Martian Memorandum Download (1991 Adventure Game)

Martian Memorandum is the sequel to Mean Streets. Six years have found Tex broke, down on his luck, and seriously in need of a new case. He gets a call from Marshall Alexander, a business tycoon who owns most of the industry on Mars. It seems his daughter Alexis has run away from home, and taken "something else" with her. Marshall won't say what that "something else" is, but he is willing to pay handsomely to get it, and his daughter, back.

Martian Memorandum is a lovely point and click adventure game made by Access Software in 1991. It is the 2nd Tex Murphy game, and is based in a bleak future in San Francisco in 2039. If you want a good, well-written detective game, then look no further.

Tex Murphy (your character) is a loveable private investigator who is down on his luck. You are contacted by a rich tycoon named Marshall Alexander who tells you his daughter has been kidnapped, along with ‘something else' that must remain a secret. You do not yet know what the 'something else' is, but you are hired to find it and Marshall's daughter. Of course, Tex being Tex, nothing is that simple.

You start off in your office. You need to travel to Terraform, talk to Marshall Alexander, and find clues as to what to do next. Just remember - the comlink is your friend (if you can find it). You have to go from place to place, talking to people and getting more information. Make sure you pick up everything you can, as you never know when it might be useful. You will find yourself running backwards and forwards between various places trying to get more clues, and desperate to solve the whole mystery.

There are options along the bottom of the screen (look, open, move, get etc) that you click on to do varies actions. When you talk to people, you get a choice of what to say (Response 1, Response 2 etc), or you can offer items from your inventory, or ask about things. However, it is easy to get 'trapped' in this game. If you choose the wrong dialogue when talking to some one, that person may not give you any more information and you cannot progress in the game. It is also possible to die in this game, so I highly recommend saving frequently using different save-game names. When you want to walk anywhere, make sure none of the options at the bottom are highlighted.

If you get stuck, click on 'HELP'. You are given clues on items in the room, what you can do in that room.

The graphics are a nice mixture of drawn backgrounds and real actors, which works really well. When a character is talking, you see a nice animated close up of that person. This adds greatly to the whole appeal of the game.

There is lovely music and sound effects in this game. You can hear Tex's footsteps as he walks around, and you can hear things like the dog barking, thunder and other simple sound effects. Not so good by today's standards, but it seems just right for this game There is also some speech in this game. When you are talking to some one, you actually hear the characters talking to you.

The game is quite hard, and it is easy to find yourself running in circles when you choose the wrong dialogue, but that is just a minor complaint. As long as you save often, you can't go far wrong. The graphics are lovely and the speech is a nice touch. This is a lovely game that every adventure fan (and every Tex fan) will LOVE. I highly recommend it.

I give this game 4 out of 5.

Remember to save your game often, and use different names to save your game. If you want to quit the game, press Crtl Q. If you want to skip the duct-maze in the casino, press Insert O, then click the left arrow.

This game works with Windows XP, and the Dos Command Prompt in Windows XP. It doesn't seem to work with VDM Sound. DosBox gives mixed results on various configurations. Use the newest version.

Sequel to cult classic Mean Streets, the second of Access' Tex Murphy games is an interesting point-and-click detective adventure set in 21st century San Francisco. As with the first game, the highlight of Martian Memorandum is the well-written premise and interesting characters. You are Tex Murphy, a (cough) handsome PI who is down on his luck. You are hired by Marshall Alexander, the owner of Terraform Corp. to find his kidnapped daughter Alexis. You will soon be looking deep into Alexander's past, dealing with thugs and conmen of all kinds in San Francisco. The case will take you to the jungle, and eventually to Mars, where Terraform is terraforming the planet. Here, you will discover what the game's title mean, and why it rests on your puny shoulders to save the Earth... again.

Fans of Mean Streets rejoice-- Martian Memorandum is an unadulterated, 100% pure point-and-click adventure game with no inscrutable flight sim or action portions in sight. Some puzzles do require you to solve them within a time limit, but usually it's quite lenient (once you find WHERE all the items are, of course). The characters you meet, as in Mean Streets are interesting, and advance the game as they would in a real murder mystery novel. You can select several approaches in your conversation, ranging from friendly to threatening, and different characters require different approaches (as well as cash) to cough up the information you need.

In contrast to most other adventure games, you can get irrevocably stuck if you pick the wrong approach for a character, who is so upset with you that he/she won't talk to you again. Typically, you will know when the conversation "fails" (mostly because everyone you can talk to in the game has at least one important clue), but sometimes the signs are more subtle, and you can proceed with other matters for a long time without realizing what you miss. It's a bit annoying, although not difficult to overcome if you use the tactic of "save before initiating a conversation, restore and play again to choose all possible choices." Other annoyances include extreme pixel-hunting, which requires you to slowly move the cursor all over the screen to find 1x1 objects. And-- die-hard fans take note-- there is a MAZE in this game. A big one. One that will require you to carefully map it, several times over. Fortunately, there is a way to bypass it, which makes it more bearable. There is also a very convenient built-in hint system, although the puzzles generally are quite easy.

Overall, a very well written storyline as well as good graphics and (some) speech make Martian Memorandum a solid adventure. The acting is as campy as ever, but if you like Mean Streets but abhor the flight simulator/action parts, then you'll definitely love Martian Memorandum despite all its pixel-hunting nuisance.

Ah, Tex Murphy. Clearly the greatest computer based PI ever. You just can't help but like this guy. And Martian Memorandum is actually one of the better ones in the series. This is the second time we meet Murphy, he got a little famous after his first case (Mean Streets) but now work has run out. One day he receives a message from the business tycoon Marshall Alexander, whose company is working on terra forming Mars. His daughter has been kidnapped and an "object" has also been stolen. No one must know that the object is missing but Tex is not told what it is. And thus begins the investigation that will make Tex meet many strange people and go to many far off places (including Mars).

This game has really nice graphics for a game from 1991 and there are even digitalized voices (!), the only troubles with these are the terrible quality. The gameplay is great and there really is a feeling of being a PI and questioning people and searching through places. The story is great too. Together with "The Pandora Directive" this is my favourite in the series and overall a game recommended not only recommended to fans of this genre but also to the average game fan.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

People who downloaded Martian Memorandum have also downloaded:
Mean Streets, Maniac Mansion Deluxe, Other Worlds, Majestic Part 1: Alien Encounter, Kings Quest 2: Romancing the Stones VGA, Mission Critical, King's Quest: Quest for the Crown VGA, Orion Conspiracy, The