The Pandora Directive

THE STORY

The plot of The Pandora Directive revolves around two subjects: The
mysterious disappearance of the Mayan civilization and the reputed UFO
crash at Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. Building on these two ideas, the
story is dark and intense, but is still full of the humor that made Under
a Killing Moon so popular. 

Tex Murphy PI, (Chris Jones) the main character in The Pandora Directive,
is hired by Gordon Fitzpatrick (Kevin McCarthy), an eccentric and
enigmatic older gentleman, who wants to track down an old friend named
Thomas Malloy (John Agar). Tex accepts the case and eventually joins
forces with a beautiful and mysterious woman (Tanya Roberts). Shadowing
them at every turn is a vicious NSA agent (Barry Corbin). 

After questioning numerous people, figuring out several baffling clues, and
committing the occasional felony, Tex meets up with Malloy. Malloy tells
Tex that he once worked at the military base near Roswell and confirms
that there actually was a UFO. He goes on to say that the military
salvaged many things from the crash site, some of which were incorporated
into weapons during WWIII and caused widespread devastation. Malloy worked
as a linguistics researcher at the base. His duties involved deciphering
alien hieroglyphics found in the wreckage. After spending most of his life
unsuccessfully trying to interpret the alien symbols, Malloy says he's
finally made a breakthrough. But he never gets a chance to detail his
discovery. He is murdered and Tex barely manages to escape. 

Continuing the investigation, Tex finds out that Malloy has recently sent
out a number of mysterious boxes. Tex must track down all the boxes and
open them. Inside each one is a computer component. When assembled, the
components make up the Pandora Device. Activating the Pandora Device
initiates a holographic message from Thomas Malloy, directed to the people
who received his boxes. Malloy's startling revelation leads Tex on a race
to the Yucatan peninsula, the heart of the vanished Mayan civilization. 

THE GAME

The Pandora Directive takes Interactive Movies to the next level. Access'
previous release, Under a Killing Moon, won rave reviews and hundreds of
thousands of fans by blending a futuristic detective story with sci-fi,
humor and interesting, challenging game play. The Pandora Directive
features a tight, riveting script, professional direction and
cinematography. The production is enhanced by strong acting performances
from an excellent cast, starring among others Barry Corbin (Northern
Exposure, War Games, etc.), Tanya Roberts (View to a Kill, Beastmaster,
etc.), Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Twilight Zone: The
Movie, Just Cause, etc.), and John Agar (Tarantula, Fort Apache, Sands of
Iwo Jima, etc.). 

One of the improvements The Pandora Directive has over other Interactive
Movies, is that it can be replayed several times. The preceding storyline
is just one way in which the plot can develop. There are THREE different
narrative paths through The Pandora Directive, each with its own unique
scenes, plot twists and character developments. And, depending on how you
choose to move through the story, there are SEVEN different endings. This
allows you to replay the Interactive Movie several times, each time coming
across new conversations, locations and puzzle solutions. 

The Pandora Directive offers two levels of game play. Level One will be for
those users who play games to see the story, not tackle the challenging
puzzles. It will have a complete on-line hint system that will assist them
if they get 'stuck.' Level Two is the EXPERT GAMERS' LEVEL. This level
will provide some extra puzzles, slightly more gameplay, more challenging
solutions, and will reward the users with more points. In the beginning of
the game, users can select which level they would like to play.
Incidentally, the three paths and seven endings will all be accessible on
both levels of play. 

THE PRODUCTION

The Pandora Directive is based on the novel of the same name, which was
published in August 1995 by Proteus (a subsidiary of Prima Publishing) and
distributed by Random House. Aaron Conners, the author of the novel, wrote
the script for The Pandora Directive. When the initial draft of the script
was completed, professional script writer Scott Yeageman was brought in as
a consultant. After the script was finalized, Conners and Chris Jones (who
also stars as Tex Murphy) co-designed the Interactive Movie, creating
puzzles, laying out the multiple paths, and establishing all the possible
endings. 

