[MoonBird]

Yes, I played it through (english version) and here's my review --> http://kuulintu.net/overclocked.htm - Unfortunately it's in Finnish, but you can see the star and point ratings.

In short: Overclocked is a decent game, but it's definitely not at the same level with "Moment Of Silence", tough. I Think that the game is far too short considering the developement time.

I Liked: The graphics, Voice acting, Interface, Puzzles, Story, Six playable characters (altough you don't get to play them enough, that's for sure), and Sound effects.

I Disliked: Shortness and really small environment, Same weather night and day, Some weird, weird plot twists and I also hated the recordings with cell phone.

So my rating is 3,5 stars.

[Saturn]

First of all, regarding the IGN review, the guy seemed really put off by the loading times between cutscenes (which i havn't encountered at all). It was my impression that he would have scored the game at least 0.5 point higher if it wasn't of that issue.

As for the game, i really liked Overclocked. For starters, the game features a pretty high production values for it's genre. Voice acting,animations and cutscenes are solid. Gfx quality is high, any adv game that actually lets me change resolution and play it at 1400x900 gets a big thumb up from me.

The story may not be the most original but it's pretty well done and deliverd. At some point, the personal life of Dave gets the center of attention story wise, at least for me. Alot of adv. games dont touch the main character too much or dwelve into it, in Overclocked i got the feeling that the life of David are as much the "point" of the game as the case\overall mystery.
I don't know what there was to expect out of the case, the game is pretty much grounded in reality. Maybe it could have been a bit longer and taken us to more locations, but i wouldn't have want them to drag the game out just too add playing time.
Besides, the tie-in between Dave's life and the case was good.

The same goes for the gameplay, when i read all the previews and i was a little worried that the gameplay wouldn't sum up to a whole lot. I was pleasantly surprised to see a decent ammount of gameplay and puzzles. They weren't over the top, they didn't break the game world or required awkward logic. I don't get the comments of "empty environments" , i would rather have those, than screens filled with objects that i have to scan every inch of the screen to get them, or just add items and obstacles that really don't fit or make any sense in the game's case.

Invoking the memories of the subjects and controlling each one was nice and fresh. I may have struggles in one or two recroding triggers but mostly it was clear what to do. The game didn't leave you guessing too much of what to do next, whether with the recording or when to go the hotel or make a call.

Now, i really dont understand the "repetetive dialogue" comaplainment. It was pretty much inexistent for me and conversations didn't get on my nerves as other games did. Like, if you complain about that in Overclocked, then what would you say about The Lost Crown which is filled with those issues.

About the likabillity of the main character, this is where Overclocked stands out, while pretty much all other adv games have you as a purely good guy, in Overclocked it's ambigious and alot more "grey" which really adds to the game atmosphere and story. The protagonist of Moment of Silence too wasn't the most agreeable person for the players, but i like it as it adds depth and is though-provoking. Scenes like Dave throwing the answering machine, headbutting the mirror, pulling guns, getting mad were all intense and gripping and they aren't type of stuff you expect in any sort of a video game.

Overall, i really liked Overclocked, it blew out the last adventure game i played out of the water (The Lost Crown) and between this and The Moment of Silence, House of Tales are fast becoming my favourite adv. game developer.

[buddi]

Regarding the repetitive dialogue, I agree with you that Lost Crown suffered from the same issue. There I found it annoying, but not quite so jarring, since Nigel Danvers was consistently a sluggish, blase lout. I'm not saying I was a fan of the Danvers character but I found the location and puzzles interesting enough and the story compelling enough to hold my interest. What bothered me about Overclocked is that I felt the success of the frame story depended on a rising emotional intensity as David became more and more volatile, but the intensity either never developed, on account of the poor voice acting, or was immediately diffused at the close of the conversation. Spoiler:

Spoiler:

A perfect example is when David freaks out and pulls a gun on Mr. Flynn; David hardly seems to be shouting, there's long pauses in the dialog, and when it's over he just says, "I've gotta go, see ya." and Flynn replies with his customary, "Have a nice day."

I think the characters would have seemed much more real if they had varied a bit from day to day in accordance with the changing relationships and circumstances.

