[Nude]

I generally like darker adventures, thrillers and less humourus adventures (dont get me wrong I like monkey island games, larry series and so on but I prefer serious subject matters) do you have any recomendations... I would like to know if you know any games similar to tex murphy games ((ok I accept Tex is pretty funny) (although the story is not))....

[Dragonrose]

Two words: Gabriel Knight.

[Nude]

Thanx but I have Already finished them... I will also tell the other ones that I played. Blade Runner, The longest Journey, Spycraft, Metal Gear Solid Games, Broken Sword Games.

[Erwin_Br]

The DIG (LucasArts)
The X Files game (FOX Interactive)
Grim Fandango (LucasArts)
The Last Express (Broderbund Software)
Phantasmagoria 2 (Sierra)
Ripper (?)

--Erwin

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Nude

Thanx but I have Already finished them... I will also tell the other ones that I played. Blade Runner, The longest Journey, Spycraft, Metal Gear Solid Games, Broken Sword Games.

Umm... Post Mortem, Missing/In Memoriam (ask BacardiJim about it, as well as Salambo ). Then there's Sanitarium. And in the upcoming category, there's Still Life and Fahrenheit.

If you wanna stray from the 'pure' adventures, definitely go for the Silent Hill series. Thematically, 'darkness' permeates the Thief series and Splinter Cell series (though SC is more high tech espionage, more like Metal Gear Solid).

Black Dahlia is in many ways similar to the Tex Murphy games. Detective, 1st-person with 3rd-person cut scenes, FMV, dark story. Puzzles are harder.

[timcclayton]

Black Mirror.

[BacardiJim]

Byzantine: The Betrayal
Amber: Journeys Beyond
The Journeyman Project series
Nightlong
Beneath a Steel Sky
Sanitarium
Morpheus
Faust/7 Games of the Soul
Dracula Resurrection & The Last Sanctuary (play back-to-back)
Legend of the Prophet & the Assassin
Salammbo
Zork Nemesis
The Last Express
Black Dahlia
Blackstone Chronicles
Dark Side of the Moon

[Nude]

From all the mentioned games I only didnt play Black Dahlia, Missing, Ripper and Black Mirror... I ll go for them. and Bacardy Jim I havent played most of the ones you mentioned. thanx very helpful. heh byzantine the betrayal is taking place where I live. By the way I really didnt like Post Mortem. It had the potential to be a great game but fell short IMHO. I am looking forward to play the moment of silence

[BacardiJim]

You should go to the Review section on the site's front page and check out my review of Missing/In Memoriam. While I enjoyed it immensely, it definitely isn't for everyone.


As to Black Mirror, I'm in the minority in having disliked the game. It was very stylish, with great graphics and atmosphere and an interesting storyline, but it completely broke down in the actual gameplay. Also, the English version has the worst voice acting of any game I've ever played. (I hear the German version is much better in this respect.)

[mag]

Originally Posted by BacardiJim

Beneath a Steel Sky

Can you really consider BASS "serious?"

mag

[BacardiJim]

Originally Posted by mag

Can you really consider BASS "serious?"

mag

It's certainly as "serious" as the Tex Murphy games, which was what the original post was asking for. Yes, there is lots of wisecracking from the robot sidekick (anyone remember JP's Arthur?), but the overall tone is fairly serious sci-fi with some comic dialogue... almost exactly what Tex gave us.

[mag]

Originally Posted by BacardiJim

It's certainly as "serious" as the Tex Murphy games, which was what the original post was asking for. Yes, there is lots of wisecracking from the robot sidekick (anyone remember JP's Arthur?), but the overall tone is fairly serious sci-fi with some comic dialogue... almost exactly what Tex gave us.

I never played the Tex Murphy games. So if they're the same thing, that's different then. I was thinking more along the lines of Gabriel Knight. That had some comic lines too, but never enough override the general mood of the story.

Good point about Arthur, but somehow that didn't seem the same to me. Even though Arthur was about a million times funnier than Joey, his jokes seemed a lot more detached from the action in the story to me. So while there were a lot of jokes in JP3 for instance, the mood of the story still seemed serious. But in BASS the humor seemed to effect the mood more. It seemed more lighthearted than it should have been. Maybe it's just me, but that's the way I saw it.

Besides, I mostly just wanted to give you a hard time.

mag

[BacardiJim]

Besides, I mostly just wanted to give you a hard time.

Take a number and get in line like everybody else.

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by BacardiJim

Salammbo

So... could you tell me about Salammbo, Jim? I've seen it for 15€ at the local store, and was wondering whether I'd buy it.

[BacardiJim]

Salammbo was one of the last games to come out of Arxel Tribe before they folded. Like most of the other Arxel Tribe games, it is as much about ideas as about story or puzzling.

Phillipe Druillet, co-founder of the French adult comic magazine Metal Hurlant (which became Heavy Metal in he United States) wrote and designed the graphics for the game, basing it on his graphic novel of the same name. This, in turn, was based on a historical romance epic by Gustav Flaubert. The story follows the adventures of Spendius, a slave in Carthage during the time of Hannibal. Spendius manages to escape from the slave pits with the help of the beautiful Salammbo, daughter of the Carthagenian ruler and high priestess. She aids Spendius so that he will deliver a message of love to Matho, a mercenary general camped outside the sity gates. It seems that Hannibal hasn't paid the various mercenary forces he recruited in his most recent campaign against Rome, and the unhappy armies are camped around Carthage, blockading the city until they are paid. The time is right for revolt, and Spendius is just the silver-tongues devil to strike the match.

The game is fairly short, but a lot of fun. It incorporates traditional adventure game puzzling along with a couple of easy action elements (there are a couple of targets that you must shoot with a bow and arrow) and even a couple of simple turn-based strategy sequences. It isn't too challenging on any level. However, it is one of the few games in which dialogue puzzles are actually puzzles. There are occasions when Spendius must know exactly the right thing to say or the right way to mistranslate an exchange (he sometimes functions as an interpreter between the various generals) or he will find his head on a pike.

If you've played Ring, then you already have some idea of Druillet's artistic style. Graphically, Salammbo blows away his work in Ring. The mixture of fantasy elements and dark medieval Carthage and warfare were wonderful.

The only negatives to the game are:

1) Too short. Then again, it's usually easy to find new copies pretty cheap.

2) The final sequence is... not timed, but one of those where you must complete it in a certain number of steps or die. In fact, there are several places where you can die.

3) Not very tough. But I found the relative ease of the game was compensated by the variety of gameplay elements and sheer fun factor.

Below is one of the many things to like about the game:

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by BacardiJim

Salammbo was ...

Ok, thanks. I guess I'll give it a go if I find myself in a buying mood before the Moment of Silence goes out, and after I finish Myst 4.

[MDMaster]

Salammbo always made me think about 'Druuna: Morbus Gravis' (an italian adventure game, based on a adult comic character), now I know why.

[Nude]

I think druuna is also in heavy metal magazine right?