Overseer: a mixed bag?

As i've already mentioned in a previous topic, I'm writing a feature on Tex Murphy games for a Brazilian gaming magazine. So, I basically had to play all games in a row, from Mean Streets to Overseer.

Thankfully, it was a real joy. I had a blast playing them all, it seemed to me that the games were getting progressively better. But then came Overseer and...

Don't get me wrong, I really liked Overseer. Having played Mean Streets (and I loved it), it was very interesting seeing the characters and the plot recreated. There were some great moments in the game (my favorite: the inflatable doll at the cabin. That was Tex Murphy at it's best!), but to be honest I was a bit disappointed with the game.

I know the game was supposed to be smaller due to the Intel deal and stuff. And I'm not really complaining, it was probably very hard for Chris and Aaron to turn Overseer into a bigger game, so that it could be sold separately. It IS a great game, but here are my gripes with it.

The game is too linear
Ok, Pandora spoiled me. Anyway, Overseer does feel TOO linear at times. Maybe not being able to walk around Tex neighborhood made this feeling more intense, because I had the feeling I was just clicking to go from one place to another. And you can say some pretty weird stuff to people in the game and it has no effect at all!

The game takes itself too seriously
That's the worst part of Overseer in my opinion. And I know Chris (and specially Aaron) agree with me, as I've read them talking about it: the game is a bit melodramatic and serious at times. There is only one particular scene where I guess this was good: when Tex talks about Sylvia and gets really sad, and Chelsee asks him if he misses her. They got me here, I almost cried (not kidding, the scene had some power).

But aside from that, things were just too serious. Even the jokes weren't so good, maybe they felt out of place. I understand that maybe they were trying to show us the idealistic Tex, "the man behind the myth" so to say. But I don't know, it just felt way too un-Texy for me.

What do you think?
I find it kind of interesting that some people have such a problem with the more serious tone of Overseer. Well, I guess here you can see how different tastes can be. Overseer is my favorite Tex game especially because of the drama elements. I felt like it was the most mature Tex game and the drama scenes (for example the death of Sonny, suicide of Gideon) added a lot of depth to the Tex Murphy universe. I feel like the drama elements worked very well as they didn't seem cheesy to me, but instead went under my skin.

Sure, a bit of comedy should be in every Tex Murphy game, but I'm not 13 anymore and I don't want to relive an experience like Under a Killing Moon again where one slapstick scene follows the next. Don't get me wrong... I still like Under a Killing (eventhough I think that Pandora and Overseer were MUCH better), but to me it had too much comedy. I prefer the more mature style of Overseer.
I thought Pandora was more serious than Overseer actually. Ultimately it depends on how you played Pandora, but i'm pretty sure that no matter which path you ended up on, there was an undercurrent of darkness there in terms of Tex at odds with his own ego, trying to maintain his relationship with Chelsea and of course the high stakes of the case he was working on. I've got absolutely no issues with Tex being serious and perhaps a little hard boiled. It's is a noir after all so it's meant to be distopian.

Overseer actually seemed a bit lighter to me because of the banter between Tex and Chelsea in the Chinese restaurant. The dialogue choices also were something of a homage to the tone of UKAM because the player didn't need to contemplate the outcome of those choices anywhere near as much as they did in Pandora. A lot of the alternatives available were quite humourous. Don't forget some of the quirkier puzzles too (blow up doll, giving the banana to the gorilla). So to think of Overseer as darker or more serious seems incorrect to me.

But I do agree that overseer is certainly the lesser of the Interactive Movie trilogy. The video compression was pretty bad, the story was good but not original since it's an origin story that we've played before, it was linear and overall the "slowest" of the series in the sense of the story pacing being a little more downbeat. Plus it lacked Chandler Avenue.

