1. With Sunset Overdrive, Insomniac went back to an earlier time of gaming when just having fun
was key. A time when games didn't need an in depth story or a online multiplayer mechanic that
takes precedent over the main game. The time I’m referring to is when Tony Hawk Pro Skater,
Jet Grind Radio and Crazy Taxi were the games to play. When just doing cool tricks, racing the
clock and in your face colors, were all you needed in a game to entertain you for hours. Its
Insomniacs ability to take these functions and mix them with their legendary gun mechanics
from the Ratchet and Clank series that makes this game super enjoyable. Here's the catch
though. The length of that enjoyment completely relies on how much fun you find in doing the
same thing over and over again.
The Ground Is Lava!! Not really, but that's the impression you get from just how weak and slow
your character is whenever your are on the ground. To remedy this, you will learn to grind, hop
and swing your way across the chaotic world of Sunset City. This is actually where I had the
most fun. It's just so cool and awesome to watch your character flawlessly go from grinding one
moment, to hopping around on objects the next, just so you can grab a pole to swing yourself
onto a new rail or wire to grind on. All the while doing these moves in a nice smooth flawless
combo.
Some reviewers have stated the controls and mechanics to make your character transverse
Sunset City in such a flawless fashion, is a little hard to learn at first. To me, if you grew up
playing Tony Hawks Pro Skater or Underground. You should have no problem picking up on the
controls and mechanics right out of the gate. For example, to grind on a rail all you do is press X
and like a magnet your character will stay on that rail. Then while you're grinding, If you want to
hop on to some air vent or car, all you do is press A to jump off the rail and A again to catch the
buoyancy of the air vent or car. So really it's just making sure you are pressing X and A at
correct times.
As you transverse Sunset City. You start building up a combo, by grinding from rail to rail or
hopping from platform to platform. Killing scabs and OD also add to your growing combo. The
combo will reset though, anytime you touch the ground or stay grinding on the same rail for too
long. It can also be a little tough to keep your combo going during intense gunfights. Balancing
attention between your movements, the environment and shooting enemies can lead to you to
over jumping a platform or falling to the ground because you ran out of wire to grind on.
Honestly finding this balance is probably the most difficult part to the game. Once you get over
this learning curve though, you will become a combo master in no time.
First things first. Before you can become a combo master or even start playing the game. You're
going to need to create the heroine/hero of this crazy adventure.The character creation is very
simple by today's standards. All the face types and hairstyles are set, so don't plan on messing
around with some editing feature for hours to make your character look unique. When it comes
to your clothes though, uniqueness is the key word. Since all shirts, pants, shoes and
accessories are unisex, you can come up with some crazy outfits. Actually I had a blast with this

2. because you can buy and be awarded some really cool or weird clothe designs. How bad ass or
eccentric you want your heroine/hero to look like is up to you.
Sunset City goes down the crapper after the evil mega company Fizzco hosts a Warp Tourish
concert to promote their new energy drink “OverCharge Delirium”. For a lack of this drink going
through proper health regulations, drinking this product comes with a major after effect.That
effect being, it turns the drinker into a orange pussial zombie called a “OverCharge Drinker” or
OD for short. So when nearly all the inhabitants of Sunset City go to this concert just so they
can have a taste of this new drink. It unleashes a zombie like apocalypse and leaves a few
residents in dire straits.
And that's about as interesting as the story gets. Your character's main role in all this is doing
tasks for the uninfected residents of Sunset City, just so that they will do you a favor in return.
None of these tasks add anything interesting or mind bending to the story. Even the characters
you interact with leave a lot to be desired. They're all just very boring and ever so slightly
annoying. The dialogue can be funny at times in a cheeky sort of way. Your character is very
self aware that he is living in a video game world, which leads to some funny comments about
the video game industry or how he can't die type of stuff.
To break up the monotony of the story there are a few side attractions that you can invest in.
Side questing in one of them. These are always fun and carry a decent reward for completing.
Second are challeng areas that are all over the map. Doing these will test your skill by asking
you to complete certain feats in a set time limit. After said time is up, it will then rank you by a
bronze, silver or gold title. Option three is just you traveling around this open sandbox world and
collecting all the hidden toilet paper, shoes and Fizzco balloons. By collecting these you will be
able to create badges (more on this soon). Also, if you need help finding the last of these items,
the gun salesman has maps that show where they are located.
If you buy a Insomniac game you're buying it because you know its going to have a kick­ass gun
mechanic. Well Insomniacs legacy continues here also in that field. There is several unique and
powerful weapons for you to own that look and do damage differently. Each weapon also levels
up depending on how often you use it. With the level up comes an increase in damage, fire rate
and other stats. One thing that I really liked when it came to me choosing which guns I want to
use, is that each weapon shows which enemy it is best suited against. This helps out big time
when you're fighting a giant OD or a swarm of Fizzco bots and you know which weapon you
need to equip to handle the situation. You can also give your weapons a little something extra
by equipping badges (told you it would be soon).
Badges are perks you can equip to a weapon or your character. These perks vary from
shooting out a random bolt of lighting, to hurling a fireball when you melee. Each time you gain
a new badge you can read on its perk and at what Style Level you need for the perk to start
taking effect.

3.
This is where becoming a combo master is so important. By keeping a combo going you start
feeling up your Style Meter that is made up of four Style Levels. As you start feeling up a Style
Level the perks from your badges start coming into effect. The goal is to reach the Style Meter
to level four so you can start pulling off god­like mayhem and damage. Your character does
become invincible in this mode, but the mayhem is so much fun to watch.
Personally I had a blast playing Sunset Overdrive from beginning to end. With that being said,
once you complete the main game there really isn't much reason to come back. There is no post
game content other than finishing uncompleted side quests or challenges that you haven't
achieved gold in. If you really want to continue playing, you can always hop online. Whenever
you hop online you are partied with a team of people and travel to different areas in Sunset City.
Upon reaching an area your team is given a task to accomplish in a set time limit. Your team
keeps going from area to area completing tasks until you reach the final one. Even though I
never experienced lag or party drop, this only online mode gets boring fast.
I do believe Sunset Overdrive should be experienced by anyone who has a Xbox One. Just
maybe not at its current $60 price.With that being said, if you read something here that makes
you just want to own it now. I say do it. You might even find reasons to play it for hours.
Because overall the game is fun and isn't that one of the most important traits for a game to
have.