The series

[Evil Taco]

#11001

I’ve never played any of the Tex Muprhy series, though I somehow own the first two on GOG.com..

In the suggestion thread the original poster mentioned those first two are nowadays “unplayable”, which I think is a pretty common assessment!

But how about Under a Killing Moon vs. The Pandora Directive? The pick here is The Pandora Directive. I remember Under a Killing Moon being quite iconic (I remember its coverage well in the magazines), but does The Pandora Directive play better?

The creators have done a good job keeping the legacy alive. Video Game History Hour had a great episode about preservation of the FMV footage: https://gamehistory.org/ep-39-tex-murphy-p-i-solves-the-case-of-the-missing-production-tapes/

[Tijn]

#11003

When picking the games, we wanted to go for an FMV game and Tex Murphy was brought up as a possible candidate.

The argument was then made that The Pandora Directive is the best entry in the series, so that’s why we went with that one.

I haven’t played any of the Tex Murphy games myself, so I don’t know really. I’m sure we’ll get to talk about Tex Murphy in general on the podcast though!

[Pix]

#11005

I think you’d be hard pressed to find any Tex fans who wouldn’t regard Pandora Directive as the better game. It’s a lot less goofy and has way more to the story, including numerous paths and endings. It’s one of my all time favourite games. If we were going to play one, it was an easy choice in my eyes.

If you have the time, playing both wouldn’t be a bad idea. Both games even have a built in gradual hint system, and easy/hard modes to help you along.

I wouldn’t say the first two were unplayable myself but they are somewhat of their time for sure. Tex Murphy Overseer retells the story of Mean Streets so if you really enjoy these, you could carry on and play that one as well if you want to see where it started.

[Evil Taco]

#11006

Thanks for the replies! I think I’ll check out the first two entries casually earlier in the year, if I get hooked I might try to play Under the Killing Moon as well before September.

I’ve been on quite an adventure game kick thanks to Toonstruck this last week!

[jibsaramnim]

#11008

By chance I’ve actually very recently played through and finished Under a Killing Moon. I’ve used the recently released patch (https://github.com/moralrecordings/tex3-mouselook) that gives it and Pandora Directive more modern mouselook+WSAD controls, which at least for me really helped as it removed the need for me to try to get used to the original mouse controls.

I quite enjoyed it, especially because it didn’t feel too challenging (though challenging enough). I’m not the greatest at puzzle games, so I appreciated the built-in hint system too, really made it more approachable for someone like me.

This was the first Ted Murphy game I ever played, so I don’t know how it would compare to later or earlier parts in the series. I’ve got Pandora Directive queued up next though, so I’ll be curious to hear what others think of (re-)visiting this one.

[Mike]

#11449

The Pandora Directive is the better game but I think Under a Killing Moon is maybe actually the better intro? It feels like a soft reboot of the series and reintroduces folks. Can’t complain about PD though. Maybe I’ll finally try that patch.

[Evil Taco]

#12181

Well, it was a nice idea to play the earlier games early, but … I didn’t. I did get Pandora from GOG so I’ll just be jumping straight into that one!

[dukeynukey]

#12267

Thanks for that patch link jibsaramnim. Huge improvement.

[Dreamkid]

#12282

I played through the first three games last month. Mean Streets isn’t unplayable (the flying parts have an autopilot option 😉 ) — there are far less playable games. Martian Memorandum comes closer to being unplayable although it could be worse. The interface and controls for Under a Killing Moon took a little getting used to, but ended up being sort of neat.

I played through the first day of Pandora Directive yesterday. It does seem like an improvement as the controls seem a bit smoother. It might not be as goofy, but still has a few sort of goofy moments. For anyone who cares about spoilers, this game does give away some parts of Under a Killing Moon.

[Evil Taco]

#12308

Thanks for the report Dreamkid, that’s useful for me!

[Tijn]

#12313

As a first time Tex Murphy player who’s now on day 4 in Pandora Directive, I’m starting to understand the world of the game a bit. The game itself really does very little to explain it all, so combined with the spoilers I’m definitely getting the sense the developers expected people to have played Under a Killing Moon before this.

I am however, very very much enjoying this game on its own merits! I don’t think you need much knowledge about the rest of the series or the Tex Murphy setting and universe to play and enjoy this one, really. It’s all pretty self-contained.

I appreciate the “entertainment mode” option too, it seems it skips a bunch of time-sensitive/action sequences, which are never my favourite of any adventure game to begin with.

I can’t believe how elaborate the story is tbh. I’m only halfway through and it feels like more stuff has already happened than some other games have to offer in total haha

[Evil Taco]

#12314

That sounds super cool! I kinda still want to play the games in sequence, but OTOH I can’t manage it this month. Glad it sounds like going directly to Pandora would be just fine as well.