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| From: Lighthouse Interactive
Category: Video Games
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $17.17
You Save: $2.82 (14%)
New (6) Used (1) from $17.17
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 4257
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp, Windows Me
ESRB: Mature
Media: CD-ROM
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows 2000
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0.1
MPN: PO00950MB
Model: PO00950MB
UPC: 801023009502
EAN: 0801023009502
ASIN: B0013059BQ
Release Date: March 31, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Flawed but worthwhile July 11, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Overclocked definitely has some flaws, but I still enjoyed this game quite a bit. As some other reviewers have mentioned, the puzzles are generally easy. As psychiatrist David McNamara, most of the gameplay lies in playing audio clips of patients' sessions in order to stimulate the other patients' memories. It's usually pretty easy to figure out what clip you need to play, and to whom, but the clips are all short so it's not a big inconvenience if you accidentally pick the wrong one. Once you stimulate the patient's memory, you go into his or her memory and actually play as the patient, which is a pretty cool device. The flashback puzzles are more varied, but they're still pretty easy. In most cases, your location and inventory are so limited that you can't help but figure out what to do. I have to give credit, though, because the puzzles are all pretty logical and use real-world objects, so don't worry about having to open any antique puzzle boxes or anything like that.
The backstory of what happened to the patients is okay, but a bit hackneyed. It won't take most people long to figure out what happened to the kids. I could forgive that if the characters were a little more interesting, but sadly, the patients are all pretty bland. That makes sense when you first meet them in the mental hospital, but as you go into the backstory (the flashbacks unfold in reverse chronology, "Memento"-style), the characters should have become more distinct, and they just didn't.
What saved the game for me, though, was David McNamara. He's easily the best adventure game character I've come across in a long time, and the side plot about David's personal demons and imploding marriage was far more interesting than what happened at the hospital. David isn't always a nice guy, but that's part of what makes him such a good character. There were a couple of times when I cringed at his actions, and one point where I flat-out tried to stop him from doing something (without success), but he is definitely the most interesting part of the game.
Despite the game's subtitle, there's not as much violence as you might expect. There are a few murders, although you only see one of them happen. There is one disturbing part of the game where you're forced to commit an act of violence, and even though it made sense, I still had a hard time going through with it. Still, unless you're very sensitive, that shouldn't stop you from playing this game.
Overall, I enjoyed Overclocked. The gameplay was logical, and the story ranged from "okay" to "compelling." Most of the voice acting was quite good, and the backgrounds were sparse but appropriately gloomy. The ending was mostly satisfactory, although there were a few loose ends, and the very last scene was a big "huh?" moment. Still, if you enjoy adventure games, I'd say this one is worth picking up.
Finally done July 10, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed the game. I am an amatuer so I really needed the walkthrough when it got to the end. It had some interesting twists and very "smart" game. I highly recommend if you like suspence.
 zzzzzzzzzzzzzz June 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
First thing first. i did not finish the game, not a great sign.the game was actually very interesting and had good graphics, the controls were easy, the puzzles were fun....except....the dreaded voice recordings. The straw that broke the camels back. I must say i love a good story, but the back and forth with voice recordings was not fun at all..it bored me into wanting to play something else.Everything else was fine and fun, but once again..it only takes 1 bad thing in an adventure game to tick you off.
Really lacking in "game-play" June 8, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have some really mixed feelings about this game and reviewing it. I can't give it a thumbs up, because frankly it was boring. There was nothing to "play". However, it is a beautiful and has a great storyline.
I finished the game just to finish the "story". Because that is all there is...a story. You go from one cut scene to another over and over and over. The gameplay is only in triggering the next cutscene.
I also had some problems with lock ups. Apparently my laptop and this game just didn't like each other.
Good game with a few flaws June 8, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a straightforward point and click game with an initially interesting premise that kind of gets bogged down and leaves an unsatisfying ending - like many other adventure games.
Gameplay is easy and intuitive for anyone who has played classic point and click games. Graphics are nice, ran smoothly even on a laptop with a 1.4ghz celeron processor and an ATI Radeon Express 200M integrated graphics card. (If you aren't particualrly hardware savvy that means I played it with no problems on a fairly low spec machine)
The central character is very interesting, a psychiatrist who is brilliant with his patients but almost totally dysfunctional when interacting with amyone else. He isn't entirely sympathetic which is unusual for the 'hero'in a game like this but unfortunately you don't get to find out exactly why he is the way he is, just one of the loose ends that were mentioned in another review.
The backstory progresses by means of triggering memories in each of the 5 patients by playing them recordings of what other patients have revealed. This can get pretty tedious once you have built up a store of recordings and sometimes you just have to go through all of them to get a response. The backstory however IS intriguing, right up until you actually solve the final puzzle where the game just kind of fizzles out and leaves you hanging as to what you have actually achieved.
Despite my reservations I actually enjoyed this game which is why it gets 4 stars. The character of Macnamara is one of the best created in recent years and the plot draws you along as it is revealed in tiny increments after each flashback. The missing star is due to the ending and also the fact that there is one point in the game where you cannot progress if you have not performed a very minor action earlier on in the game - dead ends should be a thing of the past in these kind of games.
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