinds and give gas with the mouse, the camera does its own thing with too many idiotic key bindings to look up/down/right/left/sorta right/sorta left/behind/stand on toes/slither on ground etc. the gas via mouse gives a floating sliding feel to your char which usually means you continue to slide past your target, over react with your mouse and end up careening all over the place spinning like a top. you have an option to slow mouse movement which I did but it only helps a little. graphics are pixelated and tearing if you choose to increase your rez and go against the native windowed mode. my screen was offset to the right, cutting off interface controls which took a long time to fix. sliding around makes hotspot finding a chore, especially when you only get the cue for interaction from one tiny angle so 3d movement is not a blessing persevering thru all the control and graphic issues leaves you with a great game to listen to, enjoy, solve puzzles, laugh at the comedy, get creeped out and wonder what will happen next. In other words...an adventure game