Under a Killing Moon

This is the third episode of the Tex Murphy series. The first two were good, but this episode put down the foundations of a totally new gamestyle in the adventure game genre and put Tex Murphy on the "adventure gamers' map" forever.

Story

Business isn't going well for Tex. It's been months since he had a decent case and a broken fax machine doesn't really help this situation. Nowadays the only thing he gets to the bottom of is a bottle of bourbon. After a visit from his 'old friend' -- the Colonel he decides to finally get a job even if it means finding someones lost puppy. He starts working on a pawnshop robbery but little does he know that the Big P.I. in the sky already has plans for him.

After World War III the radiation was unbearable. Some of the select few who are immune to the gamma rays (like Tex) formed a cult and started a movement called the Crusade for Genetic Purity. I don't want to give away too much of the story, it's part of the game to find out for yourselves, but the point is that they want to wipe out all of the mutant population of the Earth. Obviously somebody has to stop them, and according to the Big P.I. in the sky, Murphy's at the top of the list.

Opinion

This game is monumental. It takes up 4 CDs and all of them are absolutely full. There are many movie sequences but the main movement is done via a virtual reality engine the likes of which I have never seen before in an adventure game. This newly created virtual world and its supporting graphic engine allows us to look around and explore a vast 3D environment in greater detail than any game has ever done before.

The controls are also very interesting. There are two modes: interactive mode where you can pick up or use objects, talk to people, etc. and movement mode where you can move around the place and explore the surroundings. When I say 'explore' I really do mean explore, because you'll find many objects hidden under the drawer of an office desk or concealed by a book on the top shelf of a bookcase. Be very observant.

The other reason why it is monumental is that the story is very well made up and it takes quite a long time to finish the game (not using a walkthrough). I've finished it lots of times already (so I know the story inside-out) but I could never do it in less than two days even when I played all day long.

The music is really great, there are lots of MIDI songs not just one digitized score. The sound quality is unbelievable. The best quality speech I've heared in a computer game. The actors are also very good, you're not being constantly reminded that this is just a computer game and these are just actors playing a part in it. That's more than I can say for most of the 'interactive movies' out there.

My favorite line in the game: 15 years after Tex reported the Colonel to the Ethics Board, he walks into Tex's office for the first time in all those years and says " ... You sold me out! But that's all in the past. I quit hating you for that weeks ago."