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Undercover: Operation Wintersun, developed by Sproing Interactive, is a 3rd person adventure game where you play a British physicist hired by the British intelligence agency MI6 to develop a super weapon. Of course, things go wrong and soon you’re on your own, acting as scientist and secret agent. You have a partner in a female agent, but you’re not sure what her true role in this story will be. The game is set during World War II and has a solid historical background, which helps to enhance the tense atmosphere around trying to stop Nazi domination. This point and click adventure game features a complex animation system and real-time 3D characters, and will be released in Fall 2006.

In Belief & Betrayal, the main character Jonathan is a journalist who is drawn into a huge conspiracy when his already-dead (or so he thought!) uncle is found murdered. As Jon Danter investigates the death of his uncle, he uncovers more and more about an ancient conspiracy. The story is “Da Vinci Code”-esque, and the settings show it, as you visit ancient catacombs cathedrals in London, Venice, and Rome. Belief & Betrayal elevates adventure gameplay to a new level by making objects more interactive, and giving you two playable characters who must frequently work together to solve problems. You can also collect ideas that can be used like objects, given to others and used to solve puzzles. This thriller adventure game, developed by Artematica, is also planned for a release in October 2006.

Taking a break from the serious adventure games, I also saw Tony Tough 2: A Rake’s Progress. This comic adventure is a prequel to the popular Tony Tough released in 2004, and the story takes place over the course of one day. You play Tony as a 13-year-old boy who’s always getting into trouble. The setting is New Mexico in the 1950s, and Tony is on the trail of the mysterious gangster who kidnapped his parent’s maid. Everything that Tony does has a consequence, from skipping school to breaking a window. There’s lots of dialog in the game and puzzles as well, although these are more accessible than most adventure games so that the storyline doesn’t get hung up waiting for you to finish the puzzle. Despite the comic storyline and setting, this is definitely an adult-oriented game, with plenty of dark humor. Tony Tough 2 will be released in the 3rd quarter of 2006.

A psycho-thriller set during a major thunderstorm over New York, Overclocked slowly reveals a controversial story of violence told by 5 children to a US Army psychologist. The story is told backwards with flashbacks and the story eventually merges together to reveal the violent truth behind the kids’ experiences. The game is peppered with plenty of cinematic cut scenes and the characters’ highly detailed facial expressions help to tell the story as well. Overclocked is being developed by House of Tales, the same developer behind The Moment of Silence, and they are taking the same technical engine used in that game to the next level here. The narrative approach is innovative for an adventure game, and will feature 5,000 lines of dialogue from the 6 playable characters. There will also be plenty of puzzles in the game, including some interesting new physics-based puzzles. Overclocked is headed for an April 2007 release.