February 8, 2015

Mean Streets

Access Software, Inc., 1989


This is the first game of the acclaimed Tex Murphy mystery series set in the futuristic San Francisco. Tex Murphy, the hero of this game, is a hard-boiled Private Eye who is broke and out of a job most of the time. A gorgeous female, Sylvia Linsky, has hired Tex Murphy's services to investigate the suicidal death of her father, Carl Linsky, who was doing research for an electronic surveillance company, the Gideon Corporation. The case is closed in the police files for being a suicidal case duly attested by an eyewitness and a note left by Carl, but Sylvia is convinced that her father did not kill himself. During his investigation Tex discovers that many other scientist also committed suicide in somehow similar circumstances. Additionally, Tex discovers about Nexus computer network's involvement in these suicidal cases and a highly secretive project named Overlord. Could this Overlord project have been the main reason behind Carl Linsky death or was it the one million dollars insurance amount, with Sylvia Linsky being the beneficiary?

There are a few arcade sequences in the game, which can be played easily with the difficulty set on the lowest level. Secondly, there is a flight simulation sequence, which is quite annoying in an adventure game setting. But, despite these few glitches the game offers a real point & click interface with excellent 256 color VGA graphics, digitized real actors and good quality PC speaker sound.