Classic time!
I've started my very first playthrough ever of "Mean Streets", the first game in the Tex Murphy series. The only game I've played before is "Under a Killing Moon", but "Mean Streets" is a VERY different game, which in my opinion hasn't aged all that well.
It's part detective game, where you indeed have to search rooms for items, scavenging for keys to fit in locks; part flight simulator, but luckily you can turn on the auto-pilot; part arcade game, where you have to shoot bad guys and try to make it to the other side of the room.
Carl Linsky has jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. His daughter Sylvia has hired me, Tex Murphy, private investigator, to look into it, because she thinks there's more going on than a suicide. So I have to follow some leads, question people, and try to uncover the truth.
So far it's an interesting story, the gameplay is a bit weird, and at first I was thinking, "What have I done? Why did I choose THIS game?" but I'm starting to get into it too after 1 hour of playing. There's so much information coming at you, though, I really need a notebook to jot every name and detail down.
4 hours into "Mean Streets" and even though I'm starting to get the hang of things, this games is HARD! Not to mention BIG.
I've encountered 23 characters and locations so far, not all of them helpful.
I've only searched through three locations classic adventure game style. Most of the game is talking to people, asking them the right questions, bribing or beating them up if they don't want to talk. And flying from one location to another. This takes lots of time, even with the auto pilot engaged.
I died or got arrested several times myself. I triggered the burglary alarms at two locations, which triggers a countdown, giving you a chance to find the off switch. But the interface takes lots of button tapping, and I discovered too late the MOVE function is quite essential.
It also took me a bit to realize I really have to use my secretary Vanessa and my informant Lee to provide me with new locations. But Lee is expensive and I'm slowly running out of cash.
But I made some headway in the storyline and I know what I got to do now. I need to find passcards and the accompanying passwords. They all belong to scientists working on some mind control project, which I need to shut down.
Finished "Mean Streets" in 8,5 hours! This one really was a doozy. I died loads of times during my last couple of playing sessions. I made a habit of saving my game each time before leaving my speeder. And even then a lot of luck was involved in finding the reset buttons of the burglar alarms in time.
I still missed some things, though. I never found the location for Robert Knott and Big Jim Slade, two characters involved with the "Law & Order" party. But I guess talking to them wasn't really necessary, since I found my way to the final showdown.
That one took me several tries too. I had to escape a room but had to time it just right to slip through the door a robot had left open. Really had to find the sweet spot, as far away from the switch as I could get and still be able to flip it.
I really had to use a notebook for this game, jotting down all names and location codes, then the colors of the passcards and their passwords. I got about 4 pages of notes.
It's a very interesting detective game where you follow lead to lead. Once I got the hang of searching the rooms, I start to like that part of the gameplay as well. But I'm glad games evolved to point 'n click, because it wasn't always easy. It played more like a text adventure, but with supporting graphics, and with choosing the right verbs in a list instead of a text parser.
Glad I played it though! And looking forward to the other games in the Tex Murphy series!
