Sunset Overdrive Review
Developer Insomniac Games
Publisher Microsoft
Platform Xbox One
Release Date Out Now.
Welcome to Sunset City! You are one of the few survivors who now inhabit this mutant infested city. Yes that’s right Mutant’s. Due to an accident in Fizzco`s new Energy drink, once someone ingests this deadly liquid it transforms them into hideous monsters hell bent on destroying everything.
Let’s begin….
You control a nameless hero with a punk style and attitude to match. You hide out from the mutant infestation in your apartment until the beer runs out, during a sudden attack you are rescued by a fellow survivor who will teach you how to survive against the mutant’s who are now called the OD.
One of the first things that the game teaches you is that there is no such thing as a sprint button. You traverse the environment by grinding on rails or by bouncing on cars and well placed umbrellas. Think Tony Hawk meets Infamous and you are not too far off the gameplay style.
Staying on the ground is as dangerous as standing still in a FPS. Grinding those rails is the best way to avoid incoming fire and to escape a horde of OD. The OD that you have to deal with in the game come in various forms from the normal OD who wield melee attacks, to exploding “poppers”, to gigantic lurkers who are a challenge to take on without the right arsenal.
The weapons you fight with are random and creative (more so than you would imagine). You have crazy weapons like the “teddy bear launcher” which fires a teddy bear strapped with explosives right at your enemy’s. Self-flying helicopters with pistols attached! Yip that’s right, unleash this beauty to deal with the OD at your behalf.
The more you use these weapons the more they level up (or amp up) and become more powerful. “Amps” can increase the damage and type of attack for each weapon and can give you some extra ground attacks. For example you can add the “Twist of Fate” amp that may cause a nuclear explosion. Others will bring in mini tornados or lighting storms, perfect for clearing out OD.
Your main goal is to try and escape the city, the city has been kept under Fizzco`s control in order to suppress news of this outbreak and protect their share price. Your escape is aided and hindered by the mentally unstable groups located in the city. The story brings you to a number of different regions all of which are controlled in part by the different survivor groups. Groups for example like the carefree students or the real life role players who are re-enacting the middle ages. It is fair to say there are not many tired old clichés is Sunset City.
Sunset Overdrive has an abundance of collectible items that you can pick up and trade in for amps throughout the adventure. The more times you kill enemies, the more times you grind, swing and bounce across the city the more overcharge badges you get. These badges allow you to unlock various bonuses for your character such as 10% more damage or simply more ammo for your guns. These badges reward you for your own play style. If you prefer shooting enemies then increase your ammo capacity and fire damage. If you prefer to run and gun, then increase damage to OD and add more health. You can have six badges active at any one time, so don`t get too concerned about what you don`t have yet and just enjoy the ones you have unlocked.
The real fun of Sunset Overdrive is when you hop into the Multiplayer mode which is called “Chaos Squad”. This is an eight player co-op mode with a good risk reward mechanic. Throughout this mode you can choose the difficulty of the round, the harder the round you go for, the more chaos and loot you get in the final round if you win. On the other hand you can play it safe and go for a lower chaos and beat the last round but with much less in the way of rewards.
This was where I got the most enjoyment from Sunset Overdrive, getting a bunch of people together and just enjoying a good old fashioned fun video game. That is the thing with Sunset it is very aware that it is a game, the characters break the 4th wall all the time and well as buckets of other well know video game mechanics are showcased with glee. Sometimes games take themselves too seriously, almost as if someone forgot that they were meant to be fun. That is what Sunset Overdrive has in abundance, fun.
Overall: Sunset Overdrive is great game with a lot of re-playability. The multi-player is brilliant especially if you can get a bunch of buddies playing together, however it could use some extra game modes. The controls are easy to learn, but difficult to master. The game is fast passed and at times it can be tricky to grind and shoot properly but this all adds to the longevity and sense of accomplishment when you do pull off some crazy maneuvers.
SCORE 4/5
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