Published: Wednesday, 7th May, 2008 12:00
Overclocked: A History of Violence
By Narin Bahar
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Point and click adventures are the Cinderella of gaming. With your big name releases - GTA4, anything with 'Lego' in the name, or that comes with a shiny new Wii gadget taking all of our attention (and a great slice of disposable income) this summer, the smaller releases are increasingly lost in the noise.
But you overlook Overclocked at your peril.
It's the kind of game which is so bleak and spooky that playing late at night is going to leave you feeling a bit freaked out unless you have all the lights on and a cup of tea by your side. The problem is it's also the kind of game so utterly absorbing that you suddenly will hear a random creak in your house and realise it's the early hours of the morning. It eats time.
You are former army psychiatrist David McNamara, called to consult on a case involving five young people, apparent victims of violence so traumatic they are found screaming and amnesiac in the bleak rain ravaged streets of New York. Slowly you begin to try and probe their minds to reveal what horrors they have endured, eventually playing as all five patients as you unravel what has happened for them.
This reverse chronology - oh so reminiscent of the film Memento - makes for an intriguing hook to the narrative. The gameplay is really intuitive and you won't have to bother digging out the book to work the controls, although make sure you spend some time working out all the features on David's PDA - it's surprisingly handy.
The end of the game has the requisite shock - although to be honest it felt like it was very much there for the sake of it. That, and some ridiculously long load times for cut scenes are the main quibbles with the game meaning if you're in the mood to while away an evening or two playing something different then there's more than enough of note to make it worth giving it a go.
Four stars.
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