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Overclocked: A History of Violence (PC DVD)
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2/5 |
As linear as a book
(August 28, 2008) |
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The two stars in my review go for competent voice acting and nice motion captured animation. Sadly, these are the only well executed parts of the game.
Overclockers: A History of Violence is so linear, the game-play is essentially "hunt the 'next' button", rather than using classic point & click puzzles and reasoning.
Rooms aren't open until they need to be, items in the inventory have little or no information until they are used, and characters reveal their motives or background only when it is convenient for the next plot point - so there is no chance to form any of the questions that keep players intrigued and interested, like "What is this for?" or "Where does that go?" "Why would they say that?".
This linearity also means that obvious connections between inventory and actions are often too fiddly to work without a walkthrough. I had to attempt blindingly obvious actions over and over again, until I had done something else that was entirely unconnected and seemingly irrelevant, before the game unlocked its functionality. There weren't even any hints of "Not yet" or "Maybe I should do something else first" as usually seen in the genre, to help you on your way. This isn't play - this is box-ticking.
Without the stimulus of imagination through a degree of free exploration and puzzling, I stuck it out for about 3 hours before giving up. Ultimately I just didn't care what happened to the protagonist or his 5 patients, or anthing else about the plot.
After having recently played "The Lost Crown", which excelled in story and plot but was atrocious in terms of voice acting and animation, I thought "Overclocked" would be a nice change of style. Turns out I'd rather have a complex and intriguing storyline over competent voice acting and motion capture any day.
Consider this a lesson well and truly learned! |
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3/5 |
hurry up!
(May 31, 2008) |
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an average point and click 'crime investigation'. the voice acting is reasonable and you do get a sense of being drawn into the story when the first information starts to be revealed. Unfortunately that does not last long as the repetitive actions in the game (interviewing patients, consulting your PDA, meeting the same characters over and over, seeing mostly the same locations) start to get tedious.
This is partly caused by the story which requires you to uncover more bits of the story through these actions, but I really think things could have been made a bit more variable. Even the main character bending down to interview a patient got annoying as its a repeated five seconds of tedium that adds up over the course of the game to a lot of thumb twiddling, and has to be sat through even when the result of the interview is 'i'll leave her in peace for now'.
There is also no sense of actually being in a major city as you cannot interact with anyone who doesnt move you one step forward to the end of a chapter, or explore beyond a very limited number of locations.
I have no idea how this compares in the genre as a whole, but when I find myself rapidly mouse clicking combined with hitting the escape key just to get through an action or scene its not a winner for me. |
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5/5 |
Excellent and intruiging game
(May 23, 2008) |
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Lots of fun. A lot of time moving between patients in a psychiatric hospital trying to piece together what happened to them, but as the tale unfolds it gets more engaging and you really want to find out what happened. Puzzles were taxing but none so insanely difficult or obscure that we had to look any up.
Also very importantly.. a satisfying ending! So many adventure games finish abruptley with questions unanswered.
I would really recommend this game to puzzle lovers everywhere. More please!
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