BTW, I also encountered some very slow load times and the game crashed 4 times, both of which were also detrimental to the general pacing and atmosphere of the game. I can usually find something of merit in just about every game but this game let me down on every level, what's worse, I feel it failed the most where it should have tried the hardest.

[GreyFuss]

For those who are having slow load times here is a suggestion that worked great for me. The idea came from Inferno.

Copy this file Resource.200 from the DVD #2. Then add this entire file to your game folder on your hard drive. The load time dropped to about 6 seconds and many were less for me.

[Sik]

I finished the game, and I enjoyed the second half of it more than the first half. Probably because towards the end, gameplay turns into "click a button, watch a cut scene" instead of "activate triggers in the correct sequence, watch a cut scene". It may not be good game design, but at least I enjoyed watching the story unfold... and it's a decent story. Didn't quite hit the spot for me, but that's just personal experience. Better than average, but when the story is all that carries a game, I expect more.

I mentioned the voice acting bothering me before. I'd like to rectify that. The voice acting is actually quite good, and the casting as well. It's the voice directing that doesn't work. Sound clips just seem to be put together without paying much attention to the final result. Dialogue lines that sound good on their own don't fit together.... and I suspect they only recorded one "Sigh" sound for David. Whenever I saw *sigh* come up in the subtitles I just felt like skipping the line so I wouldn't have to hear it again. It's a loud groan that fails to fit the context 9/10 times.

Anyway, despite all my issues with the game, I'd recommend playing it. It's mediocre, in my opinion, but so are most new adventure games, and at least this one stands out because it's different and has a good amount of eye candy.

[Aurebesh]

Originally Posted by GreyFuss

Copy this file Resource.200 from the DVD #2.

Oh, so the English retail version really comes on 2 single-layer DVDs instead of 1 dual-layer DVD?? Odd. Was it like this for the original DVD version as well?

[Fien]

My German Overclocked has only one DVD.

[GreyFuss]

I did find it strange that the North American version came on 2 DVDs. I thought I had a bad copy figuring that the game had 2 disks I thought they were Cd's and put them in a Cd drive first.

I can't think of any other game that comes on 2 DVD's. You would think that one DVD-DL would be cheaper than 2 DVD-ROMs.

[fov]

I was going to wait for AG's review to buy this, but this morning my impatience got the better of me and I ordered it from Amazon.

I'm a fan of dark/depressing adventure games (sounds funny to say it, but it's true), so I'm hoping I'll enjoy this one.

I'm a little concerned about load times, especially since I have an older computer with a not-very-fast DVD drive, but I'll try that trick with the resource file if it's a problem.

[Snatcher42]

I got around the load-times issue by making a Nero image of DVD2 and mounting it as a virtual drive while I played.

[ssa]

Here's a nifty little prgr for turning any folder or file into an iso in seconds:

http://www.trustfm.net/divx/SoftwareFolder2Iso.php

[atyinbox]

(English is not my first language, so I'm sorry for the mistakes)

I played Overclocked for one hour yesterday, one hour today, and I disliked it so much, I already unistalled it and deleted the savegames. I see why someone people compare it to Indigo Prophecy, though I found that one to be a good game. This one is not. Maybe part of my dissapointment is because I had high hopes for this one, but in my opinion it's terrible.

The graphics are OK. Locations look good, and the weather effects adds a lot to the atmosphere. On the other hand, characters look ugly and animate even worse. It's really painful to watch them trying to interact with the environment and with each other. It's so distracting sometimes I couldn't even pay attention to the dialogs. Btw, it's good to have the subtiles option, because the volume of their voices randomly changes from too-loud to I-don't-hear-it. The voice acting is not that bad, but the dialog lines overlap horribly. When a character is about to end a phrase, the next phrase (from the same character, or from the other one) starts, and it gets really distracting at times. The music is good, though, and also adds to the atmosphere. Some of you already mentoned the problems with the triggers, and it is indeed one of the worst aspects of this game. You never know what to do, and you need to go back to every location and interact with every object for the tenth time, hoping to find that little thing you missed as is preventing you from moving forward. Your character sometimes tells you something like "I gotta tell him that", and you go, talk to that person, and the option to tell him "that" is not present, just because you missed looking at something before, or calling everyone on the cellphone for the eleventh time. The gameplay is just broken. I can understand if adventure games don't have enough money to add production value, but some things are unforgivable. For example you call a person over the phone, the screen splits and you see him answering. Days pass by, you call him again, and he's always standing in the same room, in the same spot, with the same cloth... C'mon! Anyways... I can go one for hours complaining, but you get the point. I can't say much about the story because I didn't play enough, so I guess that's the great aspect of this game. Hope they release a demo soon, so everybody can see it first hand before buying, and not get cheated by the great screenshots.

