Tex Murphy is one of those games I discovered only much later, when I started searching for more adventure games and cyberpunk media. Tex Murphy seems to embody the best of those worlds: fine adventure gaming and some cyberpunk elements. This is my first encounter with the series and I'm still a bit on the fence. As for the FMV acting: it's not as bad as Gabriel Knight: Beast Within, but remains wooden to say the least. That being said, for a game designer the title role is hilariously played. Tex acts as any overcliched private dick should act. This game never takes itself too serious and becomes all the better for it. Instead, the wooden acting, 80s hairstyles and fax-machines as the hight of technological advancement give the game a timeless charm. I wish the same could be said for the story: It's only a shallow vehicle for the (excellent) puzzles and there are plenty of plotholes and cheap mechanics to go around. The gameplay can be quite frustrating too. The actual action takes place on a rather tiny screen and the player must constantly switch between movement-mode and action-mode, which can make the pixelhunts quite frustrating. Again, however, it's the hilarious acting that saves the day. There isn't a single response or outcome or death-scene that makes you want to forget about the whole thing. This is one of these games where you end up doing the wrong thing just because you want to know what the great PI in the sky would say about it.
