Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon

This was one of the first PC games I ever bought. I got it in a dual pack with Pandora Directive and between this, Wing Commander 3 and Realms of the Haunting, I was convinced that FMV was the best things ever. Little did I know that those were some of the few games that used FMV in a good way, and they were really good. Be warned, the movement controls for this game were designed with a flight stick in mind, so you might want to re-map a controller to help with that. Because the mouse movement is quite... odd. Not broken but very finicky. This is the only major complaint I have with the game. Otherwise, the gameplay is really good. No moon logic in the puzzles and an extensive help system built right into the game.

Without jumping up and down and clapping my hands like a little girl, this is an extreamly difficult game to review. To get across why this game is still revelent to not only adventure game fans but to gamers as a whole. I think its difficult because any game thats tried emulate a part or parts of what this game is has failed dismaly which means when describing the core mechanics its easy to write off. That would be a grave Mistake. You've been warned, so heres the low down. It Also has a lot of these Mechanics so its a bit long. The first thing about ths game its that its essentially an interactive movie, and a damn good one at that. Its the plot that rules here above al else. Its charming, solid, funny but not ridculous and dosn't take its self to seriously. You can identify with the main character and really care about the predicuments he gets in. Often times there are film sequences, that forward the plot and these by the way are very well done, not the cheesy poorly acted spaff on many lesser games. Then there are converations (full motion video again), the outcome of which can be decided on by multiple choice responses. This actually works here!!! It gives a better feeling of being in control of where the games going and of playing it your way, getting it wrong can have dire consquences but thats all part of the game. These also break up the intense sessions hunting clues which i'll go onto now. Okay so your a detective, and what more do detectives do that hunt for clues, leads. The interface for this is pretty intuitive, your basicly in a large 3d enviroment, you could even call it open. you have 2 modes movment and interactive. press the movment toggle and you move about, look around etc. something catch your eye. press the toggle to go to interective mode and you can investigate everything in detail thats in your field of view. Pick stuff up, interact and use it with wother stuff you picked up, flick switches and solve puzzles. Yes the Puzzels! becasue this is an adventure game, people and adventure games are alll about the puzzles... um.. i mean uh adventure puzzles...yeah!. okay joking aside its not that daft, in many adventure games plot and puzzels dont seem to match, or the plots so thin its blatently a poor device to get you to the next one or the end. but not here, here they are key to the success of your character. and a good bit of fun to. to close in my opinion this game is second only to its sequel, but this is the one that changed gaming. sure the graphics are a little rusty and has some hammy budget moments (all part of the charm), buts its 15 years old. Its suitible for all ages and has a varible difficulty to offer a suitible level of challenge. Right. i've gushed my soul out, now find out why

This review may contain spoilers. When this game first came out in 1994 it was groundbreaking and I had never seen anything like it before. FMV mixed with a point and click adventure with full 3d environments? Sign me up. Playing it today and taking off the nostalgia goggles has shown me that, while still a fantastic game, it is deeply flawed. The good: The world the game represents is a fun post world war 3 san francisco populated by wacky and likeable characters. The FMV, while cheesy also has a similar charm and is for the most part about as well acted as FMV of that era could be. The storyline is OK and the puzzles are for the most part logically solvable. The bad: The controls. Oh dear. Awkward and hard to control, like brain surgery wearing boxing gloves, but this game was from a time before 3d movement had been perfected. Some of the puzzles were stupid and require trial and error, such as the ludicrous spider ball cup game and the stasis pod, and you can die just walking through the wrong door. Pixel hunting. Some critical objects are difficult to spot and it feels deeply unfair that you are dead ended because you missed picking up a 2d single pixel wide virtually invisible watch off a mantlepiece, or a slightly different coloured rock out of a wall. These are just two examples, but the game is full of them. Overall though, it is still worth playing if yoiu can get beyond the flaws.

Some reviewers were asking if you had to install dosbox, or configure it, everything is all done, when you download this game it also puts dosbox on your pc and has it already configured to it, all you have to do is buy it, install, and play! It was that easy! I was amazed!! Also for those of you giving this anything but a 5 star, Sounds like your playing this for the first time, and the reason why it has 5 stars is because this game was an absolute classic in the late 90's and there was nothing like it, there still isn't! Of course it's gonna have more tedius controls and things to do in comparison to modern day games, so the newer generation probably won't like it but I dunno my 18 year old niece tried it and she has been playing it all day she can't stop! This is definitely a great game and i have windows 7, 64 bit, i-7 core processor, and it works just fine.

Incredibly hard to write about a game that I can’t seem to distance myself from. The 90s were my formative years as a gamer and Under a Killing Moon is right up there at the top. It was a monumental release for its time. When a game earns the ‘classic’ moniker it means, amongst other things, that even the negative opinions about it have their place. That’s the whole point: its historical value stands beside your opinion, being informed and shaped by it, not above it. This is such a game for me, it deserves to be looked over again and again, never forgotten. Even if it is to find it overly cheesy and riddled with 90s tropes. Even if the stellar cast seems wasted with very few lines. Even if you find yourself hunting for them pesky pixels. Even if, in the end, it’s just a cautionary tale of how the mighty are fallen. Nothing I could write would add anything significant to a library of reviews and analysis already done about this game. This here is just for the record, almost like an obligation, a reiteration of vows. For me, the only thing that matters is you, and how will you feel after playing it. Your move.