Mean Streets vs. Overseer

Greetings all,

I just finished Mean Streets. I played Overseer when it was new, had always been curious to try Mean Streets, but just never got around to it until recently.

There are few reasons to pimp MS over OS. The most of which is that the actress who plays Sylvia in MS is sooooooooo hot *pant* *pant*! The actress who plays her in OS is, well, my mom always told me if you can't say anything nice don't say anything :roll: But wow. She's gorgeous in MS.

Purists who value simplicity may like MS for how it gets from one scene to the next more quickly, and that it's actually easier to search because you *don't* "have" to search everything in 3D. And a lot of the additions to the story in OS just seem like busywork.

Other than that Overseer blows it away. I liked the ending of Overseer where we find out Gideon wasn't really the bad guy, he has the best of intentions even if he may seem misguided. I liked how Gideon never intended to truly conquer the world, only to help it, and that the Law and Order party was actually trying to steal it *from* him, whereas in MS Gideon was working *with* Law and Order. Definitely better in OS.

Don't get me wrong, Mean Streets was fun and different. I'm glad I played it - it's interesting to be able to compare and contrast the two.

Thoughts?
I agree somewhat with what u said. one thing that sucks about MS though.. That lame Flight Simulator... Totally unnecessary. On the other hand, the push button system in OS wasn't as interesting than the UKAM/PD travel maps. (because they had FMVs to show traveling)
Did anyone know that the Access boys originally wanted to just create a flight simulator, but decided to give the simulator a story to make it a bit more interesting? I mean, who flies around more from place to place than a PI - well, I suppose a UPS guy would, but that wouldn't make a very interesting story would it? So anyway, Tex Murphy was originally invented as a little character to make a flight simulator more interesting - who would believe it?

Bests, Rockefeller 8)
"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do"

"ERROR: Error Code Does Not Indicate An Error"
I honestly never played Mean Streets. I've seen it played. I dunno, I just like Overseer better because it's ... newer.

About the whole flight simulator thing. Let me tell you, if they released that thing back then, called it a flight simulator, can you imagine at least one person saying "Wow! The graphics are so life-like!" I never in my life seen worse graphics. On anything I played. Ever. And granted, I do believe Mean Streets is one of the earlier games I've ever seen ... but gee boy howdy dem graphics were butt.
I'm not fat ... I'm festively plump.
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OK. So whip me, beat me, take me bowling - make me feel cheap. I am not a gamer. I do not enjoy doing it on a computer. BUT!

Tex Murphy games somehow made the jump. I have never been able to explain how or why I got hooked. But with Tex, I am.

The first game I played was "Under A Killing Moon" in Germany. The quality of the story line kept me going at it (remember this was 1990's and the machines were 386/486). I have played and enjoyed OS and PD and wish I could get them to run on XP and/or "Red Hat." (As my mother use to say, "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.") I hate progress.

So allow me to say, "I want my Tex back."

Tex will not come back . I play what I have and make the most of it. (My kids do not even pretend to understand this.)

Hey thanks for allowing me to be a member . I got to go and answer the door. Maybe it will be Tex.
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We Cheat The Other Guy And Pass The Savings On To You.
Yeah, I'm just glad the flight simulator part at least had the autopilot! Imagine what a pain it would have been if you'd had to have MANUALLY flown place to place!

Did you seriously hear a rumor that Mean Streets was just supposed to be a flight simulator with a story??? That this whole wildly successful phenomenon called Tex Murphy started with a failed flight simulator??? WOW! How amazing would that be if it were true? Fate *is* involved in your lives I guess :).

Imagine if they'd have forced Mean Streets to include air combat as well as no autopilot feature! I probably wouldn't have finished it.

Didn't Access also have a game called Echelon though that was like a space flight simulator? I'd have to look through their catalog to see if they had any others.
I've never played Mean Streets but just this minute finished Overseer. I agree the ending is really impressive and kind of tragic in a way. I prefer Gideon as a misguided character, since it adds a bit more complexity and depth to him. He's also brilliantly played by Michael York and I think the fact that Overseer was FMV-based in general is an advantage too.
emanymton wrote:I have played and enjoyed OS and PD and wish I could get them to run on XP and/or "Red Hat." (As my mother use to say, "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.") I hate progress.
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You should be able to run all the Tex games on XP with a little work. PD and UAKM may be a little trickier but OS shouldnt be too hard. I just finished the CD version of Overseer on XP with not many problems, I didnt do anything special other than run it and dodged a few glitches later in the game using topics on the message board (e.g. the chandelier bug). PD and UAKM I managed to play using the usual fixes such as DOSBox. There should be some discussions on the Tex Support section to help you or make a new thread there.
(Ruri_Ayanami from the old Tex Murphy ezboard).
"I don't believe in intuition, don't know why... just a feeling." - Tex Murphy
I imagine if you played Overseer first you would prefer it, but I like Mean Streets. I admit there is some nostalgia there but everything in Mean Streets, save the graphics and 3D envioronment, were better in Mean Streets. Granted the flight sim and action sequences were unnecessary, but consider the following on a point by point basis.

1. Sylvia. As pointed out, the women in Mean Streets were beautiful.
2. Detective feel. Okay, using a pen and paper may not be "user friendly" but it is the only game that ever really made me FEEL like a detective, perhaps for that very reason. I was drawn into the story and had to really make decisions (or maybe that is my nostalgia talking).
3. The changes in Overseer seemed oddly for Political correctness sake. I remember a bunch of people being changed from male to female to give women more power, but none of the changes really helped the story.
4. Mean Streets ending. Overseer went for the sentimental ending, but I felt more drawn into Mean Streets. I felt more of a sense of urgency in Mean Streets and little of it in Overseer. Knowing the story already may certainly have contributed to that, but I still feel that Mean Streets takes me into the story better.
5. The searching for hidden objects I guess you have to go with Overseer, but in its day there was none better than Mean Streets. I still love the room searches in Mean Streets and the timer did give a sense of urgency even though I am not usually a fan of games where you can die.
6. Did I mention Sylvia?
"Mean Streets" is better then "TM:Overseer".
Truly yours,
Alexander.
(С уважением,
Александр).
I wasnt against the keyboard interface. All the Tex games have use it to some degree but maybe there should have at least been a list with addresses and names you've gotten so you dont have to write them down.
I played Mean Streets first, then the rest of the series backwards.

In other words, while I was grooving to the nice public domain music back in... oh god let's not analyze that deep, I didn't play another Tex Murphy game until I managed one of the last Babbage's in existence, when I picked up Overseer. The character differences struck me right upside the head, to say the least.

After that I found the double pack, of which UAKM would simply not work. So I played Pandora Directive next. If you need to ask what I thought of that, I will reach out of your screen and slap you.

Finally getting UAKM to work, I couldn't get past the damn technical aspect of the freeze-framing characters. I know it was necessary, probably, but damn it was heinously distracting.

Finally I grabbed Martian Memorandum from an abandonwear site. Ah, you crazy classic Tex. But you could already see the character evolving from the typical detective hardass to what he is today.

I'd have to say, while Mean Streets has some major nostalgic value, you can't beat having Michael York as a tragic villain.
Michael York is much better in "Moscow Heat" movie, Vance.
Truly yours,
Alexander.
(С уважением,
Александр).
Combine those two words and put them in the title of a movie. Congratulations, you have now created a title that makes me want to flee the immediate area the multiplex is in.
Enjoy, Vance! :wink: http://www.amazon.com/Moscow-Heat-Micha ... UTF8&s=dvd
Truly yours,
Alexander.
(С уважением,
Александр).