The Pandora Directive

The Tex Murphy series of interactive movies has become one of the most prestigious and respected in the business of computer games. Access are always keen to reach a new paradigm in gaming technology (they were the first to release a game on DVD), but the most important thing is that they deliver a solid, strong and entertaining game. Out of the three 'Tex' games made, The Pandora Directive is the best.

Tex Murphy (played by producer Chris Jones) is possibly one of the most legendary characters in the gaming world. He is a bourbon drinking, stereotypical private-dick, right down to the cigarette stubs and the five o'clock shadows. Slowly, he is drawn into a web of bizarre, corrupt characters, and the plot establishes itself to be quite complex and convoluted. After some game time, a mysterious 'Pandora' device emerges, and it becomes known that it has the answers to the Roswell mystery of 1954 (or is it 1952?).

The game is set in San Fransisco, 2043, and from what we gather in the introduction, there has been a schism between the humans and the 'mutants,' a character class that emerged after a nuclear bomb was dropped on the town. Tex lives with the mutants, though he isn't one himself, and tries extremely hard to court the elusive and beautiful Chelsea Bando, the mutant newspaper stand salesgirl. Access Software have done a good job of establishing a believable, likeable protagonist and landing him in a compelling, intriguing plot/sub-plot line.

But all in all, the Pandora Directive is a very entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable experience that can be played multiple times as it has seven different endings.

Nine out of ten.