Tex Murphy: The Pandora Directive

The absolute best in its genre. Back when the FMV craze was a blank check to annoy players with low interactivity and cheap actors, one adventure got everything just right. Who could have expected so much depth from an FMV game? TPD seems to follow the blueprint used for Under a Killing Moon as a starting point, but everything feels less limited now. You start in the same office, on the same street, but very soon you’ll notice that many new exits and locations are available. Also, you have access to innumerable items and puzzles. You can find a puzzle almost everywhere, and many of them are really clever. Even if you get stumped at some point, you won’t be stuck there for long, as the priceless hint system from UAKM is back! Once more, full 3D enviroments allow for exploration on a level absent in most adventures. Two difficulty levels are available: Entertainment (for casual gamers) and Game Players (with additional puzzles and content). Also, your choices during the game send you through different moral paths that lead to six different endings, some poignant, and some just over the top (Tex Murphy becomes a circus clown?). The Pandora Directive especially benefits from the talents of a professional filmmaker, Adrian Carr. The sequences in UAKM were good, but they still had a staged feeling, like a line reading at worst. Now, you can feel the difference not only because of the improved “cinematic angles”, but also when you see the performances given by the actors, both professional and non-professional. You just have to compare the opening sequence in UAKM, with the stilted, heavily grunting and possibly confused Brian Keith, to the distinguished appearance made by Kevin McCarthy in the opening sequence in this game. Chris Jones is back, better than ever, as Tex Murphy, and some supporting roles are filled in by TV veterans like Northern Exposure’s Barry Corbin (who has a great scene as a trigger-happy NSA agent), the beautiful Tanya Roberts, and even Wilford Brimley’s brother playing a famous conspiracy theorist! This game is just like UAKM, only bigger and better. Still, you don’t need to play UAKM to enjoy this game. This one was my first Tex Murphy game, and I didn’t know who he was at the time, but I found out very soon that I was experiencing something special!

This is my favourite tex murphy game, I still play it ,10 yrs down the track I still enjoy it. There is no game that comes close to this. If you have never played it get ready for an adventure

Some of the voice acting is a bit lame, but most of it is top notch by professional actors! Some of the puzzles are a bit obscure, but by far most of them logical and fit the story. On the difficult setting, there are some extra logic puzzles ... like, actual puzzles - crosswords and the like. If you're not into that, you can just skip them. The graphics. Hmmm. The graphics are poor. The interface is clumsy. For its time, it was great, but if you're playing this for the first time, you will have to lower your expectations. Pixel hunting. Yes, like every adventure, Pandora Directive has its share of items you have to find under beds, in wastepaper baskets, in the 4th drawer out of 8. Or that darned key on top of the bookcase! Death. You can die, and will. Save often. Some parts of the game will have your stomach in your throat for the suspense factor ... but after a while (and definately when playing for the 10th time) will just be annoying. Yes, Pandora Directive was not immune to the common pitfalls that ensured the demise of adventure games. We put up with them at the time, because there was nothing better. All that said though ... Pandora Directive is an interactive STORY. Unlike the bulk of adventures which were just graphics and puzzles thrown together as an excuse to sell a game ... Pandora Directive was a real novel in adventure game format. You put up with the annoyances because you are advancing in a gripping, thrilling story! Finally, if any of the puzzles are getting too much for you, the game has the finest hint system ever devised built right into the game, tracking your progress so only relevant hints are shown. You are discouraged from using the hint system because each hint costs you points, so its not a killjoy like having a walkthrough. I've replayed the game about 8 or so times. I think I've had enough now. It is the most memorable adventure game I ever played, and I'm keeping it safe so my kids can play it when they are old enough.

This is my least favorite of all the FMV Tex games, so I'm really puzzled by all the glowing reviews. It has a very cliche UFO/government conspiracy plot that didn't grab me at all. You spend most of the game trying to put together the mysterious Pandora device, but when you finally find out what it does it's laughable. The humor which is Tex's trademark in the other games is massively toned down, which is a huge disappointment. You'll spend a good chunk of the game wandering around chandler avenue, where your interactions are pretty much a dull rehash of Under a Killing Moon. You'll visit a number of other locations, but none of them are very impressive compared to beautiful locations in the other Tex games. Although the game introduces one or two good characters, for the most part the new characters are pointless, bland, and don't appear long enough for you to really get to know them. The control scheme is as bad as Under a Killing Moon, except there are a lot more timed puzzles that require precise, rapid movement. Many have praised the adaptive storyline, but all that means is that unless you closely follow a walkthrough you will get an unsatisfying ending. The worst part is that the game is much longer than Under a Killing Moon without the content to really sustain that length, making for a long, boring slog. Overseer, Under a Killing Moon and Tesla Effect are much better than this game, with my favorite being Overseer.