Review of Tex Murphy: The Pandora Directive by Lucien21

Tex Murphy’s 4th outing is more of the same and that ain’t a bad thing. Using the same interface and FMV that adorned the last game it is instantly recognisable to fans of the series.

This time they have ramped up the puzzles by offering two difficulty levels. The normal playthrough is called Entertainment level, but for a harder more rewarding time try out the Gamer mode. It gives you extra puzzles and locations within the game as well as putting time limits on the major puzzles to earn bonus points.

It also introduced branching storylines. Will you be good or evil tex (or a mixture of both). A variety of moral decisions are made during playthrough and what you do and how you speak to the residents of the street dictactes which of the 8 endings you receive. Will you save the planet and get the girl?

Personally I got the Lombard street ending, saved the world was generally nice to everyone, but still ended up holodating at the end.

There are a few new characters to meet in the game as well as all the old favourites. The acting and FMV are generally decent and cheesy enough to fit in with the asthetic.

The story is gripping and outlandish. It was fun from beginning to end.

Puzzles can be a hit or a miss with some outstnding ones and some that are a pain in the rear. The peg box one was particularly annoying and the fequency of death sequences at a couple of points (NSA and Roswell) was frustrating.

However Tex Murphy may be a bumbling idiot at times, but it’s a pleasure watching mim work.

Superb.

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Time Played: 10-20 hours