Under a Killing Moon

""Nearly perfect.""

Graphics- 7.5
Sound/Music- 9 Gameplay- ORIGINAL
Storyline- 8.5
OVERALL- 9.5

I've always been a fan of P.I. stories, so I'm probably being too kind to this game. The game exceeds the marvelous qualities of other strategy games simply because you can do whatever you want. You want to blow off your case and go break the heart of the elderly woman with a crush on you? Go ahead. Feel like flirting with the town hottie? Have fun. Feel like tossing back a drink at the Brew & Stew? Your decision. I think the most impressive quality of the game is that you can select how you will deal with people. You can be blunt, nice, rude, each one having a different effect on how your case goes, probably the first game to do this, so you gotta give it that much. The graphics aren't exactly great. They look perfect when you are talking to other people and in the few cut scenes that rely on computer aided graphics. But the live action cinemas are highly pixelated and just aren't that great, and while moving around, you could get nauseas from looking at all the moving pixels. The controls are the weak point of this fine game. You have to use your mouse to walk around (which is annoying because you are in first-person). However, you have to respect the fact that you can move anywhere, unlike games like 'The 7th Guest' and 'Myst'.

The story starts out good (a bit like 'The Maltese Falcon', but I ain't complaining), but soon dissolves into a pretty dumb cult thing trying to destroy the world (a much better and down-to Earth plot would be in the sequel, 'The Pandora Directive'). Though I may not have typed much, it's because I'm tired. This is the fifth rview I've written tonight and I don't feel like talking anymore. I quit. It's a great game, in conclusion, but could have been a tad better.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99