I've finished "Martian Memorandum" in 6,5 hours!

Getting some "Total Recall" vibes here...

Wow, that wasn't easy... It was like travelling through time, to an age where you didn't just have to save your game if you wanted to continue playing at a later time. You had to save your game to continue five seconds later! I finally found my way to Mars, after dying several times. On the red planet I could finally follow up on some leads and talk to some people I couldn't before. But I was so anxious by then I kept saving each new room I entered.

This makes the Willy Beamish maze look eazy...

Then suddenly I found myself in a classic adventure game maze! But I didn't get it: I really tried picking up the blueprints I found earlier, but I swear Tex didn't want to pick them up. No problem, I thought, I had encountered many things he didn't want to pick up before. But suddenly I had ventured into the maze way too deep to find my way out again (I know, stupid of me...) so I had to reload and I swear, this time Tex DID pick up the blueprints!

Cowabunga!

Finally I found my way into the office of the local crime boss. I had to pilfer his safe because it contained something with which I could persuade another guy to spill the beans. But not before I had to surf through a gauntlet of laser beams to reach it! This was very tricky and resulted in lot of reloads as well.

The elusive Alexis!

As I continued getting the right answers from the right people, I finally found the kidnapped Alexis! By then I had discovered WHY she had been kidnapped, and that her father, the guy I'm working for, had a lot of secrets... But no sooner had I discovered a means of escape and we were gassed and locked up behind a forcefield by the big bad guy in the story, once a good guy though, but corrupted by the promise of power. As often happens.

Mars is home to some strange people...

Reload after reload and using all inventory items all over the place finally forced me to look up a hint. Turned out I had gamed my way into an unwinnable state, because I had missed a key item way back when. So, reload to a much earlier safe, move one item to find another, then play through to the finale again and yes, finally, mission accomplished! The girl is saved, we're both still alive, and nobody has entirely blown up either Earth or Mars. I'd say, that's a good day in the life of Tex Murphy! A hard and difficult day, extremely at that, but good nonetheless!

You can find Martian Memorandum on Steam.

3 hours into "Martian Memorandum" and I've hit a reload record...

I think she wants something from me, as well...

I'm 3 hours into Martian Memorandum and I lost count of how many times I had to reload. Not only is this a game where you can die, apparently there's also a dead-end if you don't give the correct replies during a dinner date. I really felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day trying over and over again to sweettalk Andy MacDowell. Either she fell asleep, or emptied her wine glass in my face, and then I had no means to continue that conversation. So countless reloads later, eventually I got her to answer my questions, and I was able to follow another lead.

FYI: this screen sidescrolls...

Only to get a bit stumped there as well, by either being mangled by a dog or poisoned, over and over again. It took me a long time to realize I could actually move further to the right, and the screen sidescrolled. To be honest, I had to look this up online, because even the HELP function mentioned objects I just couldn't find in the scene. And even then it was tricky, because each time I tried walking to the right, I'd either get too close to the dog, or too close to that pool of red ooze. Tex just wouldn't walk to the spots I clicked. So I decided to try something and yes: I could move him directly with the arrow keys as well, and I could finally maneuver between the two danger zones. I did find a glitch though: when I tried to shoot my way through the door and into the wagon, a ladder would magically appear against the side. So I could have cheated my way forward if I really wanted to, but I didn't.

And to think I used to love dogs...

So after lots of trial and error, I found my next lead and wound up in a jungle somewhere. After being flattened by a log, drowned in quicksand, and eaten by a snake, I discovered some final pieces of information and then it became obvious I had exhausted all my options on Earth. All my remaining leads are all located on Mars, so now I have to sneak on board a smuggler shuttle (because the regular one is four weeks out of commission, naturally...). But not before my frustration rose even higher because I had to backtrack over the quicksand pit again! I hadn't memorized which stones were safe and which would sink, so it was back to the save/reload trial and error technique to get across.

I hated this sequence...

I've finally reached the location of the shuttle, and I'm betting I'll probably die a dozen or so more times before I'll actually reach the red planet. Wish me luck!

You can find Martian Memorandum on Steam.

Classic time: "Martian Memorandum" playthrough!

New game!

I've started playing the second Tex Murphy game, Martian Memorandum, and I'm one hour into it.

Alexis Alexander, daughter of business tycoon Marshall Alexander, has disappeared. Daddy believes she has been kidnapped and hires me, Tex Murphy, to find her. That's a pretty simple case for a veteran private investigator as myself.

Tex's office doesn't look too shabby...

Don't be fooled, though! Finding Alexis isn't that easy. And it's mostly the old school user interface making it so hard. That, and the pixel hunting. Thankfully, the "HELP" verb works as a hotspot locator. Usually I try to avoid those, because I often think they make an adventure game too easy. But this time, I must admit it's pretty essential.

