Martian Memorandum

Martian Memorandum is an adventure with a traditional point-n-click interface. It is a direct continuation of Mean Streets published in 1989 and is the second installment of a series about the adventures of private detective Tex Murphe. The game was produced by the same team as the previous part, i.e. Access Software.

Tex Murphy is a private detective living in Los Angeles in the near future. The action takes place in 2039, six years after the events with Mean Streets. Not much has changed in Texa's life during this time - it's still difficult to make ends meet and it regularly gets into more trouble. The story begins when Murphe decides to use the services of Marshall Alexander, the mysterious wealthy founder of TerraForm corporation. His daughter Alex disappeared without a trace. Tex was not used to deny good paying customers, so he quickly starts his own investigation. The investigation will eventually lead him to the planet Mars, where he will discover that the whole matter is much more complicated than it initially seemed.

Martian Memorandum is a one hundred percent adventure, so the game is mainly about exploring the location, collecting evidence, questioning witnesses and solving puzzles. Most of the riddles are subject to investigation and there are no abstract and illogical challenges. The gameplay is facilitated by the possibility to ask our secretary and informant for advice. As in the previous page, during dialogues there is an option to bribe or intimidate the caller. All known dexterity sequences, such as battle scenes or driving a flying car while travelling between cities, have been removed from the predecessor.

The authors decided to continue the tradition started by Mean Streets and once again offered an impressive (by 1991 standards) audiovisual setting. This time the actors were used not only in intermittent scenes - also the characters during the game itself were based on the filmed silhouettes of real people. What is more, it was one of the first titles in which the issues raised by the protagonists were recorded voices.

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Last updated on August 14, 2015