“You’ll have a good time”
I was asked by two different friends a few weeks back whether I would be getting Sunset Overdrive. My response to both of them was pretty much a resounding “No”. I told them it “didn’t look like my sort of thing”. So it was with some trepidation that I accepted the task of reviewing it. I’m glad now that I did. You see, Sunset Overdrive is much better than you think, or I initially thought.
The game was developed by Insomniac, famed for making PlayStation exclusives Ratchet & Clank and Resistance. Other notable works by them include Spyro and Disruptor. They also made the multiplatform online multiplayer meh-fest that was Fuse… Yeah, let’s gloss over that.
Sunset Overdrive is their first attempt at an original exclusive IP for Xbox, specifically Xbox One, so it’s no wonder that people are curious about whether they can deliver something good. Microsoft for their part are pushing this game hard, which to some would be cause for concern, but there’s a certain confidence around the release of this game that is very similar to the PR hype for Forza Horizon 2. We all know how well that was received. Just like with that game, the review embargo is lifted before the game releases. It would seem that Microsoft are confident this will be reviewed positively, and I think they’re right.
The premise of the game is a scenario we’ve seen in plenty of others since videogames began; people are turned into monsters by an evil global corporation and the world is now in the midst of an apocalypse. However, Sunset Overdrive switches up the trope a bit by making the apocalypse a colourful city playground rather than the usual bleak depressing wasteland.
Set in 2027, the story is that a major snacks and beverages manufacturer, Fizzco, has rushed a new energy drink called Overcharge Delirium XT through testing and launched it first in Sunset City. It turns out Overcharge has an unfortunate side effect that transforms anyone who drinks it into grotesque monsters called the OD’d. Things go quickly downhill after the disastrous launch party and Fizzco (which also happens to make weapons and the robots to wield them) puts the city into lockdown to cover up their mistake. The player character’s main objective is to escape the city, all the while battling various enemies. You’re best hope will be to make friends, do favours and get stuff in return.
It reminds me of a lot of other games – Jet Set Radio, Saints Row, Dead Rising, Tony Hawk Skateboarding, to name a few… but in a very good way. In fact, there are a lot of easter eggs that allude to other games and media in it as well. Sunset Overdrive harks back to the days when games were all about the gameplay and having fun. It feels and has a pallette very like N64 classics, such as Crazy Taxi or the aforementioned Jet Set Radio, albeit with great new-gen visuals and modern controls.
The humour in Sunset Overdrive is one of the things, besides gameplay, that keeps me playing it. Whether it’s a one-off throw away line when you’re free-roaming or a simple knowing look to camera in a cutscene, it definitely appeals to a certain comedy mindset. There’s a lot of silly fourth wall breaking, sarcasm and self-referential comedy, much like Deadpool comic books or those cheesy saturday morning cartoons from when you were a kid (remember Animaniacs?). But, similar to later Saints Row games, there are also a lot of adult and irreverent comedy themes in their too. Sunset Overdrive completely commits to this humour, the voice acting and animation are brilliant for starters, and it’s this one hundred percent commitment that really sells it for me. Even dying in this game is hilarious and the respawn animations will elicit chuckles when you get the references. Though, without spoiling it, the fast-travel animation is easily my favourite recurring funny moment and still makes me “laugh out loud” every time I see it.
It’s all about having fun and Sunset City, the location for your shenanigans, certainly reflects that. The city is bright, colourful and quite large, with plenty to see and do in it. The game does a good job of introducing you to the different areas over the course of the story, as you meet the various friendly factions, though you’re pretty much free to explore as you want. To get around the map you’re going to want to utilise the core mechanics of the game – jumping, bouncing and grinding. By all means, you can stay on the ground but this will be both boring and slow. Instead, get up and grind along the telephone wires, bounce on cars, jump on fans and wall run. Besides being fun, stringing these moves together has other benefits, charging a combo meter so you can unlock better abilities for dealing with enemies, and there are plenty of those around.
Just like friendly factions, enemy types are gradually introduced through the story. The first enemy you meet are the OD and their sub-types, but later you’ll come up against other humans and Fizzco robots. As you meet them during missions, you’ll run into them more and more in free-roam throughout the city. They get harder and harder to deal with too, becoming more aggressive and cunning in their attacks. Luckily, you also get stronger and Insomniac has done a great job of scaling the difficulty. You’ll unlock stronger abilities, upgrades and weapons as you progress.