Once the scripting and design work were finished, Australian native Adrian
Carr was brought in to direct. Mr. Carr has worked on scores of films,
including "Sex, Lies and Videotape," "Quigley Down Under" and "The Man
From Snowy River. " Initially, Mr. Carr was going to act primarily as a
consultant in preparation for him directing an upcoming feature film based
on The Pandora Directive. Mr. Carr became so fascinated by the project,
however, he eventually took over completely as director of the game. His
expertise has elevated the movie sequences in The Pandora Directive to a
point where Interactive Movies have previously only aspired to be: A true
marriage of feature film quality and computer interactivity. Mr. Carr's
cinemagraphic flair and style lend a film noir feel, and his experience as
a film editor shows clearly in the tightly edited action sequences. The
images that appear on-screen in The Pandora Directive are not cartoon-ish,
pixelated puppets, but images much like those you'd expect to see on the
Big Screen. Of course, having a talented cast didn't hurt, but Mr. Carr
has brought out excellent performances from all the actors. The end result
is an Interactive Movie worthy of the title. 

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS

Tex Murphy (Chris Jones): Tex Murphy is a twenty-first century detective
who sincerely believes he was born one hundred years too late. To
compensate, he goes to great lengths to emulate the classic PIs. Complete
with fedora, trenchcoat and wiseguy banter, he tries to project a
world-weary image, but comes across as hard-boiled as a marshmallow. 

Jackson Cross (Barry Corbin): Jackson Cross is a government agent who
frowns on compromises and smiles when he kills people. He uses his
position of power to further an agenda known only to him. 

Gordon Fitzpatrick (Kevin McCarthy): Gordon Fitzpatrick is the eccentric
and enigmatic older gentleman who hires Tex. He's probably a little older
than you'd think and his background is as mysterious and inscrutable as
his fashion sense. 

Regan Madsen (Tanya Roberts): Headstrong, beautiful and vaguely vulnerable
(not necessarily in that order), Regan Madsen is harder to figure out than
a long form tax return. Her philosophy of romance is: I dance with
love...until it tries to lead. 

Thomas Malloy (John Agar): Thomas Malloy used to work for the military,
analyzing symbols found on the UFO wreckage at Roswell, New Mexico. Now
retired and clinging to life by a thread, he spends his last days in fear.
What he found at Roswell has him on the run from everyone but the Girl
Scouts. 

Chelsee Bando (Suzanne Barnes): Chelsee Bando runs the newsstand across the
street from Tex's Office at the Ritz Hotel. For a long time, she's
resisted Tex's advances, but now she is starting to think in the
long-term. As Tex succinctly puts it, the older Chelsee gets, the better
he looks. 

Emily Sue Patterson (Nicole Tindall): Emily Sue Patterson sings at the
Fuchsia Flamingo, the tacky yet sincere nightclub next door to the Ritz
Hotel. As if working at the Flamingo wasn't bad enough, she's being
stalked by a killer that had supposedly hung himself in a Nevada jail
cell. 

Archie Ellis (Bill Bradshaw): Figuratively speaking, Archie Ellis is the
brains behind the Cosmic Connection, a magazine and a new-age shop
frequented by conspiracy theorists and UFO crackpots. Given a chance,
Archie will tell you everything you never wanted to know about alien
abductions, crop circles and the dangers of smoking. 

Elijah Witt (Sterling Brimley): Elijah Witt is the reclusive author of the
book There are Messages from Outer Space. Worshipped by thousands and
dismissed as a knucklehead by millions, Witt keeps himself occupied by
hanging up on innocent callers and cashing royalty checks. 

Lucia Pernell (Catherine Hammonds): Lucia Pernell, the star investigative
reporter for the Bay City Mirror, would send her grandmother up the river
for a hot story. Tough and aggressive, she believes everyone has a weak
spot. Sometimes it's higher and sometimes it's lower, but the worst are
people like Tex, who don't think they have one. 

