It’s been a while since the last game review I’ve done. Between the new consoles, new games, and a new job. It was challenging to keep up, but I’m settled in the next arc of my life, and all the hype for new games has died down (for now). For this article, I cover the Xbox One exclusive that was failed to be capitalized in 2014. Sunset Overdrive.
What Are We Talking About?
Sunset Overdrive is an open world developed by Insomniac Inc. It came out as a launch title for the Xbox One and, eventually, PC. You play as a trash man/woman in Sunset City until a new drink called OverCharge, created by FizzCo started to turn people into monstrous creatures call OD. With FizzCo cutting off survivors from the outside world, the player has to figure out a way out of the city.
The player has to grind, wall-run, and vault their way throughout the dystopian city, find weapons to take on all enemies in the wackiest way possible. If the player fails, that’s alright because they’ll have the coolest respawns in any game.
So, What’s Good?
The first positive goes straight to the game’s movement. Like I said earlier, traversal is essential. Combing all types of travel are needed to get stronger. The more movement combos there are, the more damage can be done.
What makes this interesting is that every item in Sunset City can be roamed over. Whether it be a powerline, a bush, or an umbrella. As long as it’s in reach, it can be traversed. After playing through the whole game, it amazed me how much of the movement mechanics were transferred to Spider-Man (2018).
Another positive is character customization. If anyone looked at the gameplay for this game, one person’s main character would look completely different from another’s. That’s because the personalization is deep from hairstyle to outfits—shoes to underwear. Nothing was off-limits. Customization never felt limited, and if I wanted more outfits, I could just buy them or do side missions.
The best thing was even if I wanted to change my hair color, skin, or even my gender, I could do it in the middle of the campaign.
The last positive I want to cover is the strategic weapon and skill buffs. Sunset Overdrive has these items called amps. Amps are modifications for your skills and weapons. These amps can vary from slow health recovery to causing damage when dodge-rolling.
The concept extends to weapons, with the only requirement is that you have to level them up. The craziest amp I got let dead enemies spawn a Grim Reaper who will kill nearby enemies. This worked exceptionally well when I combined weapons with other weapons.
The amps and movement are great, but the game falls into some progression walls.
Then, What’s Bad?
There were a few difficulty spikes that showed up in the game. For 2/3 of the game, I made a build to take two out of the three enemy types—those being the OD and mercenaries. But out of nowhere, the third enemy type, FizzCo robots, came out in full force, leaving me ill-equipped.
I survived the ordeal because I bought a weapon that could handle them just in case. But, since the weapon was underpowered, it was still a struggle. This would be the only mission that would take me more than four tries if it weren’t for the base missions.
Base missions have the most counterintuitive mission type in Sunset Overdrive. Why would you add a task for defending an area in a game based on your movement? To get amps (and progress in the story), I was forced to do base defending missions. There has been too much time and energy spent on them. If I could, I would skip them in a heartbeat.
The last bad thing I wanted to say is the characters. I won’t lie; almost all of them acted like over-exaggeratedly cooky. Sam was unapologetically nerdy. Floyd started off cool but became annoying due to his interaction with him involved doing the base missions. Ignatius decided to fight against enemies carrying guns with swords alone (no, it’s not that kind of game).
The only interesting characters were Bryllcream and the Las Catrinas. I have no complaints about Bryllcream, but by the time I reach Las Catrinas, the game is almost over.
Final Thoughts
So, here’s the recap for the skimmers:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Movement is impressive | Difficulty spikes |
| Customization is well done | Base missions are annoying |
| Strategic weapon and skill buffs | Characters are just too cooky |
Overall, I enjoyed my time with Sunset Overdrive. Despite the roadblocks from some of the missions, I had more fun the creativity in the mayhem. If you’re looking for an Xbox One exclusive, this game is the one for you. This game is available at an acceptable price, but this can be installed on your system today if you have Xbox Game Pass. So I would say wait for a price drop.
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Platforms: Xbox One, PC
Price (Microsoft, Target, Best Buy): 19.99 USD
Recommendation: Wait Til A Price Drop
If you enjoyed this review article, look at my review on the PS5 or the Nintendo Switch. Make sure to follow my Twitter @_UrgeGaming for any updates on the blog. I hope you have a blessed week. Peace.