Sunset Overdrive

Insomniac, the developer behind such beloved PlayStation exclusive franchises as Ratchet and Clank and Spyro the Dragon, chose a different route with its newest IP, Sunset Overdrive. While the wacky storytelling and beautiful color palettes return in a big way, Sunset Overdrive marks Insomniacs’ first complete departure from the PlayStation platform, the result of which is an Xbox exclusive title unlike any other. Sunset Overdrive is a fast-paced, adrenaline-inducing third-person shooter that delivers a unique blend of fourth-wall breaking comedy, compelling storytelling, and hours of mutant stomping.

Sunset Overdrive takes place in 2027 in the fictional beachside metropolis of Sunset City, home to world-renowned beverage company FizzCo. Soon after the game starts, citizens begin mutating after drinking the company’s newest energy drink, Overcharge Delirium XT. FizzCo quickly shuts down its pre-launch party and quarantines the entire city, blocking off every exit point with an invisible dome.

The mutation quickly spreads throughout the city, leaving in its wake destruction and panic straight out of a George Romero movie. Luckily for Sunset City, our playable character is working janitorial duties at the launch party and witnesses the mutation first-hand, quickly escaping before mutating as well. Our hero must fight off surviving gang members, FizzCo robots attempting to cover up the event, and ODs, the name given to the mutated humans, while finding a way out of the city. With a somewhat cliché punk-rock personality and attire straight out of the 70s, the unnamed playable character gives Sunset Overdrive a personality of its own.

Unlike the serious storytelling found in many of today’s video games, Sunset Overdrive relishes in the fact that it is a video game, constantly breaking the fourth wall as a reminder. In fact, some of its home run hitting comedic moments involves its character reflections on the game world. Be it mocking repetitive gameplay tropes, or pointing out inconsistencies in the reality created by the game world, Sunset Overdrive creatively blends its storytelling with great comedic timing.

Though the writing in the first few hours is hit-or-miss, like a fine wine, Sunset Overdrive gets better with time. Some of the games most compelling and engaging moments occur after the halfway mark. The writing tends to get more intelligent as the game plays on, especially when interacting with the city’s various factions.

Each faction brings its own personality to the story, from role-playing LARPers that act as though they are stuck in the dark ages, to a group of murderous cheerleaders. The player’s quest log is soon filled with requests to solve each faction’s specific problems.

These quests are some of the most interestingly written parts of the game and are also tons of fun. After assisting each faction, they one-by-one agree to work together to hatch an escape plan. The most unique aspect of Sunset Overdrive lies in its always-moving gameplay style. The playable character has inhuman balancing abilities, which gives him acrobatic movement, wall running capabilities and the impressive talent to grind non-stop on zip-lines, rails, and almost any narrow surface throughout the city.

Nearly everything in this open world can be used to build and keep momentum. Cars, boats, and many other everyday objects become jump pads. The more movement combos and kills the player chains together, the more the Style bar fills, which allows access to various extreme power-ups known as Amps.

The Style bar has five sections to fill, which activates different Amps such as electric-strikes and flame bursts. The game encourages movement: so much so, that it punishes any attempt at tackling the gameplay as if it were an everyday third-person shooter.

The environments are so busy and the enemies so overly populate the city that it’s easy to be knocked out by standing still for too long. The player also has an arsenal of wacky guns, from an exploding teddy bear launcher to a firecracker shooter.

The game’s base defense missions are its weakest moments. Luckily, these segments last 3 minutes each and are forced only when unlocking a new area. These missions are used to supercharge Amps, allowing for more upgrades and better abilities. In theory, this is great, but the implementation falls short, leaving the player scrambling to protect each entrance of the base. Though these missions can be replayed to gain more Amps, I never felt they were needed, as the game is already forgiving and should not be a problem for seasoned gamers.

While it may occasionally fall short in its earlier hours, Sunset Overdrive stands as one of Xbox One’s most interesting exclusives. Though there is room for improvement, Insomniac’s next-gen debut delivers some solid gameplay and stands as a strong reason to own an Xbox One.