Mac Malden (Kevin Jones): Lt. Mac Malden is Tex's connection in the San
Francisco Police Department. Mac fancies himself to be a first-rate cop,
but the only things larger than life about him are his nose and his gut.
Mac's in the early stages of a mid-life crisis, precipitated by his wife
running off with another man. If Mac ever finds out who the guy was, he'll
buy him a drink. 

Louie LaMintz (Randall Edwards): Fresh off a diet and getting his teeth
fixed, Louie LaMintz, the owner of the Brew & Stew diner is primed for
love. Since there aren't any takers on the immediate horizon, Louie
contents himself with being Tex's romantic counselor. As he tells Tex, the
only thing easier than falling in love is getting married. What counts is
knowing someone really well and still liking them. 

Rook Garner (Doug Vandegrift): Rook Garner, the gnarled and vinegary
proprietor of Rook's Pawnshop, is Tex's friend in the loosest sense of the
word. Any evidence of inner comraderie and compassion is well-hidden
behind an onslaught of verbal assaults and name-calling. According to
Rook, Tex wouldn't know sublety if it walked up and punched him in the
face. 

Clint (Steven Barnes): Clint, the one-eyed chocoholic, has climbed the
social ladder from a dumpster to the Cocoa Cabana, a chocolate shop which
always seems to be running low on stock. Clint owes his good fortune to a
C.U.B. grant given to him by the Agency to Curb Urban Blight. 

Zack Williams (Curly Green): Zack Williams is the new manager of the
Electronics Shop, which has changed its policy from credit only to cash
only (at least for Tex). Featuring a new line of Robco products, including
the hot-selling Cyber Nanny Home Parenting System, Zack's business is a
candy store for someone like Tex. 

Nilo Paglio (John Timmons): Nilo Paglio is the slimy cigar-chewing
owner/landlord-extortionist at the Ritz Hotel. It's mid-April and Tex is a
little late on his February rent, which has Nilo breathing down his neck.


Gus Leach (Chris Conners): Gus Leach is the huge, ugly mutant who has
poured his heart and soul into the Fuchsia Flamingo nightclub. The place
is a cross between Vegas vamp and Mayan myth, with a hearty helping of
naugahyde thrown in. Gus' hobbies include interior decoration and maiming
people who insult his club and/or his singer, Emily Sue Patterson. 

Crazy Gary Lee (Wayne Brennan): Crazy Gary roams Chandler Avenue aimless
and wild, like a futuristic Moses strung out on Demerol and bad scotch.
Having waged a war on all meat-eaters, Crazy Gary preaches that the path
of regularity is straight and narrow and that a meal of chili dogs and
chocolate milk is Satan's lunch. 

Landlady (Pearl Leidy): The shriveled, kindly landlady of the Garden House
is like a great-great-grandmother figure to her boarders. But don't take
her for granted; she's as quick to slam the door in the face of an
intruder as she is to pinch a cheek and say I wish you were my nephew.' 

Glenda (Marcia Dangerfield): Glenda serves up the drinks at the Brew &
Stew, as well as large, steaming helpings of home-cooked bon moss. Her
philosophy of relationships is that it's gotta be love or money, one or
the other. 

CONCLUSION

The Pandora Directive will prove to be the finest Interactive Movie ever
made because Access Software has taken every step necessary to truly merge
Hollywood and interactive computer programs. Under a Killing Moon has
already introduced users to a Virtual World full of stunning graphics and
challenging game play. Now, with the combination of a first-rate script,
top-notch acting and professional directing, along with the most advanced
technology ever seen in a computer game, The Pandora Directive exceeds all
expectations. Add the replay value of three paths and seven endings, and
users will have the most excellent gaming experience available. 

Access Software
4750 Wiley Post Way, Building 1 Suite 200
Salt Lake City, UT 84116
801-359-2900;  800-800-4880;  fax: 801-359-2968
 
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