If you were to define the hallmarks of a classic adventure game, you'd more than likely point to a strong story blended with a collection of intricate and clever puzzles, though you might also bring up the genre's tendency toward a simple point and click interface. Overclocked: A History of Violence technically has all three of those elements, though not in the balance that one might hope.
The story begins with a half-naked girl shambling through a torrential downpour in New York City. Finally stuttering to a halt, she lifts her face to the sky and screams, aimlessly firing the pistol she's been carrying with her. Dramatic, yes, but even more startling is the news that she's just the latest in a series of such cases. Several young adults have recently been found wandering the streets of New York, scared and screaming. All had guns, none have memories.
You play as Dave McNamara, a psychiatrist who has been called in from Washington, DC to investigate the strange cases, much to the chagrin of Dr. Jones, who's been in charge of the patients until he was directed to let you try your luck with them. Is his bitterness simply professional jealousy, or is there something more sinister at work? Why can't the patients remember anything? Why was one of them continually repeating the word "delete" when he was found?
As you make connections with the patients, slowly bringing them out of their frightened silences, you learn that they have fought their way to freedom, escaping confinement and fleeing unseen captors. Each recovered memory leads you just a bit closer to the unsettling and unsavory truth, but you quickly learn that not everyone wants you to find the truth.
Overclocked's strange tale sucks you in immediately, answering each question with an even more intriguing and baffling question. The acting is a bit off in places (especially the drunk in the bar), and some of the writing suffers from its localization from German into English, but the fascinating mystery makes it easy to forgive such small flaws. The subplot involving McNamara's soon-to-be ex-wife makes Dave a more sympathetic and realistic character than if he were simply The Hero, and provides some welcome interludes from the high-stress investigation.
The game gets high marks in the story department, but suffers slightly when it comes to the puzzles, though it's somewhat difficult to call them that. The term "puzzle" implies a level of difficulty that simply isn't present in most of Overclocked's situations. In most cases, you have so few options available to you that you have no choice but to find the solution. This is especially true during the flashback sequences in which you take direct control of the patients. Though escaping from mysterious captors should be exciting, the patients have next to nothing with them or near them, and are in very small locations. If you can only click on three items in a room, it's not going to take you very long to figure out how to proceed.
The puzzles faced by McNamara aren't much more difficult, despite the fact that he has access to more items and locations. You'll face greater difficulty from the game's fondness for precise timing than you will from the actual puzzles. For example, at the end of the game's first day, McNamara mentions that he needs to go back to his hotel room and get some rest, a pretty clear indicator that you should return there and hit the bed. What isn't made clear is that you also have to call your lawyer before you can get any shuteye. There's no reason for you to think that you should, no hint or clue to point you in that direction, but you have so few options available to you that you'll stumble across the solution fairly quickly.
