Remembrances of Games Past, Part #37 - The Pandora Directive (1996) (PC) (Access Software)
7Tex Murphy Kickstarter project ("Project Fedora"):
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/texmurphy/tex-murphy-project-fedora
Tex Murphy finally has its own Kickstarter campaign (with what's arguably the most well-produced promotion video for a KS project so far), and it would sure be nice to see our favorite world-weary private eye return to the streets of post-WWIII San Francisco. My overall experience with this classic series is admittedly somewhat limited, but The Pandora Directive (1996) is without a doubt my favorite FMV adventure game of all time.
Despite never actually having finished TPD, it's impossible to count all the times I've re-installed the game, listened once again to Murphy's dry one-liners (delivered spot-on by developer/actor Chris Jones) and enjoyed the jazz-induced atmosphere of Chandler Avenue. Aside from an interesting array of B-movie guest stars, the script is mature enough to elevate The Pandora Directive over Killing Moon's manic tongue-in-cheek pastische and make it into a markedly more serious tale overall. The fashionably jaded cynicism of Murphy himself is not without a (predictable but effective and distinctly middle-aged) tinge of sadness, and at least some of the interactions between Tex and long-time love interest Chelsee are as believable as any you'd find in a half-decent drama on film or television (which is quite something, given the low standards of game writing in general).
What likewise remains special about TPD is the then-revolutionary (if admittedly always rather clunky) 3D engine, which arguably makes the gameplay experience more immersive than if the game had utilized pre-rendered backgrounds and still images like so many other FMV adventures of the era did.
The Pandora Directive on GOG.COM:
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/tex_murphy_the_pandora_directive