In this recurring feature, guest blogger Matt Morris takes us through the lost, the forgotten, and the overlooked video games of yore. Consider him your guide through all the best and most secret Hidden Levels.
Game: Sunset Overdrive (2014)
Genre: Action, Third Person Shooter
Platform: Xbox One
Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Oh man, that was a good nap. Sometimes you just gotta get in a good snooze, you know what I mean? Let’s see… how long was I out for?
Wait, what? Really? You don’t mean 7 months “Kraken time” or something, by chance, do you? Yikes. Okay then, let me just get my bearings here. I’m feeling a little groggy. I gotta wake up, dust off the keyboard, and get the old finger joints limbered up again for some video game talk.
Maybe knock back an energy drink or two.
…Speaking of which, that reminds me of a game.
What is this game?
Back in the year of our Kraken 2014, when the PS4 and Xbox One were hardly even a year old, Insomniac Games released a game called Sunset Overdrive. It was exclusive to the Xbox One–an unusual move from a then-typically Playstation-centric studio–and it combined third person shooter action with high-speed traversal into an intoxicating blend.
On the surface, the game is a wacky affair. It takes place in a fictional town called Sunset City, at the beginning of a mass human mutation outbreak caused by consumption of an energy drink called “OverCharge Delirium.” You as the player must fight your way through the city, battling hordes of mutated humans while on an quest to stop the company behind the drink, FizzCo, from covering the incident up. (Incidentally, if you think “shady corporation introduces popular drink that turns people into actual monsters” sounds like a familiar premise, you would be correct.)
Regardless, the game is ultimately quite simple. It’s primarily a third person shooter. Its world is mostly open, with the kind of “main quest + sidequests” structure that we all know so well. But boiling the game down to a summary like that does a great disservice to what makes the experience unique. And oh boy, is it ever unique.
So what makes it so special?
If you’ve played games like Jet Grind Radio, then you probably understand how amazing a good traversal mechanic can feel. Sunset Overdrive pays homage to such games by making traversal the focal point of your experience. Sunset City is absolutely littered with things like rails, telephone wires, bouncy platforms, and all sorts of nonsense that encourage you to always be grinding and/or flying through the air–and more importantly, basic things like your health recovery and damage output are tied to your character’s movement speed and mobility while you play. On foot, there is nowhere to run or hide and you will find yourself dying quickly. But in the air, grinding about the city using telephone poles and all manner of other things, you become a soaring mass of madcap destruction. It takes a little while to get the hang of, but this encouragement of constant movement in combat yields tremendously satisfying results when it all finally clicks. It’s impossible to understate the effect this mechanic has on the game’s overall experience. Truthfully, it wouldn’t be the same game without it.
Just a little electricity-infused rail grinding while attacking evil robots. You know, video game stuff.
That’s not to say that there aren’t other aspects of Insomniac’s craftsmanship here worth admiring. The visuals practically explode with color and style, bringing Sunset City to life and lending it a zany cartoonish atmosphere that complements the storytelling perfectly. The writing of the game adopts a “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” approach, littering damn near every dialog line and quest description with puns, pop culture references, and all manner of other wacky nonsense. It’s the kind of silliness that could only work in a game like this, and thankfully the writers seem aware of it. There’s no storyline or series of jokes that overstays its welcome here—everything pushes forward at a brisk pace tha keeps the gags coming and keeps the gameplay from getting stale.
Lastly, it’s worth pointing out that Sunset Overdrive incorporates a healthy measure of Insomniac’s trademark zany weaponry. Fans of series like Ratchet and Clank know that fun weapons are a big part of Insomniac’s heritage, and to that end, the designers have had some fun coming up with some options here that remain within the game’s sense of humor (my personal favorites include the Murderang and the legendary sword Excalamune.) It’s a small detail in the grand scheme of things, but especially for seasoned players of Insomniac’s products, it’s a great reminder of the kind of flavor that sets them apart from the competition.
Any criticisms?
Well, as far as I see it, there’s one pesky thing about the aforementioned “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” approach to writing jokes: the results aren’t always going to please everyone. In my case, I thought the game went just about as far as it could possibly go without crossing a line, but I can easily imagine that the same may not be the same for all players. This is not to say that the game is a Ready Player One level assault of pop culture overkill, but its persistent irreverence and wisecracks could be considered grating.
As fun as the whole experience is, there’s no denying that Sunset Overdrive relies heavily upon its addictive gameplay to sell the whole package. Players who are interested in a game that tells a more meaningful story are unlikely to find what they’re looking for here. Things like “character development” and “emotional resonance” are so far behind the back-burner that they might as well still be in the fridge. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s a fair warning to give for players who crave thoughtful storytelling.
Ultimately, your mileage may vary with this game. But there is no denying that what it does, it does with confidence.
Why was it overlooked?
As usual, I can only really speculate as to why Sunset Overdrive didn’t catch on with more people. For one thing, the game is a strict Xbox One exclusive–in other words, it never even received a PC port. In light of Microsoft’s larger unified strategy with the Xbox and Windows platforms, this is an interesting observation. It often feels like there are very few true Xbox One exclusive games these days. I can imagine Sunset‘s limited platform availability did it no favors.
It probably doesn’t help that a huge chunk of Insomniac’s die hard fanbase exists within the Sony sphere. After all, their games were exclusive to PlayStation platforms for years. Their pedigree is well-established, but I can’t help but wonder if they didn’t lose out on something by leaving their Xbox-deprived PlayStation fans stranded.
Regardless of the reason, it often feels like not enough people played Sunset Overdrive. Looking at my own collection of Xbox One games, though, I’m hard pressed to find a better example of unique game craftsmanship on the platform.
How can I get a hold of it?
Sunset Overdrive is only a handful of years old, so it is usually still available for purchase from places like Amazon, Gamestop, and so on. In fact, its status as an older current-gen platform exclusive means it’s actually extremely cheap to get a hold of a copy. This is great news for prospective players! I can’t recommend the game highly enough, and if you end up hating it, you’re only out a couple of bucks! At that price, you’re losing money not buying it.
(Don’t ask questions about that logic. It really doesn’t hold up well under scrutiny.)
Allow me to distract you with some explosions!
Final Thoughts
Every so often, I like writing about games that are just plain fun. Sunset Overdrive is one of those games.
Imagine the nicest, most earnest person you know comes up to you and offers you a big hug, except then you find out both of their hands have those shock buzzer things in them that buzz you right in the back. Also, their entire body is strapped with shock buzzers. Everything is shock buzzers.
That’s sort of what playing Sunset Overdrive is like. Everyone has a good laugh… you know it’s all in good fun… and damn, it sure was a solid hug regardless… but everyone kind of acknowledges that it works because it’s a carefully measured thing. You can be reasonably sure that future hugs probably won’t include shock buzzers.
Not all games are Sunset Overdrive in much the same way that not all hugs are shock buzzer hugs. You know, if shock buzzer hugs were a real thing. (Are they a real thing? We should make them a real thing.) It’s truly in a class of its own, in good ways and bad ways alike. That, to me, makes it worth celebrating.
-Matt