Haven't gotten her to spill the beans, yet...

Basically I go around trying to convince people to giving me information, either by choosing the right combination of dialogue options (thankfully if you fail and get thrown out, you can just visit them again and start over as if nothing happened) or by offering them a key item.

Ah, the (almost) ever helpful Stacy...

The list of topics you can question people about will slowly grow, and you can also contact your secretary Stacy through your comlink to ask for further information -- if she has something to offer, that is.

So this is San Francisco in 8 years time...

After one hour of gaming, I'm running around 2033 San Francisco reaching one dead end after another. My last lead brought me to the abandoned offices of a movie production house, and the local cops won't talk to me unless I help them find some evidence for a murder nobody knows anything about. Guess I'll have to retrace my steps and try to find out where I missed something...

You can find Martian Memorandum on Steam.

Finished "Mean Streets" in 8,5 hours!

This one really was a doozy. I died loads of times during my last couple of playing sessions. I made a habit of saving my game each time before leaving my speeder. And even then a lot of luck was involved in finding the reset buttons of the burglar alarms in time.

Whoops...

I still missed some things, though. I never found the location for Robert Knott and Big Jim Slade, two characters involved with the "Law & Order" party. But I guess talking to them wasn't really necessary, since I found my way to the final showdown.

 

I'm sure there's something interesting in that trash can...

That one took me several tries too. I had to escape a room but had to time it just right to slip through the door a robot had left open. Really had to find the sweet spot, as far away from the switch as I could get and still be able to flip it.

 

Damn, missed the exit again! That darn robot is too fast!

I really had to use a notebook for this game, jotting down all names and location codes, then the colors of the passcards and their passwords. I got about 4 pages of notes.

 

Ominous...

It's a very interesting detective game where you follow lead to lead. Once I got the hang of searching the rooms, I start to like that part of the gameplay as well. But I'm glad games evolved to point 'n click, because it wasn't always easy. It played more like a text adventure, but with supporting graphics, and with choosing the right verbs in a list instead of a text parser.

 

Yay, I saved the world!

Glad I played it though! And looking forward to the other games in the Tex Murphy series! But first some other games.

You can find Mean Streets here!

I'm 4 hours into "Mean Streets"

Even though I'm starting to get the hang of things, this games is HARD! Not to mention BIG.

I've encountered 23 characters and locations so far, not all of them helpful. I've only searched through three locations classic adventure game style. Most of the game is talking to people, asking them the right questions, bribing or beating them up if they don't want to talk. And flying from one location to another. This takes lots of time, even with the auto pilot engaged.

 

How rude!

I died or got arrested several times myself. I triggered the burglary alarms at two locations, which triggers a countdown, giving you a chance to find the off switch. But the interface takes lots of button tapping, and I discovered too late the MOVE function is quite essential.

 

She might look nice but make no mistake, she'll empty your wallet post haste!

It also took me a bit to realize I really have to use my secretary Vanessa and my informant Lee to provide me with new locations. But Lee is expensive and I'm slowly running out of cash.

 

Lots of interesting people in Future San Francisco...

But I made some headway in the storyline and I know what I got to do now. I need to find passcards and the accompanying passwords. They all belong to scientists working on some mind control project, which I need to shut down.

 

Ah, my secretary Vanessa comes through again!

I've got two more leads to follow at the moment. Let's see if they can tell me anything worthwhile, or if they're more red herrings...

You can find Mean Streets here!

Classic time: "Mean Streets" playthrough

New game!

I've started my very first playthrough ever of Mean Streets, the first game in the Tex Murphy series. The only game I've played before is Under a Killing Moon, but Mean Streets is a VERY different game, which in my opinion hasn't aged all that well.

 

Thank god for that auto-pilot!

It's part detective game, where you indeed have to search rooms for items, scavenging for keys to fit in locks; part flight simulator, but luckily you can turn on the auto-pilot; part arcade game, where you have to shoot bad guys and try to make it to the other side of the room.

 

I have a feeling I need to threaten this guy before he'll answer my questions...

Carl Linsky has jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. His daughter Sylvia has hired me, Tex Murphy, private investigator, to look into it, because she thinks there's more going on than a suicide. So I have to follow some leads, question people, and try to uncover the truth.

 

Remember to duck!

So far it's an interesting story, the gameplay is a bit weird, and at first I was thinking, "What have I done? Why did I choose THIS game?" but I'm starting to get into it too after 1 hour of playing. There's so much information coming at you, though, I really need a notebook to jot every name and detail down.

 

Searching through Carl Linsky's belongings...

Really wondering where this game will take me next...

You can find Mean Streets here!