DOS

Under a Killing Moon

Under a Killing Moon liknar ingenting annat, och det blir nog svårt att slå, både i fråga om storlek och ambitionsnivå.

In conclusion, Under A Killing Moon has set new game standards that will be difficult to match. If your hardware is up to it, this game will leave you breathless; if not, maybe it's time for that new machine. This game may well be the game to get for 1996, and it's still only 1995.

With the release of Under a Killing Moon, Access Software has upped the ante in the genre of adventure gaming. Making a return appearance from Martian Memorandum as a hardboiled private investigator, Tex is ready to fumble his way again to solve a conspiracy involving a secretive organization with an agenda to destroy the world. With the incorporation of live action sequences, Tex has finally come alive in the form of Chris Jones who is also the producer and designer of the game. By using a brand new graphic engine developed in-house specifically for this title, the post apocalyptic San Francisco can now be fully realized on screen. Together with a tight story and great puzzles, adventure gamers are ready to save the world in Tex style!

Under a Killing Moon нельзя не полюбить. Редкие недостатки вроде высоких системных требований забудутся сразу же после просмотра красивого интро и первых робких шагов по трехмерному Сан-Франциско, а вагон и маленькая тележка отменных диалогов, роскошно обставленных локаций, скрупулезно продуманный интерфейс управления и железная логичность местных задачек напрочь отобьют охоту вернуть игру в магазин и гневно потребовать назад свои 60 рубледолларов.

UAKM is the best adventure game of 1994. The scenario was written in an admirable way with the concern of offering a captivating story from the beginning to the end, and the production of the game, in itself, is above what we had expected.

Truly interactive video with great characters, script, and puzzles. Low frame rates for slower computers and all-but-forgotten art of disk swapping. It's a game that challenges and entertains; it leaves you wanting more of this believable virtual world.

One of the best detective games available. Revolutionary at its time, and still stands up to the best of today. All adventure fans should own it.

Since the decline of adventure games, it seems the classics of Sierra and LucasArts have managed to outshine a lot of equally deserving third-party titles. It might be hard to appreciate how impressive Under a Killing Moon was in 1994, but the approachable design, friendly hint system, and entertaining presentation have helped it to age gracefully, and it has weathered the test of time as one of the best detective games to this day.

Twelve years after its original release, Under a Killing Moon remains a greatly entertaining and surprisingly playable game. The engaging story should maintain your interest throughout the course of the adventure. The game offers interesting locations, a multitude of different characters, and plenty of puzzles to keep you occupied. The acting is over the top, a couple of the hotspots are easy to miss, and it might take a while to get used to the controls. But Under a Killing Moon offers an overall excellent game play experience that more than makes up for its problems. This is a hallmark title that all fans of the adventure gaming genre should consider trying. Even though Under a Killing Moon is the third game in the Tex Murphy series, it is not even necessary to have played the previous titles. To make things even better, Under a Killing Moon can be played on a Windows XP system with the help of the MS-DOS emulator DOS-Box.

On vaikea päättää onko Under a Killing Moon erittäin hyvä peli vai vain teknisesti vaikuttava teos. Ainakin minä pelasin sitä tunteja yhteen menoon.

Interaktive Spielfilme besonders in dieser Größenordnung werden heute leider nicht mehr hergestellt. Warum? Sie wären vermutlich schlicht zu teuer. Nicht ohne Grund hat man schon damals anfangs die stolze Summe von 160 harten D-Mark für das Spiel zahlen dürfen. Und Under a Killing Moon trägt die Bezeichnung „Interaktiver Film" wahrlich zurecht, da man wirklich das Gefühl hat, in einem imposanten Kinofilm „mitzuspielen". Das fängt schon direkt bei der Gestaltung des cineastisch anmutenden Vorspanns an und zieht sich mit seinen zahlreichen professionellen Filmen und der extrem aufwändigen Gestaltung durch das ganze Spiel.

For more seasoned adventurers it may lack the challenge, but hey - relax and enjoy the game for a change. Soak up the atmosphere and indulge the game's parody and self-depreciating humour. Although, thinking about the humour, some of it didn't work for me. I particularly felt uncomfortable with the portrayal of Ardo Newpop the not-so-gentle, 'intellectually-challenged' giant who works at the Golden Gate Hotel. And how 'clever' is Tex to make wisecracks at Ardo's expense?

In unseren Archiven stapeln sich Dutzende von "Interaktiven Filmen", die alle keine sind. Under a Killing Moon von Access könnte sich als erstes Spiel nach Rebel Assault dieses Prädikat verdienen. Ist der Hoffnungsträger von Access reif für einen PC Games-Oscar?

All this bad acting in a game that is so character-driven and full of dialog would sink a lesser game. It's not enough to kill the sense of fun in UAKM, however, and I played the entire game with a stupid grin of pleasure on my face. It's the kind of game that makes me feel sorry for all those misguided people who don't play adventure games.

Access hired some "name" actors to lend UAKM some Hollywood cachet, but they have only minor roles and offer less than stellar performances. Most of the acting was done by Access employees—and it shows. Dialogue is more interruptible than interactive since you select questions and listen to responses one at a time. And the storyline, while complex and deep, unravels awkwardly. Nevertheless, the overall experience is entertaining and full of surprises. Access has created a clever story-telling engine; it's the ingredients that need work. A little more time spent on designing a creative story and finding qualified personnel to portray the game's many characters would have gone a long way.