Tex Murphy: Under A Killing Moon – A Fair & Balanced Retrospective

0 Comments

Features by Adventure Game Hotspot staff
Published:

Now that he has Mean Streets and Martian Memorandum – the first two Tex Murphy games we all now try to pretend aren't Tex Murphy games – out of the way, the Space Quest Historian tackles the 1994 title that made the lovable, goofy gumshoe a household name among adventure fans in his latest video retrospective.

If you're reading this, chances are you already know all about Under a Killing Moon, but it's a fascinating deep dive into one of the best FMV games ever made. That may be an admittedly low bar, but this game was ahead of its time and stands as an enduring classic for good reason. Many reasons, in fact. Sure, UAKM may have a bunch of non-actors acting, a fondness for playing hide-and-seek with inventory items, an instakill patrolling eyeball, and a somewhat rushed ending, but in the grand scheme of things, the abundant highs FAR outweigh the lows.

Coming on an "absolutely insane" four CDs, the game managed to combine lots of incredible (for its time) video with hours of entertaining gameplay in one "glorious experience." It's here that Chris Jones came into his own as Tex, who now has a properly fleshed-out personality, and behind the scenes, newcomer Aaron Conners delivered a great story with a "perfect blend of slapstick and sarcasm." The interface, if a little clunky, provided a great deal of player freedom and a full-blown 3D engine – a revelation for adventures games back then – while the puzzles were both well integrated and satisfying to solve. Plus Margot Kidder (however briefly), and James Earl Jones narrating death scenes! C'mon.

There's so much more to say about the game that sees Tex take on a wacky doomsday cult in space, but we'll let the video finish explaining why SQH still considers Under a Killing Moon such a "phenomenal juggernaut" thirty years later.

The Space Quest Historian is part of the Adventure Game Hotspot Network, a collective of talented, dedicated content producers who work entirely independently but have joined forces to promote each other’s efforts. All opinions expressed belong solely to the original creators.