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Before I start, I've actually been having some good fun recently with playing more Xbox One games, retreating back to the 360 for a little and seen good people last weekend despite the previous 2 weekends of being bailed by others.
I bought Assassin's Creed Unity and GTA V for the Xbox One along with Sunset Overdrive a week ago, but before I start Unity, I still need to get round to finishing IV Black Flag along with Dead Rising 3 (seeing as I have borrowed it off my mate at work since March and he has my RHYSE). Plus hearing a lot about some of the bugs and issues with Unity, I've had fun replaying GTA V again and playing Sunset Overdrive. Plus this week I FINALLY got back into the routine for Gym and going to get back into jogging since last week I injured my right thigh and learnt last Friday at the gym some new stretches to help - Hip Flexors and Extended Lunge.
Anyway, I discovered this Open World, Third-Person Shooter Comedy game on the E3 live stream back in June and really enjoyed the trailer which had comedy, action, awkwardness and interactive communication that Microsoft Studios laid out for us.
The trailer shows a soldier doomed and out of ammo in a warehouse with Scabs (raiders with guns, looks like the OD aren't the old menace in the city) firing down on him, out of nowhere a random punk hero wall runs and shoots down the enemies (the gunshots even have words inside the fire line), next thing you know he's on the roof explaining the situation and what the heck is going on in Sunset City and what our job is. He doesn't give a damn about fretting cause he can handle it all like a showoff and ends the trailer by asking "Who's the hero? ME!" To which he asks the cameraman "Wait, not me?" And then he realises and points to you.
Can this introduction be anymore obvious, be such a show off and yet leave you eager to play this game already?!
It's a little hard to take the game a little seriously (plot-wise since it's simple) what with the endless flow of monsters which makes it hard to catch a break, the character's sarcasm during the cutscenes and the repetitive outlook on the game in general. At first we get to customise our Hero/ Heroine and what ridiculous, awkward and somehow stylish clothing (I made mine to look as accurate to the dude on the game cover). Oh and we can edit him/ her anytime and then it starts off well with a good back story but then onwards it's just doing jobs like collecting things, killing OD and meeting eccentric people who are just as weird and stupid as you. But it does get better thanks to the unique weapons that you'll soon unlock and be rewarded with, so if your patient, you'll be given a new toy that's full of firepower. Plus the fight with Fizzie was my highlight of the game and it even had descent Dubstep music too to pump up the fight too.
I was surprised and also glad to hear for myself that our main character (if chosen a boy), is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal who I recognise from his famous voice-acting roles like Ben Tennyson (teenage version) in the Ben 10 series that I used to watch, Simon from the explosive and burning spirit Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann anime series and also he also voiced The Prince in the great Prince Of Persia gaming series. It's nice when you hear the voice of a person you adore for their work, isn't it?
The Metropolis is your playground for you to parkour explore and defy limits and gravity as you patrol everywhere from every angle. To think that in real-life being super acrobatic with the wall-running, flipping, heavy bouncing would be as epic as being the wall-crawling menace known as Spider-Man (without the web shooting obviously) and yet we can't do s**t in the real world. The game really loosens the physic laws and makes you feel free and special with a gun and to just go out and survive. I've barely seen a citizen in the streets unless they've evacuated or all been turned into the monsters I've been massacring?!
There's a lot of unusual items to look out for seeing as you must collect Toilet paper... yeah, Fizzco Balloons, Sneakers hanging from telephone wires cause this stuff and much more are what help you purchase "Amps" (I'll mention about that later on). You get your money's worth, it's quite the same throughout unless your into that kind of thing. I am honestly, it's like most games really. However it's a bit more special thanks to the low restrictions that the developers have granted us and made us feel so limbo and alive.
One thing that's creative and slightly humorous is the fact some characters are "breaking the fourth wall" like Deadpool, they are aware of the users and sarcastically question the game itself. Another is the dramatic entrance you perform everytime you return after dying (you never get Game Over), I've seen references to many like The Ring, Nosferatu, Mission Impossible, and some funny like crashing a rocket ship and even landing on the ground and then punching the camera back a little. One of my eye-brow raising moments was when an FizzCo van pulls up and an OD chucks you out like a bum... okay.
Speaking of references, I can't help but notice certain similarities to the game cause my buddy Lewis has a game on the Dreamcast called Jet Set Radio which if you've played it, then you may notice the big comparison in which that game's not violent, it's just dudes and dudettes on roller blades with spray cans trying to graffiti walls (why not look at pictures on Google or videos on Youtube).
The controls are simple, A to jump, X to grind, pole swing, roll, B to melee, Right Trigger to fire, Left Trigger to aim, hold down the RB button when grinding or wall-running to boost and hold down Y button to select weapon from weapon wheel. You must keep moving and keep being agile because when your on the ground, you can't run, take cover or do much unless you spring up and down on a car or make your way back to the rails/ electricity lines. If you think your safe on top of buildings, your wrong cause the OD are just as persistent and will always come for you.
The HUD (Heads-Up Display) shows our hero, his/ her health in the top left, followed by the logo of their weapon and underneath the main objective for that particular mission. What you really wanna focus on is the Style Meter over on the top right! This cool (The Flash looking) logo is a meter in which with every agile move you perform as well as eliminating the OD, it gradually increases and rewards you with points that increase your weapon's level as well as help you acquire "Amps" with every style and kill you pull off over time. Along the main missions which involves stalling for time and stopping the OD from draining your Fizzco cause that stuff's a bomb for them and soon it'll reward you with Amps... after a frustrating and overwhelming swarm invasion, everytime.
