The Pandora Directive (PC)

“First off, in the interests of full disclosure... This is my favorite game. Ever. It ties with Gabriel Knight: The Beat Within as one of the best games ever made. It is a masterpiece. It is fun, enthralling, spooky, deep, well cast, well...”

“First off, in the interests of full disclosure...

This is my favorite game. Ever.

It ties with Gabriel Knight: The Beat Within as one of the best games ever made. It is a masterpiece. It is fun, enthralling, spooky, deep, well cast, well acted, thought provoking, challenging and replayable.

I've come back to this game again and again, like I come back to Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. It's iconic, it's amazing, it's art on a CD.

The Story: You are Tex Murphy, a trenchcoat and fedora wearing private detective in post World War 3 San Fransisco. The place is filled with mutants and radiation, but Tex wouldn't live anywhere else. He also can't afford to live anywhere else. Tex is hired by an older gentleman to track down a friend of his, Thomas Malloy, who disappeared years ago. Danger, government conspiracies, aliens and wacky, inventory driven puzzles ensue.

All fan gushing aside, The Pandora Directive is a point and click, inventory and dialog driven game with tons of full motion video. It features multiple endings and three separate paths though the game. Each character in the game, even the generic crazy homeless guy, is brought to life by the actors the the game designers.

If there is a flaw in the game, it's technology based. The game is 8 cds in total which (for those of us who still can't figure out to mount a CD on our hard drives) means a fair amount of swapping.

The Pandora Directive...this box should definitely be opened.”