Sunset Overdrive
Producer: Microsoft Studios
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Platform: Xbox One
Rating: Mature
Genre: Action-Adventure
Punk in the Trunk
Written by Jesse Seilhan
Microsoft is struggling to catch up with Sony when it comes to global sales of consoles. The PS4 has doubled the Xbox One, mostly due to a lower price point and better graphical performance, but not really on the strength of its software lineup. While Sony doesn’t have a real holiday exclusive (sorry Little Big Planet 3), Microsoft is hitting hard with two major releases, starting with Insomniac’s Sunset Overdrive. Insomniac used to make games only for Sony, with Resistance and Ratchet & Clank being the main two properties, but they have since become free agents and have delivered to Microsoft fans one of the most fun games of this early generation in Sunset Overdrive, a game about as insane and explosive as the war between the consoles.
You start this third-person shooter by creating your very own character, named “Player.” You give him or her the right shape, style, look, and everything else with the game’s extensive character creation tools, which can be changed at any time in any way at any point in the game. You can even save more than ten custom presets for your character, if you’re feeling one look over another on any given day. From there, it’s off to see what Sunset City has to offer, which turns out to be a mutated population hellbent on your destruction. An energy drink dubbed Overcharge has begun to turn the populace into monstrous creatures who crave the taste of their favorite drink, and there are literally millions of them out there ready to attack. You stand in their way, equipped with the craziest and wackiest weapon loadout of the past few years, from vinyl-launching rifles to pulse guns and explosive teddy bears. Upgrading and rotating through these weapons is the real key to this game, as the 20 or so never feel old or boring, even after you’ve maxed them to their highest potential.
The mission structure is similar to other open-world games: go here, collect this, fetch that, do this three times until the next area opens up. Luckily, this game presents the entire world to you from the get go, has fast travel, and really pokes fun at a lot of the age-old tropes games of a similar ilk lean heavily on. How you get around is probably the most fun and unique part of Sunset Overdrive, as the game employs a Jet Grind Radio meets Tony Hawk style of traversal. You grind, wall-run, flip, and air-dash your way from coast to coast, always racking up a higher style score for doing so. String together enough acrobatic maneuvers, toss in a couple kills along the way, and the game’s combo system opens up and actually creates new effects for your weapons, from fire and ice afterburns to mini-nuclear explosions. Staying mobile is key to your survival, as the various enemy types (spanning three races and many varieties therein) can take you down within seconds if you’re standing still. At first, it feels difficult, but after you realize that the sky is your friend, it gets way more fun.
Sunset Overdrive definitely embraces the punk mentality, with foul-mouthed characters, a screaming soundtrack, and a “don’t give a shit” vibe that permeates every beat of the story. The game is also beautiful, running at a blistering 60 frames per second, even during the eight-player Chaos Squad mode, where you and seven buddies team up to complete quests and protect a base or two. Even with 25+ hours invested, I still find plenty of collectibles to find, weapons to unlock, and hidden nooks and crannies to explore. The colorful visuals and impressive draw distance make this a beauty to look at, but way more fun to actually smash around in. If you have an Xbox One and have been questioning your decision, look no further than Sunset Overdrive as the best reason to own an Xbox One in 2014.