However, I loved it for the fact that it was intended as a stepping stone to something bigger. Had Access not fallen prey to Microsoft, I think Overseer would have been a lot more appreciated. At no point was Overseer not a Tex game, but it was an underdeveloped one. I remember reading that they didn't get as much time to work on it as they would have liked so some things were lacking. But again, when you see it as just the beginning of an overall bigger story, it resonates on its own quite well. Except, it can't because that bigger story obviously hasn't been realised yet.
I rarely play UAKM its pandora & overseer that is my favourite, I liked the upmarket tex in overseer.
Lynne
tex murphy is back in town
I talked about in my Tex Persona persona post. UAKM was humor, Pandora was serious/humor, and Overseer came across to me as plain serious. I didn't mind it though I liked the suspense in Overseer.

Aside being linear here's what I didn't like about Overseer.

1. Different movement scheme
2. No cash in game
3. No offering people inventory items
4. It was too picky about taking away loose ends to the point where you can't even get to filmed FMV Ask About movies.
5. No Chandler Avenue
6. No additional puzzles in Game Players Mode
7. No maps
8. It's harder to see your score
9. Tex's speeder. The UAKM one is way cooler. It's odd that he didn't have it in the ending with Chelsee. Maybe it will come back.

But yes some of this is understandably due to the Intel deal.
Overseer was also a re-make. So, it had to do things differently than its previous version. And it certainly did.
1. Different movement scheme
2. No cash in game
3. No offering people inventory items
4. It was too picky about taking away loose ends to the point where you can't even get to filmed FMV Ask About movies.
5. No Chandler Avenue
6. No additional puzzles in Game Players Mode
7. No maps
8. It's harder to see your score
9. Tex's speeder. The UAKM one is way cooler. It's odd that he didn't have it in the ending with Chelsee. Maybe it will come back.
I'll also add the removal of a world map, the lack of any transitional FMVs (Pandora at least had intro FMVs when you'd enter an entirely new place- UAKM however did this best since you saw Tex walking down the streets and driving to places.)
AND an absolutely horrid omni-present UI. Most of what was on the screen could have just been displayed in a quickbar. The car was a massive peeve of mine too.
I liked the upmarket tex in overseer.
So did I, but I also wanted to see his inevitable downfall which is meant to take place just prior to Martian Memorandum. That said I absolutely LOVED the treatment of how Tex got his Fedora- that was an amazing ending- probably the most redeeming factor of Overseer I feel.
I don't want to relive an experience like Under a Killing Moon again where one slapstick scene follows the next.
See I'm the opposite of that thinking, I loved how slapstick UAKM was, the comedy is what attracted me to Tex, he was such a goof, it made it awesome when he'd save the world with nothing more than a foam dart gun and a caged Geiger. A suitable middle ground was Pandora obviously. I don't want it too serious either, I still love that whole "saved the world by pure accident" thing that Tex had. An unlikely hero who's only concern was getting paid at the end of the day. At the same time, I still want that level of Deepness that we got with Pandora's EVIL path. It'd be nice if Aaron Catered for this in the next game- where you could play tex as either the serious detective, the evil asshole or the clutsy goof- the same way he did it with Pandora's story.
@Cyb About the transitional FMV's on Overseer I'm not sure that's entirely true. I remember one for Linsky's attic and the Anasazi Ruins. Some other locations like Law and Order had them by talking to a character.

Did you also see my Tex persona post? It hits on what you're talking about. As far as being bad how about Bad Guy points? It's funny how you have one side of the spectrum on Pandora (Good Guy points) yet it doesn't cater to the other. Bad Guy points could also subtract from Good Guy Points or vice versa.
I agree that the slapstick humor of Under a Killing Moon was great. That's what made me want to buy the game. Most of the other games took themselves way to seriously at the time. UAKM was a refreshing change from that. I've always had a weakness for a man with a great sense of humor. I don't think I would have gotten into the Tex Murphy series if that wasn't the first game I played.
Samantha


Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.
Bad Guy points could also subtract from Good Guy Points or vice versa.
So essentially similar to what Mass Effect 1 did (which in all fairness was an excelent implementation of a Karma system as it allowed both Good and Bad to fill up unlocking more and more options as time went on.. Neutral players got the best out of the game which I thought was excelent.. then the fucked it up in the sequel lol.. but that's bioware.. they do $#it like that.)
I remember one for Linsky's attic and the Anasazi Ruins.
Ah yes you're quite right. I totally forgot about those.