[Wouter]

Originally Posted by atyinbox

Some of you already mentoned the problems with the triggers, and it is indeed one of the worst aspects of this game. You never know what to do, and you need to go back to every location and interact with every object for the tenth time, hoping to find that little thing you missed as is preventing you from moving forward. Your character sometimes tells you something like "I gotta tell him that", and you go, talk to that person, and the option to tell him "that" is not present, just because you missed looking at something before, or calling everyone on the cellphone for the eleventh time. The gameplay is just broken.

That was actually the main reason i didn't finish The Moment Of Silence so i'm a bit dissapointed that it's still the same with Overclocked. Still, i have it on pre-order and i'm looking forward to it.

I once saw a video about House of Tales and i was surprised at how small the team actually is. It made me realise that you can't expect miracles when it comes to production values. I don't think that House of tales is to blame for that. On the contrary, i'm still amazed that people can make a living out of producing adventure games.

[nomarch]

completed it last night and i think to call this an adventure game is a bit of a cheat, this played much more like an interactive movie, think Full Throttle; but EVEN easier!!

the only slightly difficult thing in the whole process is figuring out which recording you need to play to access the next flashback sequence and even that was pretty easy if you actually paid attention to what the people were saying.

also the voice acting was terrible, all flat and the emotion was really forced. plus a lot of the actual dialogue just didnt work or fit in particularly well with the rest of the game. i mean all that pointless bravado and male posturing from Ryker in the bar was just awful (i actually dreaded having to go back there it was so bad)

and asa someone else had already pointed outm

Spoiler:

what was with David pulling a gun on Flynn?

that has to rate as one of the most stupid and genuinely painful scenes i have ever had to watch while playing an AG

it was also very short, but to be honest i doubt i would of bothered finishing it if it had taken any longer, overall while i enjoyed playing this interactive story (no, really i was sorta fun) i doubt i will ever bother to play it again.

[Zlatko]

Meh, it was an ok game.

The graphics really needed some work..the cutscenes werent too bad, but damn, it looked like something from 2002.

I think the funniest scene is when

Spoiler:

he pulls the gun on the porter...oh man, i BUSTED a gut laughing..

Oh shit..

The game wasnt bad, kinda had an unhappy ending and a lot of the stuff WAS interesting, but what was up with that doctor guy having like a robotic type speech?

[Hasimir]

Ended it.

The game is mediocre at best.
Terribly linear, puzzles were not puzzles at all ... too easy, not requiring any thinking or thinkering, just a boring trial-&-error with the session recordings.

BUT...

The story is awsome.
Characters are well portraied.
The mood is damn THICK, you feel every emotion that's in the air.
Voice acting was very good.
Graphic department was good enough in-game, while the cut scenes were TERRIFIC.

...

Bottomline.
Just grab a walkthrough and enjoy this beautiful story without bothering about the non-existant game

From 1 to 10 I'll rate it a solid 7 anyway, just to underline how good the story was in spite of all the game flaws.

[Snatcher42]

Originally Posted by Zlatko

Spoiler:

he pulls the gun on the porter...

What? When? I don't remember that! How could I have missed it? Was it optional?

[buddi]

I'm glad someone mentioned the clothes. I was already irritated that he never changed his clothes, and the he went to SLEEP in them for chrissakes! It just feels like so many corners were cut in this game... sigh.

[sue3737]

Just started playing today, so far I like the atmosphere and the storyline. I think I will be hooked on this one if it continues in the same standard.

[Ascovel]

If anyone would like to read, Adventure Classic Gaming has just posted their Overclocked review. There's also my own interview with Martin Ganteföhr to mark the occasion. Plenty of violence and controversy in both articles .