An adventure game ahead of its time.
The protagonist of Under a Killing Moon is Tex Murphy, a down-on-his-luck PI living in a run-down part of Old San Francisco in 2042. Under a Killing Moon uses full motion video (FMV) and Tex is played by Tex Murphy's co-creator and former president of Access Software, Chris Jones. For a newcomer to acting, Chris Jones does some excellent voice work, and his acting is largely well done (though he improves substantially in the two sequels to this game). Chris Jones is joined by the Russell Means, Margot Kidder, James Earl Jones, and the late Brian Keith. The FMV shouldn't scare people away, though, as the performances are well-done for the most part, though a few of the secondary characters are much less impressive.
The plot revolves around a mysterious cult that is tied to the Crusade for Genetic Purity, a movement to rid the world of the mutant humans that were a product of the fallout from World War III. The game is a mixture of drama and comedy and is executed well. The atmosphere of the game is one of its many strong points. There is a lot of variety in the locations you will visit throughout the game, and each has its own unique feel. When urgency is required, you definitely feel it from the visuals, music, and sound effects.
The gameplay doesn't differ that much from other adventure games. In general the puzzles fit well into the story and are rarely so obscure as to be downright silly. Tex hunts for clues scattered about the environment and can use the items he collects to progress the game. Should you ever get stuck, Under a Killing Moon has a full hint system which lists every step necessary for completing the game. This means walkthroughs are completely unnecessary.
Though not as strong as in its successor, The Pandora Directive, Under a Killing Moon has decent replayability value. Though they don't influence the outcome of the game, selecting different conversation options can frequently yield funny or interesting dialogues between Tex and the other characters. By exploring the world again you may well find new things, and hearing Tex describe them is often worthwhile. Even today I can turn this game on and find something new in it. Finally, Under a Killing Moon has a points system, with 1000 total points possible. Simply passing the game is no guarantee of getting the maximum score as many actions that provide points are optional. Trying to obtain the maximum score adds another layer of replayability to the game.
Though DOS-based, Under a Killing Moon can be run on modern machines using DOSBox, and creating images of all four discs and then mounting them to four separate drives in DOSBox is handy and will eliminate the need for disc swapping. I'd highly recommend any fan of adventure games get their hands on this one if they haven't already.