Zero Punctuation: Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure

This week, Zero Punctuation reviews Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure.

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[Evonisia]

That flow chart's probably going to invade the next singleplayer game I play. Oh joy...

For some reason I had assumed that there was some big game out last week or the week before, but I forgot about it about a minute into this episode so I guess kickstarter has officially brought me five minutes of enjoyment.

 

[Racecarlock]

Man, you've gotta feel sorry for a guy whose primary job is taking down big triple A games having no games to take down. So he has to instead just review games instead which is technically his job as well, but you get the feeling he's really got to search hard in these release lulls.

And don't say watch dogs because that only came out yesterday and he's had no time to play it yet.

 

[KDR_11k]

Sooooooo... Will the next Yahtzee game use FMV?

 

[Catasros]

Let me ask, for my somewhat unstable position as someone who started playing videogames for real only a few years back, why on Earth would you make games with live-action cinematics? Isn't the very point of videogames to GET AWAY from the real world with it's boring story, annoying gameplay and awful NPC's (if you get what I mean)?

 

[maximalist566]

And don't say watch dogs because that only came out yesterday and he's had no time to play it yet.

But there were Wolfenstein and Tranistor last week. Wolfenstein is kinda AAA and Yahtzee enjoyed Bastion. So I think most people were expecting one of these.

 

[RiseUp]

Let me ask, for my somewhat unstable position as someone who started playing videogames for real only a few years back, why on Earth would you make games with live-action cinematics? Isn't the very point of videogames to GET AWAY from the real world with it's boring story, annoying gameplay and awful NPC's (if you get what I mean)?

Well in the 90's it was often an excuse (as Yahtzee said) to turn sex and violence up to eleven, and it was both cheaper and easier to create than pixelated or rendered representations of the same story. You need look no further than some of the worst and most lazy FMV games (Psycho Killer comes to mind) to see this mentality at work.

 

[Muspelheim]

Let me ask, for my somewhat unstable position as someone who started playing videogames for real only a few years back, why on Earth would you make games with live-action cinematics? Isn't the very point of videogames to GET AWAY from the real world with it's boring story, annoying gameplay and awful NPC's (if you get what I mean)?

Well, it depend on the game. Having an amusing time with a game can take different forms, getting away from the real world or being savagely rubbed in a recreation of its most cold and contaminated mud.

Live action cinematics can work at times, but it's very easy to abuse them. I think the main reason they were as ubiqutous as they were could be because they had the technology to program cutscenes and videos, but it was still easier to use live action actors rather than program and animate 3D characters, for the most part.

 

[Something Amyss]

Man, you've gotta feel sorry for a guy whose primary job is taking down big triple A games having no games to take down. So he has to instead just review games instead which is technically his job as well, but you get the feeling he's really got to search hard in these release lulls.

And don't say watch dogs because that only came out yesterday and he's had no time to play it yet.

Wasn't there some game from two weeks ago people were bitching he didn't review in the usual style? I can't remember what it was, but I remember people being pissed off that he hadn't reviewed that game the day after it came out.

Let me ask, for my somewhat unstable position as someone who started playing videogames for real only a few years back, why on Earth would you make games with live-action cinematics? Isn't the very point of videogames to GET AWAY from the real world with it's boring story, annoying gameplay and awful NPC's (if you get what I mean)?

Games have had a love affair with movies since the technology allowed it.

And then there's the "realism=immersion" crowd.

 

[gamegod25]

Growing up I was almost exclusively a console gamer so I have no nostalgia factor when it comes to these kind of games. Despite everyone in the world going on and on about how he monkey Island series were soooo amazing when the remake came out I simply couldn't get into it. That's mainly why I haven't played the Walking Dead series yet because while I am interested in the world the style of gameplay just doesn't appeal to me. Wandering around desperately rubbing everything on everything hoping it will move the story along just isn't fun to me and with no rose colored glassed of my own its a hard pill to swallow.

So yeah while I can appreciate the good things about Tex and games of its ilk I'll stick to watching an LP on youtube.

 

[kailus13]

The 117th Big Scary Dog Airborne division need to be put in a game somehow.

Let me ask, for my somewhat unstable position as someone who started playing videogames for real only a few years back, why on Earth would you make games with live-action cinematics? Isn't the very point of videogames to GET AWAY from the real world with it's boring story, annoying gameplay and awful NPC's (if you get what I mean)?

While some people do indeed play games to get away from the real world, some people desire games to be as realistic as possible. FMV would be a good way of doing so if they could actually manage to do somewhat decently.

