History VideoGame / TexMurphy

The final three games were, as mentioned, notable for their "interactive movie" quality. They featured solid writing, sharp acting and some surprising celebrity appearances. (Russell Means, Margot Kidder, Creator/JamesEarlJones, Barry Corbin, Tanya Roberts, John Agar, Michael York, Richard Norton, Joe Estevez, Brian Keith and Creator/ClintHoward)

* TheStarscream: [[spoiler: Towards the end, Slade kills Klaus and plans to auction off the eight Overlord control cards off to the highest bidder. Tex stops him, though.

** ''Tesla Effect'': Tracking down whoever attacked you and gave you amnesia leads to [[spoiler:stopping a WellIntentionedExtremist from using the lost work of NikolaTesla from accidentally destroying the Earth trying to open a portal to Heaven.]]

* MacGuffin: The bird statuette.

* ShoutOut: Tex is hired to find [[a rare statue of a bird]] that several parties are desperate to find.

* GRatedDrug: The bum behind Rook's place is addicted to chocolate syrup, as in "goes into withdrawals without a fix."

** The morgue has several references to YoungFrankenstein, including a book on one table called ''How I Did It'' and two brains in a Lost and Found cabinet labeled "Use This Brain" and "Abnormal - Do Not Use This Brain."

* ApocalypticLog: Tex watches a Video message of the last survivor inside the Roswell complex before that person gets taken by the evil cloud alien creature.
* {{Area 51}}: Tex has to search the facility to find the alien power cell.

* BittersweetEnding: The normal ending of Pandora Directive likewise, as opposed to the (canonical) happy ending and (jerkass) bad ending.

* LethalLavaLand: [[spoiler: In the Mayan temple, is a long chamber with a narrow maze above lava. Tex Murphy has to get to the other side and try to open one of the four doors (whichever one opens is random) -- all while avoiding fireballs. This room is only available in Game Player's mode, though.]]

* ShutUpHannibal: An unusual case where this is delivered ''retroactively'': Once Tex is done telling the story in flashbacks, he comments how the game's WellIntentionedExtremist "was probably right". Chelsea's response: "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis NO. HE. WASN'T.]] ''You'' were!"
* TheStarscream: [[spoiler: Towards the end, Slade kills Klaus and plans to auction off the 8 Overlord control cards off to the highest bidder. Tex stops him, though.
* TimeBomb: Tex must remove an implant from his skull before it kills him. Of course the plot requires that you remove it anyway (the entire game is a flashback, after all) so there's no danger of Tex dying permanently.

** DarkIsNotEvil: Tex Murphy wears dark clothing and shoes in contrast to the previous games.

* EndGameResultsScreen: Tesla Effect assigns you a rank based on your score at the end. Getting the highest rank after completing the "Somewhere I'll Find You" story path is an alternate means to unlock access to the storage room in Tex's Office if you fail to find all the candy comics.

* LongRunnerTechMarchesOn: A few of the things that seemed impossibly high-tech when the series started are now obsolete, but preserved in the game for continuity. Okay, Tex still having a fax machine is joke and entirely plausible, but the vidphones seen throughout the game are considerably inferior to any iPad.

* NonStandardGameOver: Most deaths go to a quick RIP sequence, and oftentimes the cause of death is not even explained. Some, however, have special [=FMVs=]. [[spoiler:For example, if Tex throws the Tesla Egg out of the Coit Tower, instead of giving it to Slade.]]

* SequelHook: [[spoiler:''Tesla Effect'' ends with the BigBad and his [[TheDragon Dragon]] escaping (although the Dragon is seemingly dealt with in the "bad" ending), and ends with a news report of the Nights Templar getting killed. There's also the sub-plot regarding J.T. Donnelly and Anastasia and the White Russians, which is indicated to be entirely separate from the Translator's plot and is never fully resolved. Tex mentions in the closing scene that it all seems to be part of something bigger, and he'd better be ready for it.]]

* ThatOneLevel: The lava maze room in the Mayan Temple on Day Nine in Gameplayer Mode.
** It's bad enough to navigate once. It's even worse if you get through it and realize you forgot to pick up one of the items you need for the end of the game in the first half of the temple. To the game's credit, it won't let you advance to the final room without the needed items. The bad news is this means you have to go through the maze two more times like [[https://youtu.be/IZPv-7U_H1g this Let's Play author did]].

