Sunset Overdrive Review

Sunset Overdrive
Developed By: Insomniac
Published By: Insomniac
Kangaroo Codpiece By: Insomniac
Date of Release: October 28, 2014
Price: $59.99

Ok, I'm gonna admit right off the bat that I went into Sunset Overdrive cautiously, worried that at best I'd find a cliched mix of "EXTREME!" attitude and overused pop culture references wrapped around a mediocre shooter, or at worst a disaster along the proportions of Insomniac's last venture, FUSE (proof that you should NEVER let the publisher f**k with your product!). I am quite happy to say that Sunset Overdrive is NEITHER OF THE ABOVE! Sunset Overdrive is the freshest, hippest, and quite frankly BEST gaming experience I've had in a long time. I'm serious, this game managed to take the mechanics from some of my all-time favorites, and combine them with witty, non-cliche humor in a way that has to be seen to be believed. Now before we go any further, I have something that i absolutely have to get off my chest(crotch!?).

KANGAROO CODPIECE.


Yep. Let that sink in. Go on, I'll wait for you.

You good now? So yeah, you can use the decapitated head of a green kangaroo to cover your bits. That alone is worth the price of admission right there.

Ok seriously, this game is frigging badass. Take the typical run and gun with a dash of melee formula, add in the grind mechanics from Jet Set Radio, utterly bats**t insane weapons, and decently un-cliche humor. Add 3 quarts of vodka, shake (don't stir), and be sure to drink before the contents settle. You'll probably have one helluva hangover in the morning, but hey that's the cost of living large!



So the story of Sunset overdrive can pretty much be summarized as such: Multinational beverage corporation Fizzco launches a new energy drink called OverCharge Delerium XT. Due to market competition they rushed it to market with ABSOLUTELY NO PRODUCT TESTING, which could have helped avoid this whole freakin' mess. But instead, the drink turned countless people into freaky-ass mutants (known as OverCharge Drinkers, ODs), causing an apocaly-- sorry, an AWESOME-POCALYPSE(thanks Floyd) of massive proportions. It's up to you as the player to clean up the town, armed with the weirdest assortment of weapons ever before seen in a videogame. Of course with Insomniac at the helm, you KNOW you're gonna get some awesome guns. Seriously, there's a bowling ball launcher called The Dude. Sorry, fancy rug and White Russian not included.



The main portion of the game sees you grinding about the city on various missions, running errands, stuff like that. But sometimes the going gets tough, and you need to upgrade your powers, or Amps as they are referred to ingame. During these upgrade sessions you need to return to your base, and prepare to defend your amp-cooking vat. The game mode will switch to a very well executed tower-defense mode, where you have to protect your vat from waves of incoming ODs. Loose too much OverCharge from your vat, and you have to start over. I'm nto normally a fan of tower defense games, but the mechanic is REALLY well used here. Color me impressed.



And then there's the multiplayer. So far I have only managed to get into one session, but it was sweet. Seems to be a mixed bag of different mission types from the campaign, only played cooperatively, with competitive scoring on the side. Top notch stuff, and the whole time it was lag free. It did take me 10 minutes to find a session though, but that should pick up as time goes on and more people get playing. So now a quick recap: Sweet graphics - check. Rockin' soundtrack - check. Great gameplay - check. Awesomely non-cliche humor - check. Kangaroo codpiece - uhh, check please!

Bottom line: get out there and buy Sunset Overdrive. You won't regret it.

No marsupials were harmed in the making of this review.