Tex Murphy: Martian Memorandum

Tomei softlock duas vezes, aí desisti e segui um guia, apesar disso ainda foi uma experiência que gostei bastante e não posso deixar de recomendar, especialmente se você já jogou Means Streets, o primeiro jogo da série Tex Murphy, ou se simplesmente gosta de Adventure com temática sci-fi e noir. Aprimoraram muito os diálogos e a escrita, tiraram as partes horríveis de ação do primeiro para flertar com novas mecânicas de interatividade. A trama é mais elaborada, agora temos motivações concretas e background de personagens, além da dublagem (ainda bem limitada). No geral diria que é uma evolução natural ao mesmo tempo que manteve referências e humor ácido, e aqui fica o aviso: É um jogo de 1991! Se acostume com várias piadas com genitalias, transfobia e até esteriótipo de francês tarado. Não é nenhum Harvester da vida, mas tem coisas que se eu escrevesse aqui provavelmente algum moderador baniria esse texto. Enfim, é um jogo consciente dos defeitos e qualidades do seu antecessor e que se propõe a implementar novas mecânicas apesar de serem fracas (só erra quem tenta), mas ele brilha mesmo na história e no núcleo de personagens, o típico jogo que a gameplay te fará dropar.

10x the game Mean Streets is but no where remotely in the same dimension as Under A Killing Moon. If you're thinking of going back and playing the original Tex Murphy games, don't. Watch a Lets Play instead. And I say that as someone that played plenty of DOS games when Win 3.1 was the newest os. That said, I did gain an appreciation for what came before UAKM and it's lore.

I could actually see myself get into this if the resolution was.... twice as good?

I really enjoyed the first game, Mean Streets, but Martian Memorandum was pretty bad. Almost everything that made the first game enjoyable was missing from this game. Martian Memorandum feels more like a text adventure because there is very little interaction and the environments are really bland. The way the dialogue works is very frustrating because there is only one correct path and you have to try and get through a dialogue tree. Every time you fail, you have to start over and repeat the same dialogue trying to find the correct path. Some characters have no correct path until you do something else in the game which means you just keep going through all the different dialogue trees and forget which choices you have already made because you have to keep starting over. It is easier to just go through all the options in order, but that is not enjoyable. Making progression through most parts where you have to pick up or use objects is not enjoyable because there is usually nothing to hint you in the right direction for what you are supposed to do and the things you have to do are often not that logical. The first game did not have this issue and I only needed to check a walkthrough in a couple parts. I hate having to use a walkthrough and usually leave it as a last resort for when I get completely stuck and need it to just get past one part. This is the first game I ever played where I just decided to used a walkthrough for the entire game because I knew it would be too frustrating to play without it. I guess I preferred to use the walkthrough to experience the story of the game rather than skipping the game entirely.

Martian Memorandum deviates from the formula established in Mean Streets by playing more like a traditional point and click, MM has more that it's fair share of puzzels and unfair deaths so be sure to save ofter. There's even a game breaking "bug" where you can screw yourself if you don't get certain details on a certain power plant while still on earth.

CrazyPyro's review sums it up well. Good for nostalgia. Much more playable than Mean Streets. Even works on Linux (even without Proton), which is nice. Not up to modern gaming and cultural standards in many ways, if that's what you're looking for...but if you're here, chances are that's not what you're looking for.

played all "newer" Tex games, this one has timed puzzles making the title a chore, avoid