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Overclocked review


Submitted by Chris Stavros on July 21, 2008 - 8:23am. Exclusive Game Review

Something strange has been happening in the City of New York. For the last several days young people have been committing extremely violent acts and going completely insane and nobody can say why. The police and the professionals have no clue so they decide to turn to a young doctor who has had some success with extreme trauma cases, Dr. David McNamara and he is this only hope of reaching these seemingly deranged minds.

Overclocked is a 3rd person RPG where you take on the character of Dr. Dave McNamara and his patients to try and find a resolution as to what happened to them. Standard point and click is used for movement and as in most puzzle adventures you must find a use the correct items in order to complete the quest.

The game is set in New York during a period of severe rainstorms which give the game an eerie feel to it, almost creepy with mood music to match it. Whenever you step foot outside you see the rain is falling and that combined with the dark story and settings make this a very depressing type of game scenario but a compelling one also.

When the good Dr first arrives in his hotel the game begins, and you have a few items with you such as your PDA, and around the hotel room you will find other items to take along. It’s always wise to pick up anything the game allows you as you never know when a given item will be needed for the storyline.

After checking around your room and looking at your PDA it’s time to head to the mental hospital in Staten Island where the five trauma patients are currently being held. Getting from midtown to the ferry doesn’t take very long, and all you have to do along the way is speak to the hotel clerk and some people waiting for the ferry.

Your character it seems is deathly afraid to cross water in the storm and is quite nervous but still makes small talk to some rather surely types around the dock. One of these people you will run into later at the hospital but that is a later chapter.

Once there, you discover that the hospital looks like a 1950s era house of horrors. The place is dirty and paint is peeling, and the only staff are a very unfriendly nurse and an older Doctor who doesn’t much seem to care for you and your methods as a professional. You also meet the NYPD detective Joe Moretti who seems to be helpful enough but warns you not to tell the other people too much.

You recognize the staff doctor as a once top man in his field and try to get him to voice an opinion but he seems very bitter and says it’s your problem and not his, the hospital will soon close and he has another future job and that is his focus.

At this point you interview the patients one at a time, which gets you nowhere as they don’t talk. You have to find a trigger to get them to remember, and once you solve the puzzle of how to do so, the game moves into flash backs that you play out as the patients as they relive the events that brought them to the hospital.

This is basically a straight forward point and click story of a type that anyone would be familiar with. The puzzles can be a little confusing to people not used to such games but once you understand what to do it’s very simple.

The game looks very nice if somewhat dated and the voice acting is pretty decent overall. The game interface is very easy to use and you need to instruction to start playing, only puzzle solving skills. The storyline is rather good and somewhat original and the creepy setting makes for a moody game experience. It’s not the greatest mystery you will ever play, but it’s a good one and worth playing if you like puzzle quests.
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