And don't say watch dogs because that only came out yesterday and he's had no time to play it yet.

But there were Wolfenstein and Tranistor last week. Wolfenstein is kinda AAA and Yahtzee enjoyed Bastion. So I think most people were expecting one of these.

I think Yahtzee once said that it takes him one week to fully consume the game and one week to actually make an episode. Wolfenstein will probably be next week.

 

[Evonisia]

Man, you've gotta feel sorry for a guy whose primary job is taking down big triple A games having no games to take down. So he has to instead just review games instead which is technically his job as well, but you get the feeling he's really got to search hard in these release lulls.

And don't say watch dogs because that only came out yesterday and he's had no time to play it yet.

Wasn't there some game from two weeks ago people were bitching he didn't review in the usual style? I can't remember what it was, but I remember people being pissed off that he hadn't reviewed that game the day after it came out.

Somebody complained that Yahtzee hadn't reviewed Wolfenstein last week when it had only just came out. Now that I remember that game, Wolfenstein was the game I was expecting this week (as were the Facebook commentators).

 

[themilo504]

Didn?t know that you could die in this game, is it also possible for the game to become unwinnable like old sierra games?

 

[otakon17]

Let me ask, for my somewhat unstable position as someone who started playing videogames for real only a few years back, why on Earth would you make games with live-action cinematics? Isn't the very point of videogames to GET AWAY from the real world with it's boring story, annoying gameplay and awful NPC's (if you get what I mean)?

Tell me about it. Makes me wonder why Madden sells year after year like it's the cure for old age.

 

[Rtoip]

Let me ask, for my somewhat unstable position as someone who started playing videogames for real only a few years back, why on Earth would you make games with live-action cinematics? Isn't the very point of videogames to GET AWAY from the real world with it's boring story, annoying gameplay and awful NPC's (if you get what I mean)?

They are even before my gaming time but, FMV adventure games constituted of live action scenes because realistic graphics are hard/impossible.

For a quite long time games used live-action cut-scenes instead of prerendered CGI or in game graphics because i guess it was less effort to grab some B grade actor rather than do expensive animation. And if you think all FMV are bad you certainly didn't pay Command & Conquer games. Well it was still 'bad' but so hammy it's awesome. For Red Alert 3, i think only modern game that gets away with it because of it's legacy they even got actual actors to ham it up, it's so awesome.

 

[The Last Melon]

Wait, wait, wait...is THAT how you pronounce "err"?

Seriously, this threw me for a complete loop, I've spent my entire life pronouncing it "air" and now I don't know what's real anymore.

 

[Floppertje]

I'd hoped for another limerick episode for wolfenstein.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

My dog lost his leg in the 117th Big Scary Dog Airborne Division, Yatzhee!
Other than that I've never heard of this game and this was one of those strange nebulous reviews where I can't tell if he liked it or not...

 

[ToastiestZombie]

That Kickstarter joke was wrong and offensive, implying the people at Kickstarter could finish something as big as a statue. I think an apology is in order.

 

[shrekfan246]

Wait, wait, wait...is THAT how you pronounce "err"?

Seriously, this threw me for a complete loop, I've spent my entire life pronouncing it "air" and now I don't know what's real anymore.

It could be a regional/accent thing.

Hereabouts in the northeast US, most people tend to say it like 'error'.

Growing up I was almost exclusively a console gamer so I have no nostalgia factor when it comes to these kind of games. Despite everyone in the world going on and on about how he monkey Island series were soooo amazing when the remake came out I simply couldn't get into it. That's mainly why I haven't played the Walking Dead series yet because while I am interested in the world the style of gameplay just doesn't appeal to me. Wandering around desperately rubbing everything on everything hoping it will move the story along just isn't fun to me and with no rose colored glassed of my own its a hard pill to swallow.

So yeah while I can appreciate the good things about Tex and games of its ilk I'll stick to watching an LP on youtube.

In fairness, The Walking Dead in particular and Telltale in general go a long way toward removing that tedious "rub X on YZQGHJIK to proceed" puzzle structuring which tends to be so common in adventure games. Speaking as someone who didn't grow up with them either, I quite enjoyed The Walking Dead, and I never felt confused or frustrated by any of the inventory stuff the game did have.

OT: Yeah, as someone who only had a vague inclination as to what Tex Murphy even was before Tesla Effect suddenly popped up, I could tell pretty quickly that it probably wasn't a game for me. Still, it's nice that the fans got what they wanted, I suppose?