Tex Murphy: Difference between revisions

* [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]]: "Big Jim" Slade in Tex Murphy: Overseer as played by Australian-born martial artist Richard Norton.

* [[Batman Cold Open]]: The first day of ''Under A Killing Moon'' involves Tex catching a serial burglar with no connection to the main plot of the game.

* [[Big Bad]]: Under A Killing Moon: {{spoiler|Lowell Percival}}, The Pandora Directive: {{spoiler|Jackson Cross and Regan Madsen}}, Overseer: {{spoiler|John Klaus}}

* [[Big Good]]: The Big P.I. In the Sky, played by [[James Earl Jones]]. Steers fate in Tex's favour during the events of Under A Killing Moon, and berates him during the [[Have a Nice Death]] sequences.

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: Most games. Under A Killing Moon ends with Tex right back where he started, financially and romantically. The normal ending of Pandora Directive likewise, as opposed to the (canonical) happy ending and (jerkass) bad ending.

* [[Brain Food]]: Fresh off the grill at the Brew & Stew.

* [[Chess Motifs]]: Pops up everywhere in ''Overseer''. Both John Klaus and J. Saint Gideon are avid chess players, though only Gideon goes as far as to decorate his entire mansion with chess motifs {{spoiler|and use chess-related code names for each aspect of the STG Project}}

* [[Da Chief]]: Mac Mulden comes off as this.

{{quote|'''Mac''': ''You seem to have a habit of forgetting that I'm a cop. And right now I'm a tired, pissed-off cop.''}}

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: As the series goes on, Tex becomes increasingly snarky, to the point that in ''Tesla Effect'', he has about twice as much snark as normal dialogue.

** 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 total bastard in that time.

* [[Dialogue Tree]]: In Martian Memorandum, only [[Trial and Error Gameplay|one path]] in the whole tree is useful. Don't worry, you get [[Welcome to Corneria|multiple tries]].

* [[Dismantled MacGuffin]]: ''The Pandora Directive.''

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: The fate of Carl Linsky, though as with most of Tex's cases, there's more to it than it seems.

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: Allegedly there's no longer any discrimination against races. Genetic discrimination against mutants has taken its place, however, and is a recurring theme throughout the series.

* [[Film Noir]]: Increasingly parodied as the series goes on.

* [[Fun with Acronyms]]: NSA now stands for National '''Surveillance''' Agency.

** And much more blatantly, C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N.

* [[Government Conspiracy]]: {{spoiler|The entire plot of The Pandora Directive began with the supposed UFO crash at Roswell in 1947.}}

* [[Grumpy Old Man]]: Rook Garner, a crusty old WWIII vet with a face like a raisin and a tongue like a butcher's cleaver.

* [[Laser Hallway]]: Tex has to navigate through lasers on a hoverboard in Big Dick Castro's vault. It's less fun than it sounds.

* [[Limited Wardrobe]]: 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.

* [[MacGuffin]]: The bird statuette in ''Under a Killing Moon''.

* [[MacGuffin Delivery Service]]: The end of ''The Pandora Directive.''

* [[Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot]]:

** ''Mean Streets'' and ''Overseer'': Investigating a suicide leads to {{spoiler|stopping a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] and a corrupt political party from taking control of global politics}}.

* [[Multiple Endings]]: ''The Pandora Directive'' was said to have eight endings. In reality there are six unique endings with two being recycled for different paths.

* [[Novelization]]: Two novels were written based on TPD and [[Ua KM]].

* [[Odd Job Gods]]: 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.

* [[One-Man Army]]: Tex single-handedly saves the world in UAKM and TPD.

* [[Only Known by Their Nickname]]: "Tex" is a nickname that he receives as a kid after crashing through the ceiling with the hole looking exactly like the state of Texas. His real name is rarely, if ever, used.

* [[Pixel Hunt]]: 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.

* [[Private Eye Monologue]]: Done straight on many occasions. Also parodied on many occasions.

* [[Shout-Out]]: A trenchcoat-wearing detective in a dystopian, near-future city in California, with monolithic buildings and flying cars? [[Blade Runner|This seems familiar...]]

* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]: An unusual case where this is delivered ''retroactively'': In ''Overseer'', once Tex is done telling the story in flashbacks, he comments how the game's [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] "was probably right". Chelsea's response: "[[This Is Sparta|"NO. HE. WASN'T.]] ''You'' were!"

* [[Time Bomb]]: In Overseer 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.

* [[Trial and Error Gameplay]]: The cryo tank puzzle at the end of ''Under A Killing Moon'' is this. In a hilarious subversion, Tex will complain to the Great PI In The Sky during the [[Have a Nice Death]] sequence how unfair it is, and then receive a second chance without needing to reload a save game.

* [[Unwitting Pawn]]: Tex Murphy, [[Once Per Episode]].

* [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]: {{spoiler|J. Saint Gideon plans to implant mind-control devices into the world leaders in order to speed up the peace process. If the program wasn't so easy to misuse for controlling the global population - and so likely to fall into evil hands - Tex might've supported Gideon.}}

* [[With This Herring]]: Largely averted. Tex's clients don't exactly overwhelm him with aid when they enlist his services, but they usually pay him a nice retainer and give him solid leads to begin the case.

** Although in ''The Pandora Directive'' Tex is so far in debt to various people and businesses in his neighborhood that simply paying them back so they'll talk to him eats significantly into his retainer.