by Jonah Bowman
Photo provided by Eurogamer
An apocalypse caused by soda featuring sarcastic characters, and fast paced gameplay. That’s Sunset Overdrive in a nutshell. The game begins with a character the player designs, cleaning up at a new Fizzco event to release a new drink called “OverCharge.”
Fizzco is a tyrannical company who will stop at nothing to prevent their stocks from falling. The development of OverCharge was rushed, causing anyone who drinks it to turn into “OD,” or OverCharge Drinkers. OD are what the survivors have dubbed “the monsters” that now roam the city.
To keep this mess a secret, Fizzco built walls around the city, deployed killer robots, and sent out surveillance blimps . The main goal for players is to escape the city, and alert people on the outside about what is happening.
The plot of Sunset Overdrive is basic, but it allows for more focus to be put on the characters, which are the best part of the game for me. The main character is a light-hearted person who specializes in sarcasm, and the character dialogue is effective in complimenting the setting of the game. The game takes place in a brightly colored city, with “collectibles” scattered across it.
The collectibles in the game are unconventional, ranging from toilet paper on streetlights to smelly sneakers dangling on phone lines. The game only ever takes place during the day except when creating “amps.” Amps are the game’s way of giving the player a boost to their weapons or abilities.
Some amps may allow you to have an area of effect dive bomb, others may allow you to spawn flames as you grind. In the game, players can create amps in a tower defense style game mode. The goal of this is to try to get the OD to steal as little of the “OverCharge” as possible.
The less they steal, the more amps you will create. To be able to use amps the player’s “style” must be high enough. Style is Sunset Overdrive’s version of a combo meter. Players can build style by grinding on rails, bouncing on certain objects, doing flips off of street lamps, wall running, or taking down enemies.
Amps take effect at different style tiers, with three tiers of style in total. Tiers one and two are simple enough to get to, but to reach the third is often difficult. This is a great balance for the game, and the amps the player gains access to at tier three are very powerful.
Having great style also awards the player badges. Badges can be spent to buy or upgrade “overdrives.” Overdrives are boosts to bouncing, gun damage, style generation, enemy damage, and trap damage. There are a total of 44 overdrives in the game, but only six may be equipped at a given time. This lets the player customize how they want to play.
The music in Sunset Overdrive is punk rock with a 90’s skateboarding game vibe, and it adds a playful and upbeat tone while playing. Sunset Overdrive’s gameplay forces the player to keep momentum high, because if the player loses speed or stands still, they will certainly die.
This game is all about keeping the style high and the player moving, and it also helps learning how to travel through the city efficiently.
I would recommend this game to anyone who wants to have a lighthearted and humorous experience, that also happens to have high-flowing traversal gameplay. Sunset Overdrive is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC for $20 and often goes on sale for less than $5.