** Then again, Tex is far more stressed than usual in ''Tesla Effect'', having lost seven years of his memory and finding out he apparently became a TotalBastard in that time.

* ApocalypticLog: Tex watches a Video message of the last surviver inside the Roswell complex before that person gets taken by the evil cloud.

** Day 3: Film/OutOfThePast
** Day 6: [[Film/NorthByNorthwest South by Southeast]].
** The morgue has several references to YoungFrankenstein, including a book on one table called ''How I Did It'' and two brains in a Lost and Found drawer labeled "Use This Brain" and "Abnormal - Do Not Use This Brain."

* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler: Klaus was just one of the 8 scientists working on Overlord. In ''Overseer'' he's an ally of the crypto-fascist Law and Order party and the mastermind behind the killings of the other scientists in order to obtain all 8 passcards to control Overlord.]]

* TheMaze: At the temple.

** The Daylight Reversal Act mentioned in ''Under A Killing Moon'' caused by ozone layer damage after World War III. Everybody sleeps during the day, which is why it's always dark during gameplay.

* AfterTheEnd: World War III came and went, leaving behind radiation and a completely shot ozone layer. Due to the latter governments have enacted a "time reversal": regular business hours are during the night while most people sleep during the day. It's much healthier that way.
* BigBad:

** Overseer: [[spoiler: John Klaus]]

** The cause for this is revealed in TPD as [[spoiler:the US military using untested ImportedAlienPhlebotinum to blow up a Middle-Eastern country, which results in WWIII]].

*** [[spoiler: In ''Mean Streets'' Slade is just a hired goon and Tex kills him in a shootout about halfway through the game; in ''Overseer'' he has a more prominent role in the story, has a ClimaxBoss confrontation with Tex and Sylvia towards the end, and survives to menace Tex again more than two decades later in ''Tesla Effect''.]]

** A number of characters die in the novelization who didn't in the games, mostly in ''Killing Moon'', namely [[spoiler: The Colonel, Alaynah, Eddie Chang, and Eva in ''Killing Moon'', as well as Ellis in ''Pandora Directive''. Also, at the end of ''Tesla Effect'' it's strongly implied that Fiske and the Translator go down with the Immortal Coil, while in the game they're a lot further away when the explosions begin and escape unharmed.]] Also, [[spoiler: Mantus]] survives in the novelization of ''Tesla Effect''.

* HintSystem: The series has a built-in hint guide. Each incremental hint cost a certain number of points (gained by solving puzzles) and the system was structured so that it was impossible to "look ahead".
** ''Martian Memorandum'' has a "Help" option, which, when clicked, allows you to choose any object in the room (including ones [[InterfaceSpoiler you haven't found yet]]) and tells you exactly what you're supposed to do with it.

* LimitedWardrobe: The classic depiction of Tex (established in Under A Killing Moon) is that his entire wardrobe consists of several of the same dress shirt and tie, pants, overcoat, Fedora hat and sneakers.

* LoveInterest: Chelsee Bando is Tex's romantic interest in the series.
* MacGyvering: Combining random items into whatever crude instrument required to advance past a given obstacle is an absolute necessity in these games
* TheMentor: "Colonel" Dobbs who taught Tex most of what he knows about being a private investigator.

** At the beginning of UAKM, this god hilariously bemoans that all the great private investigators of the past have died of old age, meaning they're stuck with Tex Murphy instead. James Earl Jones knows funny, people.

* TheOnlyOne: Tex is a textbook case. Unfortunately, his enemies tend to notice this quality about him, frequently resulting in him being turned into an UnwittingPawn. Tex manages to clean up his own messes in the end, though.

* AGodAmI: Dr. Dangerfield goes full megalomaniac in the finale, believing the Oracle Stone will make him this.
* ImprovisedWeapon: A bra was used as a sling.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: Ultimately, Dr. Dangerfield's goal was to get revenge against a mass murderer, in the process putting a handful of innocent lives at risk. Even his AGodAmI megalomania at the end after he got the Oracle Stone wasn't directly malicious against anyone. Unfortunately, his misuse of the technology would have blown up the planet if Tex hadn't stopped him.]]

