DOS

Santa Fe Mysteries: The Elk Moon Murder

Elk Moon is not intended to keep an audience of hardcore gaming detectives enthralled for weeks on end. Rather, it is meant to be played through, in a relatively brief amount of time, by a more general audience looking for a good story with some mild brain teasers - a task it accomplishes quite nicely.

Looking for something to do on a rainy summer's day? How about curling up with your favorite mystery novel? Or better yet, how about sitting down in front of your PC and solving a murder mystery all by yourself? This is the challenge offered to you by Activision's new "Elk Moon Murder", first in a new series of role-playing mystery games marketed under the "Santa Fe Mysteries" banner.

Wow! Lichtjahre trennen "The Elk Moon Murder" von der "Affäre Morlov". Die heiße, staubige Atmospähre von Santa Fe kommt prächtig rüber und läßt das Adventurer-Herz höher schlagen. Die Geschichte um die ermordete Anna Elk Moon ist äußerst stimmungsvoll und professionell in Szene gesetzt worden.

Anyway, although not a patch on The Pandora Directive, it's polished, professional, and fairly good fun, even if it does tend to lead you by the nose a bit; the fact that it's centred around the Native American community makes things a little more interesting too. Crime fiction fans who fancy getting on a Poirot trip could do far worse, in other words.

Het is al vaker gezegd, maar de PC is niet het ideale medium om rustig naar een "interactieve" film te kijken. Als ik film wil zien, dan doe ik dat rustig in mijn zetel, of beter nog, in de bioscoop.

The Elk Moon Murders är på intet sätt dräggelframkallande men erbjuder en trevlig utmaning för alla som tycker om att lägga pannan i djupa veck. Och glöm den där gamla klichén om att betjänten är mördaren. Anna hade nämligen ingen betjänt.

Ein technisch zwar makelloses, aber inhaltlich recht seichtes Plauder-Marathon mit Zeugen ist sicher nicht das, was man von einem guten interaktiven Film erwartet. Zumal über den letztendlichen Erfolg weniger spielerisches Können als vielmehr Kommissar Zufall entscheidet oder der eiserne Wille, diesen Langweiler in mehreren Anläufen zu lösen.

Lack of intrigue and true mystery aside, TEMM is full of eye candy. The colorful, photographic quality stills truly show the beauty of Santa Fe's desert setting. And although the video clips are slightly grainy, I suffered no glitches or slowdown while watching them. Even the acting, an element overlooked in many interactive adventures, is pretty darn good, and it's obvious that Activision spent some money on actors and didn't just use the office staff. Sadly, the music in Elk Moon could use an overhaul. The same quickfire, whiny guitar lick constantly drones on and on, and quickly becomes unbearable. The audio in the video portion of TEMM is also much quieter than it is in the other parts of the game, which leads to constant adjustment of the volume knob on your speakers and short term tinnitus if you forget to turn the volume down after the video clips.