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Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure
Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure (developed under the working title Project Fedora) is the upcoming sixth game in the Tex Murphy series of detective adventure games, developed by Big Finish Games and published by Atlus. Like the previous three games, it will tell much of its story through live-action full-motion video sequences, and feature fre...
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Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
Well worth the time of any Tex Murphy fan. Even those that know nothing about the history of the protagonist will find something to like.
Things can get rough in post-WWIII apocalyptic San Francisco on a gumshoe like Tex Murphy, in his new adventure Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure.
And that is maybe the one issue that stands out the most with Tesla Effect; it’s a game that is very clearly made for the fans, mainly those who have played the previous games. The puzzles, the writing, the acting, and the humor is all ripped straight from the 90’s, and if you’re fixated on modern gaming sensibilities, you probably won’t last ten minutes in Tex’s world. But for those who have been waiting for the return of the world’s greatest PI, look no further. Tesla Effect is a love letter to a genre that is all but gone.
Just as its noir-inspired detective Tex Murphy is a “man out of time,” Tesla Effect is indeed a game out of time. Every aspect -- from the humor to the puzzles to the live action cutscenes -- feels beamed here straight from the ‘90s. Sometimes it’s charming, and others, it’s just dated. But if nothing else, Tex’s puns and underdog relatability ultimately still make this rocky, uneven case worth cracking.
The humor doesn’t always work and the puzzle design is still rooted in the series’ 1990s adventure game roots, meaning it feels archaic in spots, but there are some welcome concessions to modern design with the flashlight and hint system. Tex Murphy might be alive in 2014 but he’ll need to learn a few more tricks if he’s to stay around for another adventure.
Tex Murphy has been fairly successfully transported to the modern era, and maybe that's enough for the established fans. It's just a shame he didn't pick up enough new tricks in his sixteen-year hiatus for everyone else to take notice.