Under a killing moon
| Under a killing moon | |||
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| Studio | Access software | ||
| Publisher |
 Access Software U.S. gold
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| Senior Developer | Aaron Conners, Chris Jones | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
October 31, 1994 | ||
| platform | MS-DOS | ||
| genre | Adventure , interactive film | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| medium | CD-ROM , download | ||
| language | English | ||
| Age rating |
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Under a Killing Moon is the third title in the Tex Murphy computer game series by the US developer studio Access Software and the first part of the series to be assigned to interactive film , a sub-genre of graphic adventures . Under a Killing Moon was one of the largest computer game productions of its time and was released on four CD-ROMs . It combined FMV cutscenes with advanced, virtual 3D environments. In the game, Tex once again fights against evil forces in the form of a dangerous cult that threatens to destroy the world.
action
Under a Killing Moon is set in San Francisco in December 2042 , after World War 3. After the devastating nuclear war, many large cities such as New San Francisco were rebuilt, although certain areas are still in the same state as they were before the war (Old San Francisco). Another consequence of the war was the formation of a two-class society. Some people have developed a natural resistance to radioactivity and are therefore considered normal or “norms”, all others are mutants in some form . Tensions between these two groups have increased dramatically since the end of the war, and norms and mutants usually don't get along well. The mutants are usually forced to live in the seedy parts of cities such as Old San Francisco. Tex lives on Chandler Avenue in Old San Francisco. All of his friends are mutants, although he is a norm himself.
In Under a Killing Moon , private detective Tex Murphy has hit a personal low. Recently divorced from his wife, Sylvia, with no work, tight cash and an apartment in a shabby part of Old San Francisco, Tex decides he needs to pull himself back together. Tex begins looking for work and quickly finds it after discovering that the pawnshop across from his apartment has been robbed. Tex solves the case very quickly and feels happiness come back to him. Then he is hired by a mysterious woman who calls herself Countess Renier and has heard good things about Tex to find a lost statuette for her. At the beginning everything looks fine and the Countess promises to pay Tex more money than he has ever seen in his life. But all of this takes a rapid turn and Tex suddenly finds himself unintentionally in the middle of a conspiracy of a dangerous cult.
Game principle and technology
Under a Killing Moon changed the gameplay significantly compared to its predecessors and now used fully 3D environments through which the player controls Tex from the first person perspective . As in the predecessors, the player searches the levels for clues and talks with witnesses and suspects. Under a Killing Moon deviated for the first time from the traditional dialogue format in which the player could choose the exact answer. Instead, the player just gets a bias description that doesn't make it entirely clear what Tex is going to say.
Production notes
Under a Killing Moon marked a noticeable turn for the series. Although action games with 3D environments and first-person view became popular with first-person shooters such as Doom , these features were rarely used in adventure games. But there were also changes in terms of content. While the characters in the first two parts remained relatively superficial, the demands on the plot and characterization changed. Therefore, the author Aaron Conners was hired, who should provide the characters with more depth and expand the humor. Under Conners, the character Tex Murphy was slightly reworked, away from the type of detective of Rick Deckard from Blade Runner to a somewhat clumsier type - among other things influenced by dead people do not wear diamonds - and with borrowings from the film roles of Humphrey Bogart . He also structured the plot more strongly, dividing it, among other things, into days with entry and end points clearly defined in the narrative. The presentation has also been revised. In contrast to its predecessors, Under a Killing Moon used a contemporary, real-time 3D polygon graphic with a resolution of 640 × 480 pixels and FMV film sequences , which meant that the game fell into the category of interactive film , which came with the advent of the CD-ROM became fashionable as a data carrier for computer programs in the mid-1990s. Although he had no professional acting experience, developer Chris Jones now also took on the role of Tex Murphy in the film sequences, after he had previously served as the visual model for the character for the digital version and the cover design of the first parts.
The first-person shooter Wolfenstein 3D with its freely accessible, three-dimensional game world was a great role model for the developers , a second role model was the graphic quality of The 7th Guest . Under a Killing Moon was one of the first games to take advantage of 16 megabytes of RAM for rendering higher-resolution textures. All of this was reflected in the development costs, which amounted to around two million US dollars. Around four years after the second part was published, Under a Killing Moon was completed and published.
After Conners and Jones regained the rights to the series, the game was re-released on June 16, 2009 via the distribution platform GOG.com in a version that could run on modern PCs.
A novel version of Under a Killing Moon was published by Aaron Conners in 1996. Although the basic plot, characters, and scenario remained largely the same, the book differed significantly from the game. It contained a lot of additional information, new characters, more murders and detailed descriptions of motifs in connection with the main storyline around Moonchild. Instead, some scenes and characters from the game that were not related to the Moonchild storyline have been removed. Conners thus created a more monothematic, Chandler-esque mystery novel. The end of the game, the meeting with the Colonel and Eva in the bar, and the dance lessons with Delores Lightbody, have also been changed and adapted to the narrative style.
occupation
| role | actor |
|---|---|
| Tex Murphy | Chris Jones |
| The Colonel | Brian Keith |
| The Chameleon | Russell Means |
| barkeeper | Margot Kidder |
| Great PI of the Universe (voice) | James Earl Jones |
The engagement of well-known actors was partly the result of luck. Margot Kidder was already in town for other filming and could therefore be won over for a role in the computer game. James Earl Jones agreed for his son's sake, as he had previously heard of the game and was interested in it.
reception
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Under a Killing Moon received mostly positive reviews. Contemporary test reports mostly praised the game for its technology and film-like presentation. In 2002 the Adventure Gamers website gave it a rating of 4.5 out of 5 and described the game as “a fantastically designed mystery with great characters and classic Tex-Murphy humor”. In 2006, IGN wrote : "[The game] has stood the test of time as one of the best detective games to date."
In 1996, the US game magazine Computer Gaming World ranked the game 99th of the best games of all time. This was justified with the "affected humor in connection with the impressive 3D scenery in this futuristic film noir ". In 2011 Adventure Gamers listed Under a Killing Moon as the 25th best adventure game of all time.
According to Chris Jones from 2008, Under a Killing Moon was the most successful installment in the series.
literature
- Aaron Conners: Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon . Prima Lifestyles, 1996, ISBN 978-0-7615-0420-7 .
Web links
- Under a Killing Moon at MobyGames (English)
- Under a Killing Moon in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Chris Jones, Aaron Conners - Big Finish Games - Interview - Adventure Classic Gaming - ACG - Adventure Games, Interactive Fiction Games - Reviews, Interviews, Features, Previews, Cheats, Galleries, Forums .
- ↑ a b Chris Jones and Aaron Conners, game designers .
- ↑ Chris Jones Talks Tex: Bringing Back Tex Murphy .
- ↑ a b Travis Fahs: Under a Killing Moon Review ( English ) In: IGN . February 11, 2006. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
- ↑ a b Gary Meredith: Under A Killing Moon ( English ) In: PC Gamer . January 1995. Archived from the original on March 11, 2000. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
- ↑ Philip Jong: Under a Killing Moon ( English ) In: Adventure Classic Gaming . April 26, 1996. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
- ↑ Evan Dickens: Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon Review ( English ) In: Adventure Gamers . May 22, 2002. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
- ↑ 150 Best (and 50 Worst) Games of All Time . (PDF) In: Computer Gaming World . No. 148, November 1996. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
- ↑ Editor: Top 100 All-Time Adventure Games ( English ) In: Adventure Gamers . December 30, 2011. Retrieved April 16, 2013.