Great! At last, a game staring Rik Mayall as the zany and troublesome yet imaginary friend of a schoolgirl - oh hang on, that was Drop Dead Fred and this is Dead Head Fred. Well, I'm sure it's an easy mistake to make. Still, wouldn't a Drop Dead Fred game be cool? Well don't worry, because Dead Head Fred is just as zany, wacky and equally as much fun as that classic 1991 movie, if not more so. Now, if only developers Vicious Cycle could have renamed the lead character Ted Neuman instead of Fred Neuman - it would have saved us all a lot of confusion...

Announced prior to 2006's dim and distant, all-singing, all-dancing E3 (as opposed to the much tamer affair we have nowadays), Dead Head Fred has built up a steady head of steam since then. You play as the aforementioned Fred, a former private investigator looking into the nefarious doings of a Mr Ulysses S Pitt and his Nuclear Power Plant. We say 'former' not in the sense that Fred has decided on a career change and is now a horticulturist, seismologist or otherwise retired - well, maybe he's retired in one sense of the word - but rather in the sense that Fred is dead, killed by Pitt's goons for presumably getting too close to something - but what exactly? Well not to worry - there are worse things than being dead. One of which is being reanimated without your head, which coincidently is what has happened to poor old Fred, all thanks to Dr. Steiner - a slightly deranged scientist. Talk about having a bad day. In a fit of generosity, the good doctor has brought Fred back to life but without his head - Mr. Pitt likes to keep those for his trophy cabinet. Luckily, the doctor did manage to hang onto Fred's brain and eyes, put them in a jar and stick them back on his shoulders. We can be grateful for small mercies I guess.

Apparently, a side effect of being killed, decapitated, having your brain extracted and then placed in a jar before being reconnected to your shoulders is that it pickles your memory. Quite understandable really. Thus Fred doesn't remember much of the events that occurred before he awoke on Dr. Steiner's butcher's couch - think of Tom Cruise having his eyes replaced in Minority Report and you have some idea of the good doctor and his chop shop. Now, if Fred can retrieve his head from Mr. Pitt, eliminating him in the process, Dr. Steiner will reattach it for him. An offer too good to refuse? Maybe, but the only problem is that Mr. Pitt has an inkling of the doctor's double-crossing deeds and has Lefty (a tommygun-wielding weed of a man with a hulking left arm) send him off to the Headless Horseman at Creepy Hollow. You don't have to know exactly what that entails to know that they are probably not heading out for a walk in the park and a picnic. Thus, the first task on the agenda is to rescue the good doctor from the clutches of the Horseman, and so our quest begins in earnest.

Did we also mention that this game is warped and twisted? If not, we probably should mention it - this game is warped and twisted. And funny too. Tim Schafer-esque, laugh so hard your head falls off funny. It's excellently presented and delivered throughout by a first-rate cast, led by John C. McGinley of Scrubs fame. ["Listen up newbie, it's just come to my attention that not everyone in this hospital understands that I am the very best doctor who has ever lived or indeed will ever live, and that, as such, I re-he-heally should be beloved, and indeed worshipped, not just by the staff of Sacred Heart, but by the entire population of this crazy little backwater that we humans like to call Earth. So, I'm going to assume that, just as soon as you've finished up with killing whatever patient is unfortunate enough to currently fall under your 'care' - note the air quotes for 'care' - you're going to pull the prettiest little dress you've got out of that closet of yours, slap on the make-up like it was coming back into fashion and go right on out there to spread the Gospel of Cox. If you don't, I will be forced to smite you, and I will smite you good. Ya got that, Shirley?" Dr. Cox Ed.] McGinley provides the voice of cranky, sarcastic and wise-cracking Fred, helped in no small part by a top-notch script containing great characters and comical stereotypes. This is Hollywood in game-noir style as you are taken on a roller-coaster ride through comedy, horror, goth, suspense, murder, mystery, revenge and probably a bunch of other genres too. Despite talk to the contrary, it is rare for a game's script to be given as much love and devotion as its graphics and general audio. Not so here; from the very start, the dialogue stands up to scrutiny, maintaining a high level throughout the game, even down to the smart-arse comments that Fred makes when you die and don't press the restart button fast enough - "Oh great! New player, please!" being a particular favourite.

