I'm an avid adventure game fan who loves the idea of using strength of mind over strength of muscle to complete a game. In this age of multiplayer mayhem, first person shooter excess and yearly edition franchises I will always find a place in my heart for point and click adventures, so I was looking forward to the mental dabbling that Lighthouse Interactive and House of Tales have brought us, in the guise of Overclocked: A History of Violence. This is a game that will strike fear into the bravest of hearts - or should I say, minds!

Adventure games are often accused of being slightly less adult-orientated in theme, conjuring up images of cartoon backgrounds like the early Broken Sword games, The Curse of Monkey Island and Grim Fandango. I can tell you right from the beginning that this is not the case with Overclocked, as you begin with a scantily clad woman being unveiled before your eyes as the rain forcefully hits her skin. You can see the pain and hysteria on her face as she screams, brandishing a gun in the middle of a New York street. You are placed in control of renowned psychologist Dr. McNamara, who must unravel the minds of five mentally ill patients that are holed up in an old-school asylum.

Overclocked is a third person psychological adventure with leanings towards survival horror and political intrigue, with some very welcome intuitive ideas in terms of manipulation of objects. Very early in the game you'll notice that a split screen is used when something of interest happens nearby, which adds an extra bit of professionalism to the proceedings. I have seen this idea used in other games and movies when characters are talking to each other via the phone, but never in the way it is used here - it's a very novel idea that adds to the game's natural flow and claustrophobic atmosphere. Secondly, the intuitive way you can open up a list of actions that can be carried out with an object simply by clicking on the object is something that works well (something I've seen before in the Broken Sword series) and it makes the manipulation of objects very user friendly. For example, clicking on a piece of paper brings up two further options. I found the tasks and puzzles in Overclocked to be cleverly devised and not too time consuming; they make sense and you'll feel a sense of accomplishment when you complete them.

Dr McNamara is a little bit like George Stobbart from Broken Sword, but with a less dry sense of humour and a much darker interior. Staying in a New York hotel, you have travelled there to decipher the reasoning behind the actions of five patients who are seemingly not connected to each other. There's a raging thunderstorm outside, which only helps to increase the desperate feeling of the situation, akin to Bladerunner, while the background music is top notch, reminiscent of Resident Evil or Silent Hill, as the melody plays away in the background, interrupted by heaving piano keys echoing in the distance. Due to preview code only having the German language option, I cannot give an opinion on the voice acting - but if it's as high quality as the rest of the game then it'll be very good indeed.

Given that the game is set in New York, I expected to find a few more people to be walking around the streets - they didn't need to be interactive, but just a few more faces would make the place feel a little more lifelike, showing that whilst your life may be under the pressure of psychological terrors, the rest of the world carries on around you. Oh and where are everyone's umbrellas? Considering the amount of rain onscreen it seems strange that everyone is happy to walk around getting drenched, although this is a minor discrepancy. The graphics don't break new ground but they are fitting to the dark theme of the game and help to build the atmosphere of a psychological thriller. The buildings are suitably downbeat looking, with odd bits of artistic flair; the asylum looks like 1950s communism encompassed within walls that keep the memories of the fallen (you could argue it also keeps the minds of forgotten patients!) The lighting is very effective, along with the clever use of the camera angles - you won't realise how many there are available unless you are thorough, which you'll need to be to finish the game.

Using Dr. McNamara to delve into the minds of patients allows you to become the one with patients (so there are six playable characters in all), reconstructing the events that brought them to the asylum. It's an interesting take on the adventure genre that's similar to the film Memento in terms of working backwards and forwards through the story, whilst also hinting that McNamara himself has something of chequered past. Luckily, the characters' stories vary, so you're not left with repetition in the gameplay. There are moments that are truly disturbing and you will want to turn the music down and the brightness up. One particular moment concerns your meeting with the fifth patient, who possibly has the most blood chilling breathing I have ever heard! McNamara makes a judgement call and hightails it out of the room, which I thought was quite an amusing little sketch - these little details and stabs at humour help you get through the disturbing piece of storytelling. I'll warn you now though; Overclocked is not for the fainthearted - some of the shouting and screaming found in this game is something that sounds like it was sampled from a real asylum!

The subtitled dialogue is fine, although maybe a few more option choices and extra end of conversation lines would be a good addition, so as to lessen any repetitiveness that might start to grate. You will need to listen to everything that is said in the cut scenes, because if you don't there is no replay feature and you'll miss out on vital information. If the developers could implement a feature that allows you to replay some cut scenes then this would definitely benefit the game.

I'm not going to ruin the story, because even the smallest details found in Overclocked: A History of Violence are worth discovering for yourself. I look forward to getting my hands on the finished product, especially to discover what the English voice acting is like. Is McNamara as good as he says he is? Was it the best idea to let your best mate look after your wife? Where will the doctor and his nurse go after the patients have been cured? Will they ever be cured? These are only a handful of the many questions that need to be answered - and I'm looking forward to discovering the answers, no matter how chilling they may turn out to be!

Previewed by Christopher McNally for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).