Sunset Overdrive
Open World Hardcore Parkour Murder-fest
1 Player (More online)
System: Xbox One
Developer: Insomniac Games
Year of Release: 2014
Beaten: June 29th, 2016
From a strictly game play perspective this is exactly what I've been needing for a while now. You know when you're yearning for something in particular, though you aren't quite sure what that thing is? Sunset Overdrive scratched that itch for me. I don't know why this game wasn't more critically acclaimed. I guess it's because of how incredibly obnoxious every bit of the plot is, but seriously fuck all that. Playing Sunset Overdrive is pure fun fresh squeezed out of freshly picked joy.
For a long time this, aside from the ability to maybe play Halo, was the main reason I wanted an Xbox One (recently Cuphead has become the new shining beacon of trying to convince myself of picking one up) but luckily my girlfriend wound up buying one. Problem solved! Even better Sunset Overdrive brand new was only ten dollars on Amazon, and it far surpassed any expectations I had for the game. At first it comes across as yet another open world game where collecting a variety of objects whilst completing a slew of missions, both of the main and side variety, it's how the game feels to play that sets it apart from (and, for me, above) the competition.
The controls are fairly simple, but strange enough to warrant a bit of an adjustment period, but once you've got them down. Man. You'll be zipping all over the place with ease. Admittedly a few times even late in the game I would get confused and watch as my character helplessly jumped from rail to wall to bouncy object. Basically A is your jump button, and X has you interact with traversal objects. There is no running in this game, only grinding. And boy is it satisfying. Watching the trailers for this game had me hoping that the experience of playing the game would be as thrilling as it appeared to be and they nailed it perfectly. Movement is key to this game, be it to access your abilities, to get around faster and even just survival in a fight. The more you stand around the worse off you'll be. It can be disorienting at first having to manage where you're going, where you're aiming and who you're killing, but it soon coalesced into a calm trance of murder and urban exploration.
Sunset Overdrive looks amazing too, while it isn't cel-shaded it reminds of Borderlands, but more colorful and inviting. The four areas that make up the city are at first pretty samey, and admittedly the harbor and old factory district are pretty much just urban sprawl, but old Tokyo adds a bit of a visual difference which affects traversing the area just enough to feel like you're in a new part of town while the final downtown area relies very heavily on verticality which really makes wall running feel more important. I never got tired of exploring Sunset City, and after collecting everything and finishing every mission I yearn to hop and grind around the now familiar town (hopefully the DLC will be worth it once I finally pick it up!).
It's a damn shame when the story and characters drag a game down, and for Sunset Overdrive, that is most certainly the case. The game is overly aware of being a video game, which on it's own is alright (and honestly helped make the most annoying characters/jokes bearable for me) but when the entire game's story is basically "Hey you've seen that movie/played that game/heard this meme yeah?" it gets old, fast. Seriously maybe two or three jokes actually made me laugh, while most didn't warrant any kind of reaction from me a few made me shake my head or sometimes even cringe. It feels like Borderlands at it's worst and that's such a let down for how simply amazing the game is to play.
Luckily story in games isn't the be all end all (at least not over the top action games) and so Sunset Overdrive remains an excellent title in my opinion. So far this is the Xbox One killer app for me (fuck Halo 5, why can't I couch co-op) and I highly suggest anyone who enjoys fast paced action games to check it out. If you can manage to grin and bare the mostly terrible story you're in for a pure adrenaline rush of murder and mayhem. If a sequel to this game never comes (with some toned down characters) it would be a massive missed opportunity.
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