But maybe 'die' isn't the right word to use. After all - if you're dead already can you die again? It's probably best not to ponder on that too much though, as you'll soon have your hands full running, jumping and generally avoiding the wanton zombies and other undead creatures who are obviously jealous of your superior cranial situation and zealously try to rend you limb from limb. There are no guns, grenades or rocket-launchers to help Fred out of sticky situations though, but luckily he is not too bad with the old-fashioned fisticuffs. A quick jab on the square button starts off an attack and from there various stabs on the square and cross buttons perform different combos, all accompanied by bone-crunching sound effects and blood-splattering guts and gore. Combining these moves with the right shoulder button performs a super-attack that varies depending on which head you are wearing. Get your enemies in a dazed state and you can even rip their heads off with a press of triangle. Wear the right head (each enemy is weak against one particular type) and you can perform a devastating counter-attack that's guaranteed to put them down so hard they'll end up six hundred feet under. But it's alright - they were dead anyway. No harm, no foul - after all, if you're dead already can you die again? Hmm, déjà vu anyone?

The observant amongst you may have noticed the mention of different heads. If so, congratulations - give yourself a pat on the back. Yes, Fred can switch heads at a tap of the left shoulder button and a jiggle on the analogue stick. You can only switch between the heads you currently have in your possession, and in the best traditions of Metroid, Fred starts out with three heads before being reduced to one, leaving you to obtain the rest, of which there are several. Your standard, ever-present Jar head is a run-of-the-mill affair - jack-of-all-trades and master of none. It does have one neat trick though, in that it regenerates your health whilst you are wearing it. The Stone head is another one you start out with and is your standard slow but powerful variation. Wearing this prevents you from downing as you sink like a stone to the bottom of whatever watery body you happen to find yourself in. This is in stark contrast to you other heads, which see you floundering around for a few seconds like the proverbial fish out of water. Except, erm, you're in the water. And you're not a fish. You can also use the Stone head's powerful attacks and ground stomping to open stuck doors and break through walls. There are others to collect too, like the Corpse head and the Bone head. Each head not only attaches to your shoulders as you would expect, but also changes your physical characteristics as well, so you become bigger, or smaller, or walk with a slouch, depending on the head in question. Neat touches like these raise the game at least a head and possibly some shoulders above the rest.

The animation in general is silky smooth, whether you are running, jumping, blocking or punching. With a game as great as this it feels like a crime to criticise - but to not mention any negatives would be negligent. Firstly, there is no auto-lock feature when in combat, which can make things difficult when fighting multiple enemies. The camera also does not auto re-centre itself, although this can be manually achieved by tapping the down button. Another problem occurs in combat when you are trying to jump to safety and because you are in the middle of a combo, the jump button (cross) is also an attack button, meaning that you carry on punching, subsequently taking the blow you were trying to avoid. There are also a couple of other niggles, such as out-of-sync audio when you try and open a locked door, or cut scenes with characters who pop up from nowhere. Signposting could be improved to, with some levels requiring a bit of thinking and experimenting in order to work out where to go next and how to get there. These are only minor wrinkles though, which we hope will be ironed out for the final release.

Did we mention the side-quest missions yet? Several characters you meet on your travels ask you to perform tasks or collect items for them, which earns you money or other rewards. What about the pick-ups that your undead enemies drop? These can be traded to Sam Spade for money, which can then be used to purchase other essential items, like health packs, or worms that you can improve your head's abilities.

There's more to this game then meets the eye and, just like an onion, it has many layers. Peel one back and as well as making you cry with laughter, it'll keep you entertained for hours on end. Part platformer, part beat 'em up, part collect 'em up, this action game is definitely not thin on top, as it crams it all in, just like all the head jokes we've managed to shoehorn into this review. We may have missed the obvious double-entendres but hey, they're too easy and this is a family website after all. Dead Head Fred is Worzel Gummidge for grown-ups. If you don't get this game then, well, where's your head at?!

Reviewed by Dominick Hardy for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).