Rob’s Broke Reviews: Sunset Overdrive

Insomniac releases gems left and right. If you know Game of Thrones, you’ll get this reference. Insomniac is the Tywin Lannister of game developers. They shit out fantastic games just as Tywin shits out gold. They hold a roster that contains the Spyro, Ratchet & Clank, and Resistance series. Ratchet & Clank, being in my Top 10 best videogame series of all time list, drew me to Resistance and eventually Sunset Overdrive.

The game is set in the near future where you play as…honestly I don’t even know the protagonist’s name, but you play as a nobody whose city of Sunset turns into chaos. A major soda/energy drink corporation early releases their new product called Overcharge, and whoever drinks it turns into monstrous zombie-like creatures called The OD. There are different versions of The OD, like Poppers that explode, and Hunkers that are giant tanks. Turns out the company, Fizzco, tries to cover up the whole mishap by containing everything in an invisible wall around Sunset City, and that is pretty much all I know about the plot of the game. I honestly don’t want to know anymore because I just don’t fucking care about the plot. This game is a fucking blast.

Insomniac totally nails the comedic side of the apocalypse. It is rare to go more than 2 minutes without the protagonist, or supporting cast to crack some ridiculous joke, most of which being 4th wall breaking. The characters work well together in cutscenes and dialogues, but you should not play this game for this reason. You should play this game because it has an absolutely beautiful environment, with an awesome gameplay system, supported by a fantastic array of Insomniac weaponry. Sunset City is bright and really shines on the newest generation consoles. Neon oranges, greens, reds, and blues illuminate every inch of the city and you can pretty much access all of it. When I say access I mean you can traverse the entire city in a spectacular fashion. Sunset Overdrive takes the best types of movements from a handful of genres. You can grind every rail and building corner like a perfect Tony Hawk game…it is even better than Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5, that fucking nightmare of a game. You can bounce on almost every surface such as cars, umbrellas, AC units, pretty much anything you can imagine, similar to Crackdown. You can air glide similar to Infamous Second Son, and it all just combines to work so well. I have found myself just grinding and bouncing around the city just to see how long and far I can go before fucking up.

Combat is great and plays similar to the Ratchet & Clank series. You play in 3rd person and aiming autolocks on the nearest enemy to your reticle. You have a dozen awesome Insomniac guns that you can choose from, most of which remind me of the best weapons from Ratchet & Clank. The biggest enemy to fear in this game is the ground. The point is to keep moving constantly through grinding and bouncing which gains you a style bar and you gain combo points. This can reach different levels allowing access to special abilities called Amps, which are just more super powers that help to rid the streets that are overflowing with the disgusting OD. The bosses are great, a little too easy, but certainly memorable. You fight a giant sausage looking dragon and even a shit talking Fizzco Blimp, or balloon…I don’t know what it was, but it was awesome. The blimp just ridicules the player as you bounce around shooting out its eyes. That was one boss I will not be forgetting for a while. The multiplayer is also really good, but has a short life span. You can join a chaos squad of up to 8 people and compete against each other to see who can bolster the most points and a varying array of obstacles and challenges. It is a fun change of pace and gets quite chaotic when you have 7 other players grind bouncing around a small location with hundreds of OD flowing in. The only problem I had with the multiplayer was that it gets repetitive. You can play through the same 5 challenges a few times over in about an hour.

Sunset Overdrive brings together a bunch of aspects from games and genres I have always loved. The movement is fluid with the city traversal near perfect. The gameplay and weaponry is on point and far above par with so much influence coming from their amazing Ratchet & Clank series. The enemies are a new take on the apocalypse, and the bosses are memorable. The characters are hilarious and the dialogue is perfect. Sunset Overdrive is a gorgeous, fun game that is currently free on Games With Gold for Xbox One. I totally suggest if you want a super fun, beautiful game to kill some time, download Sunset Overdrive right now. DOWNLOAD SUNSET OVERDRIVE RIGHT NOW.

Pros:
• Gorgeous city with beautiful colors
• Hilarious cast and dialogue
• Fluid movement and great gameplay
• Another awesome addition to Insomniac’s weapon selections
• New take on the apocalypse
• Memorable bosses and enemies
Cons:
• Not much content for such a fun multiplayer segment

Verdict: 

4.5 Fourth Wall Breaking Jokes out of 5