Tex Murphy: Mean Streets

Painfully annoying to play by modern standards. Also, there're many things that are only explained in the PDF manual, so get ready to read that before starting the game if you want to understand the story and gameplay mechanics. Perhaps this was common at the time, but needing to read through a manual before starting a game is very strange from the perspective of a modern gamer.

Pra quem curte ou sente nostalgia pela era dos jogos de DOS é um jogaço. Me lembra muito o da Carmen Sandiego, com algumas coisas a mais.

[b]TLDR[/b] A noir detective adventure with amusing camp and varied ideas, undermined by frustrating action mechanics and clunky controls that didn’t age well. [8/20⭐, 11h🏅, 2/5💡] [b]Context[/b] Mean Streets is a 1989 post-apocalyptic neo-noir game where you play as a private investigator looking into a series of suspicious scientist deaths. Although fundamentally a graphic adventure, it mixes in several action-oriented mechanics which, while ambitious for the time, are so poorly executed that they turn the game into a frustrating experience (not the only [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/macwh/recommended/32310/]offender[/url] from that year). [b]Writing[/b] You are hired by the daughter of a scientist presumed to have committed suicide. As you begin following leads, you discover that other scientists connected to the same project have suffered similarly suspicious fates, eventually uncovering a larger conspiracy. Most interactions take place through interrogations with NPCs, and the dialogue is written in an exaggerated, almost campy manner. Whether this is an intentional parody of B-movies or simply an unintentional product of the era, I genuinely couldn’t tell, but I found the over-the-top writing entertaining enough. [b]Aesthetics[/b] The graphics are very much what you would expect from a 1989 game, although I did enjoy the digitised NPC sprites and animations. The soundtrack is reduced but fits the noir atmosphere well, and the limited voice acting is decent for the period. [b]Gameplay[/b] The gameplay mixes a number of ideas. At its core, you travel between locations to gather clues and items that unlock progress elsewhere. Moving between places requires piloting a vehicle, which is honestly an awful experience (thankfully there is an autopilot option, although even that is slow enough to become frustrating). Once at a location, you may interrogate NPCs through a text parser (probably the most interesting part, although interactions are mostly reduced to asking about names); survive gunfights (awful); or explore environments through a verb-based interface (almost unbearable due to the rudimentary controls). On top of that, you also need to manage money — used for bribes and informants — and ammunition. In theory, this sounds like a rich and varied set of mechanics. In practice, most of them are clunky and have aged particularly badly. The game is not especially difficult, but even basic actions like moving between locations or exploration sequences feel like chores. There is an option to make gunfights easier, but that does little to make them any more enjoyable. You can die in several ways — gunfights, environmental hazards, or threatening the wrong NPC — and must reload a previous save. I did not encounter dead ends, though I suspect poor resource management could potentially create them. You can save while in your vehicle, and there is no auto-save. [b]Value[/b] It took me about 11 hours to finish the game, though I have to admit a significant portion of that was spent letting the vehicle run on autopilot while I did something else. The progression is fairly non-linear, since there are multiple ways to discover locations and hints. There are no achievements; this is the original 1989 version running on Boxer. [quote][i]For more puzzle-game reviews and curated lists check out the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43326007-The-Clueless-Adventurer-Puzzle-Trove/]Puzzle Trove[/url].[/i][/quote]

Old School search and click. Interesting story. Puzzles are good. they get better for each game in the series

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!

love it 30 years on

2/10

The story is alright, I guess. But the travelling is so tedious you rip your hair out. And it's also partially a text adventure which means you have to type in commands in order to do things, yuck. I know I am being lazy with this review here but I don't even care. Have a nice day.

The game that started the Tex Murphy series. Of course, back then it was simply called Mean Streets. Despite the publishers desire to update and make Overseer canon, this game holds its own and in my opinion is better for it. The story and graphics are good.

wow! just seven more years till we have flying cars with fax machines!!!