Rank 'em!

So now that the dust is settling on Tesla Effect, I'd be interested to see how it fits in with the series (And how people rank the rest of the series). For me, it's a very tough call since they all have their own merits, but I'm going to go:

1) Tesla Effect: Certainly still has room for improvement but I actually think Tex's newest might be his best yet. The humor was the strongest in the series, as were the environments and the cut scene direction. Bigger than UAKM with multiple paths, and fairly intuitive puzzles.

2) Under a Killing Moon: Again, I rank high for humor, and Under a Killing Moon just oozes humor and personality. I also liked the story better than the later games. More straightforward and easy to believe in its world.

3) Pandora Directive: Only a hair behind the other two, mostly for the more serious tone. This is the best one in terms of pure gameplay, although it did have a few wonky puzzles. I miss the money system and the way it created multiple solutions for some problems as well. The pathing was great, but a little unforgiving to get the best path.

4) Overseer: Still a great game, but disappointing on many levels. Linear with small areas to explore, no central hub like Chandler, no branching paths, and a very serious tone. I found this game pretty disappointing at the time, and while I'd still put it over most non-Tex adventures it isn't quite up there with the rest.

5) Martian Memorandum: Fun and funny, but very rough around the edges, with plenty of dead ends. It's not really the classic that the later games were.

6) Mean Streets: Admirable for its ambition and innovation, but sort of a mess when you try to play it today. It combines a lot of different components, but none of them are very strong on their own.
1. Pandora Directive - by far the most cinematic and engaging story they've done.

2. UAKM

3. TMO

4. Tesla - It was a bit shorter and easier than I'd have liked, and the depth of story telling didn't match the other games.

5. I never played MS & MM so I can't really say.
Mean Streets was a better game than Martian Memorandum.

I think Mean Streets is one of the best games I have ever played. I played it in 1989 as a kid and it introduced me to a world so real I couldn't believe it was inside my TV (I played the Commodore 64 version.)

I've played the PC version since and love it also. Even the flight sim. I think the character portraits with their digitization were utterly eerie and made me want to keep playing just to see who I would be meeting next. It also made you feel like a real detective, having to write down tons of stuff.

It's one of my fondest gaming experiences.

Those of you who haven't played it, give it a go with an opened mind and you might be surprised at how much you like it.

Till this day, I think it's the Tex Murphy game where you really did the most detective work!
Frogacuda wrote:So now that the dust is settling on Tesla Effect, I'd be interested to see how it fits in with the series (And how people rank the rest of the series). For me, it's a very tough call since they all have their own merits, but I'm going to go:
You're right not an easy task, but here are some of mine.

1. Pandora Directive - I'm actually on the opposite, in terms of humor, and this game had great replayability.

2. Under A Killing Moon - An instant classic.

3. Overseer - Beats Tesla by a hair. I liked that its levels weren't self contained.

4. Tesla Effect - I was just left wanting something more. Numerical points, scattered items, global saving, gamer exclusives, Gus, Emily, Nilo, Gary, or Ardo could have easily made this game #3.

Not Ranked - MM and Mean Streets. Not fair comparisons.
Tuco wrote:Mean Streets was a better game than Martian Memorandum.

I think Mean Streets is one of the best games I have ever played. I played it in 1989 as a kid and it introduced me to a world so real I couldn't believe it was inside my TV (I played the Commodore 64 version.)

I've played the PC version since and love it also. Even the flight sim. I think the character portraits with their digitization were utterly eerie and made me want to keep playing just to see who I would be meeting next. It also made you feel like a real detective, having to write down tons of stuff.

It's one of my fondest gaming experiences.

Those of you who haven't played it, give it a go with an opened mind and you might be surprised at how much you like it.

Till this day, I think it's the Tex Murphy game where you really did the most detective work!
Mean Streets was really original and ambitious and unlike anything else out at the time. But I feel like it's aged poorly compared to the others. I wasn't really adding a caveat for "the time in which it was made."
Well with tesla effect we did get our chandler avenue back that's where overseer failed.


Tesla - mainly due to the hd video
Pandora
Overseer
UAKM
Lynne
tex murphy is back in town
UAKM
Pandora
Tesla
Overseer
Samantha


Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.
UAKM
Pandora = Tesla
Overseer
Kristin
"It's a three-sixty! *CRUNCH*....He's fouled..."
I think some the bad reviews of tesla were only towards the end of the game, they all loved chandler avenue being back & I am thinking having the two games wrapped into one made it too long for some people. They found the game a bit confusing due to too many characters & It also become too scarey for some .I personally didn't think it was too long . I noticed after they patched the game they removed most of the fireballs going up the level 3 stairway, now there is only 1. Some people posted it was impossible for them to get past this point. I was a bit disappointed of this once I had mastered the fireballs.

the perfect game to me would be HD video & pandora story, now this would be some game.
Lynne
tex murphy is back in town
Man players to today are pussies. It took me a few deaths, but I finally got the hang of them.

Too long? The game was too short.
Samantha


Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.
yes the fire balls were easy once you get the hang of them, dart go to the corner wait for the next & then dart to next corner....easy as pezzy . some guy posted at big finish stated the game had a bug as it was impossible to get up the stairs...lol
Lynne
tex murphy is back in town
I'm with Sam, players today are total wusses - no patience solving puzzles etc. Pandora was SO much harder than Tesla and I love it for it. I know I am in the minority here, but I also absolutely love the more serious tone of Pandora.

I wouldn't like to rank Tesla and Pandora against each other - one is the best game I ever played and the other is one I have waited for 16 years, so they both top the polls for me at number 1, VERY CLOSELY followed by UAKM at no. 2 and then Overseer at no. 3.

I didn't play MM or MS, not really my scene.

Tesla could have been twice as long. Easy. Some days were decidedly too short.
"When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas." Jean Harlow
Ranking is always though, but here goes:

1) Pandora - strongest story and best gameplay. I like the serious, darker tone and I still think there's enough humour to keep it from going too far in that direction.
2) UAKM - my first Tex experience with a good story and strong gameplay.
3) I am undecided if this is Overseer or Tesla Effect. I need to play through TE on some other paths first. Overseer has a weaker story in theory, but is better told. I think the logic puzzles/mini games in Overseer were stronger. TE does a decent job of the gameplay, though I would have liked more control, tougher puzzles and more gameplay. As Frewella said, some days were too short.

I don't remember the other two well enough to rank them. I would probably put MM above MS, but I can't really say for sure.
Played them years ago, but:

Pandora (10/10)
UAKM (9/10)
Overseer (7/10)
Tesla (5/10)

(based on my enjoyment of them at the time I first played them).
This is tough because I haven't played through all the endings of TE yet, but right now I would rank them as follows:

1. PD
2. UAKM
3. TE
4. Overseer
5. MM
6. MS

PD will always be my favorite mainly because it was the first Tex game I got to work on my computer. (I bought the Tex Murphy double feature and tried to play UAKM first, but couldn't get it to work until much later.) I think it also had the deepest plot and truly branching story lines. (I couldn't get the good ending forever because I neglected to go back and talk to Chelsee.) UAKM is a bit less serious (and sometimes a bit too cheesy for me), but it's still great. TE was a very close third. I thought it was a bit more linear and the puzzles weren't as challenging as I recall in the other games (but, I could just be getting smarter). Overseer was also a good game, but shorter. However, I really enjoyed it too.

For me, MM and MS are on a different scale than the FMV games. It's sort of unfair to rank them together. I appreciate what they were, especially at the time, but they aren't nearly as awesome as the FMV games.