Every studio has a calling card, and Insomniac has one of the most beloved of them all. When you think of Insomniac, the first thing that should come to mind is crazy weaponry. Throughout the Ratchet and Clank Series, and through the Resistance series as well, the weapons have always been fun and, in Ratchet’s case, hilarious. It’s safe to say that this trend continues with its newest Microsoft exclusive, Sunset Overdrive.
Sunset Overdrive is another end-of-days action game, but where most other games go ultra-realistic, Insomniac went the opposite direction, and it was definitely the right direction. In Sunset Overdrive, you must defeat zombies that were turned by the dreaded energy drink, Overcharge. In the multiplayer Co-op demo we played, we had to work together to keep them from attacking our vats of Overcharge Delirium XT. Our arsenal was heftily filled with a propane tank shooting rifle and one that shoots a firework-looking missile that explodes in a flurry of colors and actually says “POP†when it hits the enemy. Although the pace was fast and frenetic, it was insanely fun. It was hard not to have a smile across your face while playing the game.
The other main weapon of Sunset Overdrive is your ability to traverse the environment. You can jump, bounce and grind on just about everything, and it’s immensely satisfying grinding on a cable while shooting propane tanks to blow the enemies to bits, all the while saving Sunset City. The main goal is to stop the enemies from hulking out with more Overcharge, but you are also competing against (up to) seven other players.
My time with Sunset Overdrive was overwhelmingly positive; the game was very stable performance-wise, was just a blast to play and has finally provided us with a colorful cartoony world amongst all these drag, realistic environments. Insomniac’s decision to go exclusive with Sunset Overdrive is a shame for long-time Ratchet fans on Sony platforms, but if the single player is as good as the Co-op Multiplayer is, it may be a reason to purchase the Xbox One.
http://youtu.be/qmRR6MnS6dc
Sunset Overdrive is developed by Insomniac games, Developed by Microsoft and will be released on October 28 2014 on Xbox One.