Insomniac is known for making games with interesting, fun weapons and Sunset Overdrive fits that mold too. If you ever wanting to shoot an exploding teddy bear or an acid-sprinkling mascot, this game has you covered. Different weapons work best against different enemy types, so you’ll find yourself swapping them out for specific encounters. The actual shooting of weapons doesn’t need to be too precise, which is good as it’s likely both you and your foes will be moving quite fast during fights. Just get the red reticle on an enemy and fire – it’s more about timing and maximising damage than getting headshots. There are elements of strategy too, like switching up and combining weapons for better kills, as well as moving around the area to build up combos but, like everything else in the game, it seems that having fun is the main objective in combat.
There are plenty of character customisation options in Sunset Overdrive, and even more options unlock for purchase over the course of the game. The developers have left the customisation completely open; items aren’t locked to gender. So, if you want, you can play as big muscular man wearing make-up and a mini skirt or a beardy woman in armour. You can even change gender back and fourth, if you so wish, which also changes the character voice. The openness of the character customisation is just another sign that Insomniac just wants you to have good time first and the story making sense is secondary.
Collectibles are strewn throughout Sunset City but, unlike some games, they’re actually of use here. Old smelly shoes, balloons, toilet paper, security camera lenses and neon signs can be used to make upgrades for your weapons and special abilities. Similarly, collecting empty Overcharge cans and money can be used to buy weapons and customisation items respectively.
Graphics wise, as well as being very colourful, Sunset Overdrive is beautifully rendered. There are loads of subtle and neat touches, such as enemies exploding into words like “POP” or “BLAM”. Every visual element in the game seems to have been crafted with care and adds to the lighthearted feel of the game. Insomniac’s in-house engine appears to be steady enough too that I haven’t noticed any framerate drops, even during the busiest scenes.
Similarly, the audio adds to the feel of Sunset Overdrive. For the most part, you even won’t notice how good the sound design is as it doesn’t stand out – it just fits perfectly. Things like the sounds of picking up collectibles allude to older games – collecting some items makes a very Mario-esque “pling” for instance. These little touches are just nice. The music is mostly punk/grunge and, while there no really well known songs, they’ve done a great job of the picking tracks to suit the mood of the game. There’s even a cameo from a member of a pretty well known and influential 90s grunge band, though I won’t spoil who it is!
I had a brief go at the Chaos Squad co-op multiplayer and it’s pretty good fun. You can find a game at any point by simply going to one of the booths in the city and searching for a lobby in a specific or all areas of the map. Once you start searching, you can close the menu, continue in free-roam and you’ll join automatically once a match is found. Chaos Squad tasks yourself and up to seven of your fellow gamers with performing a number of challenges, with the option to increase the city’s Chaos Level for better rewards. However, increasing the Chaos Level makes the final part of the online match, Night Defense, a lot harder. Night Defense, which is also part of single player, is like a tower defense mode where players must stop hordes of OD’d from taking vats of Overcharge from a base.
If I was pushed to pick some negatives in Sunset Overdrive it would be that some of the singleplayer missions go on a bit too long but, even at that, you can go off and do other activities mid-mission, including side-quests and challenges. Boss battles do a good job of mixing up the gameplay, even if objectives aren’t always explained very well, and can prove quite a challenge but never to the point of hair-pulling frustration. Again though, once the novelty wears off, they can drag on a little bit too long. Luckily, if you die mid-battle, for the most part you’ll respawn at the same point (something the game even jokes about).
The opening tutorial, while functional and very funny, can be a bit confusing and I found that things it had explained (such as upgrading weapons) didn’t really make sense until hours later. It’s almost as if they’re trying to teach you too much, too quick. But that’s a very minor gripe and a worthwhile trade-off as it means that you’re given a lot more freedom early on in the game than in most open-world titles.
These days it’s easy to forget what ultimately brings us back to gaming again and again; just having a good time. While at times Sunset Overdrive can be a bit repetitive, that’s easy to overlook as it’s a genuinely fun (and funny) game to play, which is rare in the age of brotastic first person shooters and shock horror games. Insomniac has put everything into this game and there doesn’t seem to be any part of the development they’ve skimped on. Whether it will be a system-seller for Microsoft remains to be seen, afterall it’s coming up against a lot of competition in the next few weeks, but I can see no reason why Sunset Overdrive shouldn’t be on your radar if you have an Xbox One. Don’t make the mistake I nearly did by overlooking this gem.
I’ll leave you with the words of Floyd, one of the first characters you meet: “Hey, I know there’s some scary sh*t out there, but it’s all in how you look at it. You tell yourself you’re going to have a good time, you’ll have a good time”.