Mini Review of Tex Murphy, Overseer

Introduction:

	My wife and I were saving this game for a rainy day, much like
	we would store a bottle of fine wine in the cellar for a while.
	Just like the wine, once we had played it, it would be over; no
	more Text Murphy games for us to play.

	Well, we finally played the game (and opened the vintage
	wine), and I just can't find it in myself to write any sort
	of objective review of the game.  I have enjoyed every one of
	the Tex Murphy games, and I am truly a fan of Chris Jones and
	Suzanne Barnes.

	So, instead of my normal review, I will cover some of the
	highlights very quickly.  As far as a "real" review goes,
	forget it.  This write-up is more in the way of praise.


Graphics (quality, animations, cut scenes):

	 Very good.  FMV games may have been panned in their heyday,
	 but Overseer is about as good as it gets.

Sound (music, voices, special effects):
Characters (depth, development, interaction):

	Excellent throughout.  Chris Jones just gets better with
	practice.  There was one or two characters that overacted a
	bit, and I am guessing that they were stage actors not really
	used to the intimacy of the camera.  The voices were great,
	the acting was great.

Story (plot, theme, depth):

	Hmm, I enjoyed the story, but I really don't want to say
	anything more about it.  This is one game where the story
	is yours to discover as the game unfolds.

Puzzles (difficulty, uniqueness, suitability, ugliness, linearity):

	There were two mazes, but they both had some redeeming
	features.

	There was one really, really nasty tone based puzzle.  My
	wife has grade 10 in both voice and piano, and it still
	required quite a few attempts before we could solve it.

	The previous games had timed sequences, and this one was no
	exception.  For some reason, the ones in this game didn't
	seem quite so onerous.  It may have just been the rose
	coloured glasses I was wearing :-)

Controls (user interface, save/restore, sound/video adjustments):

	The game engine was updated and modernized quite a bit from
	the one used in Under a Killing Moon and Pandora Directive.
	Gone is the need to switch between movement and interaction
	modes via the spacebar.  It took a bit of time to get used
	to, but it did help provide a more immersive gaming
	experience.

Bugs or problems:

	I installed the patch for the game, but was still unable to
	get it to run correctly with hardware rendering (it crashed
	to the desktop immediately).  However, the software
	rendering worked fine (albeit somewhat slower than I would
	have liked), with no other problems throughout the game.

Pros:

	Wonderful (mostly) acting and voices
	Great music
	Great story
	Great (and memorable) characters
	Graphics engine much improved (simpler, more intuitive)
	Nice hint system
	Ability to bypass any puzzle if it irritated too much

Cons:

	Timed sequences
	Dialog and action choices which killed with little or no warning
	Nasty (really nasty) tone-based puzzle

Conclusion:

	I really wish we could go back in time and get a few more of these
	games produced.  Barring that, I would even accept sequels starring
	characters other than Chris Jones and Suzanne Barnes.  In any case,
	I was truly sad when I finished this game.

	Final note: Just do whatever you have to to get your hands on
	any of the three Tex Murphy games; you won't regret it.