I don't recall a text parser, but I do remember being able to move the protagonist character that you played as via mouse or keys.

The scene wasn't dithered as in the image above.

As far as the city street, it seemed modern or perhaps futuristic in the same tone as the movie Blade Runner or Delphine action/adventure Flash Back. It was a fairly simple scene. Lots of empty gray space with very lines drawing the street/sidewalk/background cityscape.

It was definitely a 3/4 perspective like arcade brawlers such as Final Fight. You could move up and down within the 3/4 view plan as well as scrolling left and right. I do believe when you reached the edge of a screen, it loaded a new screen, but I can't be certain.

It was a long time ago and I probably only played the game for 5 or 10 minutes. It's not so much that I want to replay the game again, it would be cool to find out what it was. Hopefully my memory isn't totally crap and my recollections are true. But who knows, memory is a plastic thing. Thank you, though, for those who have shared their thoughts!