* ApocalypseHow: A Class 4, biosphere extinction, is prepared by the AncientConspiracy.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Tex has to prevent this.

* PixelHunt: Occasionally necessary, particularly in UAKM, where the pixelated graphics of garbage on the floor are difficult to tell apart from objects you're supposed to get.

* ShapeShifterSwanSong: The end.
* TrialAndErrorGameplay: The cryo tank puzzle at the end is this. In a hilarious subversion, Tex will complain to the Great PI In The Sky during the HaveANiceDeath sequence how unfair it is, the Great PI ''agrees with Tex'', and gives him a second chance without needing to reload a save game.

* AffectionateParody: Every plot element from old-school, black and white, noir private eye films are lovingly re-created and mocked.

* FilmNoir: Although increasingly parodied as the series goes on.

* HardboiledDetective: Tex is an AffectionateParody of the genre.

* LimitedWardrobe: The classic depiction of Tex (established in Under A Killing Moon) is that his entire wardrobe consists of a dress shirt and tie, pants, overcoat, Fedora hat and sneakers.
* LoveInterest: Chelsee Bando is Tex' romantic interest in the series.

* DamselInDistress: Emily Sue Patterson is attacked and strangled by an NSA agent. Tex comes to safe her JustInTime.
* DismantledMacGuffin: Text has to find five pieces to assemble the Pandora Device.

* MultipleEndings:
* OneLastSmoke:

* OptionalSexualEncounter: You can bed Chelsee Bando, but only if you treat her nicely.

** Text at the morgue: [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge "The hip bone is connected to the leg bone"]].

* TakeMyHand: Text helps Regan to climb on the rising pole at the temple.

* TapOnTheHead: Tex gets on the first day, which takes him out for several hours and makes him miss his date with Chelsee.
* TrouserSpace: Tex pulls a 4-foot long bamboo pole out of his pans.

* TheWorldIsNotReady: Malloy thinks this of his discovery.

* OddJobGods: In UAKM (and some endings of TPD where Tex dies) there is The Big P.I in the Sky, the God of Private Investigators played by James Earl Jones.
** At the beginning of UAKM, this god hilariously bemoans that all the great private investigators of the past have died of old age, meaning they're stuck with Murphy instead. James Earl Jones knows funny, people.

** [[spoiler:The Translator wants to merge the living and dead realms into one. This would hedge into BlueAndOrangeMorality territory if every reliable source wasn't certain that all he'd accomplish would be blowing up the planet by accident. He doesn't even do much to directly harm Tex.]]

* LostForever: One of the collectible comic books is on top of a shack in the swamp. If you remove the ladder before grabbing it, there's no way to get it.

* TheObiWan: "Colonel" Dobbs who taught Tex most of what he knows about being a private investigator.

* MultipleEndings:
** ''The Pandora Directive'' was said to have eight endings. In reality there are six unique endings with two being recycled for different paths.
** ''Tesla Effect'' also has multiple endings. There are a total of five endings, but only four unique endings (largely determined by whether you [[spoiler: pursued one romantic interest, pursued the other one, stayed fixated on Chelsee's fate, or were too indecisive to stick to any one path]]) with the fifth being a slight variation of the fourth ending.

* AlignmentBasedEndings: You can get up to eight different endings depending on where your KarmaMeter is along the NiceGuy[=/=]{{Jerkass}} axis.

* ShoutOut: The fact that Kevin Murphy voices the ExpositionFairy doesn't go uncommented upon. When examining a gum-ball machine, Tex muses that it would nice to have a [[MysteryScienceTheater3000 talking one of the kind as a sidekick]].

You can get the Tex Murphy games at [[http://www.gog.com/games#/all_genres/search/tex%20murphy/#search=tex%20murphy GOG.com]] or (as of June 12, 2014) on {{Steam}}.

* TheStarscream: Slade who tries to cash in the Tesla Egg, but he gets killed by a vengeful Mantus.]]

* ShoutOut: The fact that Kevin Murphy voices the ExpositionFairy doesn't go uncommented upon. When examining a gum-ball machine, Tex muses that it would nice to have a [[Mystery ScienceTheater3000 talking one of the kind as a sidekick]].