In a neo-noir post-WWIII future, an old man hires Tex Murphy, a witty mellow private detective, to find his friend, a former government scientist. The clues lead Tex to a serial killer, NSA and an ominous project called Pandora. The Tex Murphy series of interactive movies has become one of the most prestigious and respected in the business of computer games. Access are always keen to reach a new paradigm in gaming technology (they were the first to release a game on DVD), but the most important thing is that they deliver a solid, strong and entertaining game. Out of the three 'Tex' games made, The Pandora Directive is the best.<br/><br/>Tex Murphy (played by producer Chris Jones) is possibly one of the most legendary characters in the gaming world. He is a bourbon drinking, stereotypical private-dick, right down to the cigarette stubs and the five o'clock shadows. Slowly, he is drawn into a web of bizarre, corrupt characters, and the plot establishes itself to be quite complex and convoluted. After some game time, a mysterious 'Pandora' device emerges, and it becomes known that it has the answers to the Roswell mystery of 1954 (or is it 1952?).<br/><br/>The game is set in San Fransisco, 2043, and from what we gather in the introduction, there has been a schism between the humans and the 'mutants,' a character class that emerged after a nuclear bomb was dropped on the town. Tex lives with the mutants, though he isn't one himself, and tries extremely hard to court the elusive and beautiful Chelsea Bando, the mutant newspaper stand salesgirl. Access Software have done a good job of establishing a believable, likeable protagonist and landing him in a compelling, intriguing plot/sub-plot line.<br/><br/>But all in all, the Pandora Directive is a very entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable experience that can be played multiple times as it has seven different endings.<br/><br/>Nine out of ten. I have to rate this one as the best of the three rather unconvincingly monikered "interactive movies" for the PC. "Under a Killing Moon" looked terribly cheap, and "Overseer" was just plain dull. "Pandora Directive" just about gets it right for me - fun (if hackneyed) plot, interesting characters (though sadly no Inspector Burns this time) and by the looks of it a pretty high budget all go toward making this pretty good fun, but still really nowhere near a true movie in any way, interactive or otherwise! Also bear in mind I played this game about 4 years ago, so by now the graphics etc. are probably absolutely laughable by today's standards!
Randgroun replied
327 weeks ago