Review: Sunset Overdrive

G'day there guys and gals!

As a student of drama and acting classes since I was 10, I have always been hammered this quote from my teachers: "Random does not always equal funny", Saints Row 3/4 proved that quite often. Sunset Overdrive, a game built on the opposite of that prospect, completely destroys that idea with clever references, jokes both inside for fans of their genre and shows and stabs at all types of games, story plotline cliches and best of all, stereotypical endings! And even by the end, it'll leave you with plenty more to enjoy.

So let's get to the basis of the plot: You are simply known as Player (and yes, before you ask, there's even an awesome joke about that too!) and you are a simple cleaner for the rich and popular, all of which are attending a "wicked-ass" rave for a brand new energy drink, Overcharge. But after some quick consummation, all the rich and famous suddenly turn into devilish mutants known as Overcharge Drinkers, or OD for short. Taking to the rails to get home, Player holes up at home for a few weeks until a mysterious survivor saves Player's life as their home becomes overridden with OD. And so the game begins!
First off, I want to mention the customisation. One of the greatest highlights a game like this can do is go nuts with the character design, and go nuts they did! Do you want to be a green bearded lady with dark blue and orange eyes? Hell yeah you can! Do you want to be a buff dude wearing a skirt and bikini top? Go for it! The customisation on the characters themselves is awesome, but the models themselves a little disappointing, as your limited to a petite man/woman or a buff guy/well endowed woman. Playing as a massively buff lass or a double plus man would've definitely been an added bonus, but this is easily overlooked with the depth of clothing options. Personally in crazy games I like to dress normally so I look out of place (With an added cape for cool-guy points) but there's so much to pick from (Although I'm not sure where to get the "Assassin" clothing playing as a guy but if it's locked to women only, that will be hilarious) that you will definitely never go without an option you'll enjoy. BUT enough about that!

What about the storyline, you ask? The game, surprisingly, keeps a relatively normal objective throughout the game, but the subplots is where the game shines in weirdness. From helping a stuck up nerd get his precious bottled water to pulling off the greatest rock show EVER for some sick kids, the game offers so much with the objective always on mind: "Get out of Sunset City and make Fizzco pay". In saying that, there's not much to say about the game's storyline without going through the entire storyline's insane objectives. The game does boil down to day cycles, where after finishing a faction completely for example, a Night Defense commences. Floyd, a local survivor, helps you out by making Amps that help boost the effectiveness of your skills, weapons and more. Like the now famous Horde mode, players are tasked to defend Overdrive fueled vats that help create the Amps, all of which are protected by weak, wooden defenses and traps that you unlock during gameplay, ranging from boards the fling enemies away to bounce pads that freeze/burn/shock or generally damage your enemies. While limited down to a timer for generally three rewards at a time, it's a little sad to say this is the only time you can explore at night and of course, limited to one small area. 
Exploring Sunset City at night would add some horror to the comedy game, which may seem out of place, but with the differential enemies, it would add a lot of life and more vibrant colour to the night system.
This brings me to the gameplay. The only description I can put it in is as thus: Think of Sunset Overdrive as Dead Rising meets Saints Row with Jet Set Radio mixed in neatly all together. The mass amounts of OD on screen, explosions everywhere, all the while grinding along the power lines and bouncing off cars. While incredibly weak themselves, OD gain their strength from Overcharge, gaining strength to become Poppers or worse down the line. While in a small group, they are incredibly weak, however bundle them up and they're a force to be reckoned with. Not only is the gameplay addictive, it's fun, refreshing and never dull. Even though the game presents fast travel, I've only used it the few times Player made snark comments about using it! The game is littered with rails, cars, trees, anything and everything to get around on, and even then players can walk on walls, use harpoons to create easier ways up to high areas, swing on poles, boost mid air and run on water!
Now, the voice acting. There is no word better in the dictionary than "sublime", and even that is an understatement for the terrific work the crew have done in the game. Yuri Lowenthal as the male Player was so hilarious and while mostly known for serious character roles, Player is fresh and new with the snide and sarcastic tones incredibly relatable with Stephanie Lemelin just as brilliant. The rest of the cast is a mix of veteran voice actors and some mostly known for tv and movie roles, each character has weight and feels different from one another, especially so when it comes to the Nerds and LARPers. 

The sound effects are diverse, each insane weapon (Even those similar such as explosives and fireworks) sound completely different to one another, the OD and such ranging from growls to roars of anger. The other survivors known as Scabs (You can do the math) are also quite unique and I have yet to find two that sound alike! The musical score is mostly of my personal favourite, soft metal and rock, the more you kill turning into what I can only describe as "retro rock", mid-90's rock and modern soft metal, each as kickarse as the next, even pleasing to Player who blasts their way through OD while a guitar solo follows them around as they roam.
Lastly, graphics and multiplayer. The graphics themselves are just under 1080p and look utterly incredible, the depth of detail on each OD is outstanding and while they differ only slightly, this can be overlooked by the incredible render distance and amount of OD on screen at a time. This brings me to multiplayer, which is essentially a challenge co-op mode. A group of 8 friends or randoms join in at one of the four areas and play five missions, ranging from point collecting to skill kills and story missions with a twist. By the end players partake in a Night Defense mission at the base of that area. While the game adds waaaay more OD for these fights, the mission turns into child's play with the overload of traps (Limited to about 2-3 per person) and massively upgraded weaponry. By the end of the Night Defense, Amps and money rewards are given and players are given the option to play again with the same group or return to single player. While the multiplayer is fun, its missions are quite limited and overpowered allies take control of the missions, leaving others to feed on scraps. A level based multiplayer would definitely be an improvement, but otherwise is generally incredibly fun to play no matter what time you start.

The game itself has so few faults that it would be easy to overlook them, but for some they cannot be missed. With night mode locked as a checkpointer in the game's story, OD incredibly weak (The only posing a threat being Herkers and Muggers, with Wingers only appearing only in one place on the map and very late in the game itself), controls sticking while grinding (especially in multiplayer) and the repetiveness of the missions from time to time.
BUT that does not make Sunset Overdrive a bad game! Addictive gameplay, a butt-ton of fun on the light side of an apocalypse and a brilliance of both a simplistic plot and jokes/puns, it's with no doubt that I say, Sunset Overdrive is a definite must own, must play and must love for anyone looking for a game that pokes fun at every cliche and blows it up in the process. By the first hour in, you will not want to stop. 

Out of 10, I give Sunset Overdrive a 10/10.
PERFECT SCORE

Sunset Overdrive is out now for the standard price of $90, and it's worth every cent.