Now that's another awkward thing which is tough to get to grips with at first... Amps. Basically by using the Style Meter to pull off tricks while killing, you fill up meters for every skill and weapon. Once that's been completed you acquire badges which you then spend on in the store to buy Amps, which are skills that you attach to weapons to help make your combat and agility far more lethal a bit like attachments or powers. Soon you'll acquire "Overdrives" which are special amps which just make things more explosive and easier for you. Did you get all that?!
The music was okay but I feel it really could have been a little better and theirs hardly any, at least I don't notice it enough because it's just instrumental pieces that hardly get noticed. I looked up the soundtrack and theirs like 4 or 5 bands with several songs each for the game... Sure they have a good theme in mind and even the title screen has a short 1 minute instrumental piece that sounds like a band practising in a garage. I think your better off not giving a damn or ignore the music or why not play your own? I have been listening to the Punk Rock on my iTunes with classics like Avril Lavigne - Skaterboy, blink-182 - Anthem Pt.2, Green Day - Welcome To Paradise etc. Songs like those help set the scene plus they'll be on my playlist if I was the character in this game for real.
The weapons are the real gems of this bang bang game. Thanks to the selection of creative and some silly weapons of mass destruction, you'll have plenty of ways to cause chaos and watch your enemies go boom.
Besides all the chaotic mayhem and jokes, some explosions even have the word "BOOM" inside the fire...but don't worry it's not all the time otherwise that would be a heavy distraction for the gamers.
I really liked this website which sums up a lot and I agree with the words on how "the creative director Marcus Smith and game director Drew Murray have both worked together on mutual love for punk rock, pop culture and the old Insomniac games and made a special recipe which is Sunset Overdrive". The website also states that "this is kind of like the game for adults who grew up on Insomniac games, because that's who we are". And they're right.
I am glad that Insomniac (the legendary team who brought us Spyro, Ratchet & Clank back in the day) have developed a game where it displays similar traits to Ratchet & Clank with incredible weaponry along with adult- teenage based humour and also added an apocalyptic atmosphere to make it stand out from past creations.
These OD to me appear to show a resemblance to the Infected monsters in games like Prototype, Resident Evil (series) and even a little like Necromorphs in Dead Space (series). These pink, no eyes, bubble coated fleshes are everywhere and swarm like insects. They crawl out of the sewers, dumpsters, windows and just never stop coming. Perhaps they really have taken over the city and I'm now cutting down the population. There's a good variety of these monstrosities and all have different attributes that make them almost as dangerous as you, some have acid squirters, some have ice powers and some are even suicide bombers.
You can also team up to do a Co-Op 8 player mode called ChaosSquad where you all team up and defend a location from an oncoming horde waves of OD.
Like what my favourite slogan says from that website, "Sunset Overdrive turns the post-apocalypse into an energy drink-fuelled party" then that sums up everything I think. You'll get your money's worth for this little number, but why not play it for yourself, if you liked Prototype then why not try this one out? It's quite similar though they have turned down the heavy bloody gore, disturbing theme and your not playing the ruthless villain... nope, your playing an idiot. So I think I'll give this a solid 7.5/10, why don't you play it yourselves at Christmas?
I was surprised and also glad to hear for myself that our main character (if chosen a boy), is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal who I recognise from his famous voice-acting roles like Ben Tennyson (teenage version) in the Ben 10 series that I used to watch, Simon from the explosive and burning spirit Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann anime series and also he also voiced The Prince in the great Prince Of Persia gaming series. It's nice when you hear the voice of a person you adore for their work, isn't it?
.jpg)
There's a lot of unusual items to look out for seeing as you must collect Toilet paper... yeah, Fizzco Balloons, Sneakers hanging from telephone wires cause this stuff and much more are what help you purchase "Amps" (I'll mention about that later on). You get your money's worth, it's quite the same throughout unless your into that kind of thing. I am honestly, it's like most games really. However it's a bit more special thanks to the low restrictions that the developers have granted us and made us feel so limbo and alive.
One thing that's creative and slightly humorous is the fact some characters are "breaking the fourth wall" like Deadpool, they are aware of the users and sarcastically question the game itself. Another is the dramatic entrance you perform everytime you return after dying (you never get Game Over), I've seen references to many like The Ring, Nosferatu, Mission Impossible, and some funny like crashing a rocket ship and even landing on the ground and then punching the camera back a little. One of my eye-brow raising moments was when an FizzCo van pulls up and an OD chucks you out like a bum... okay.
Speaking of references, I can't help but notice certain similarities to the game cause my buddy Lewis has a game on the Dreamcast called Jet Set Radio which if you've played it, then you may notice the big comparison in which that game's not violent, it's just dudes and dudettes on roller blades with spray cans trying to graffiti walls (why not look at pictures on Google or videos on Youtube).
.png)
The HUD (Heads-Up Display) shows our hero, his/ her health in the top left, followed by the logo of their weapon and underneath the main objective for that particular mission. What you really wanna focus on is the Style Meter over on the top right! This cool (The Flash looking) logo is a meter in which with every agile move you perform as well as eliminating the OD, it gradually increases and rewards you with points that increase your weapon's level as well as help you acquire "Amps" with every style and kill you pull off over time. Along the main missions which involves stalling for time and stopping the OD from draining your Fizzco cause that stuff's a bomb for them and soon it'll reward you with Amps... after a frustrating and overwhelming swarm invasion, everytime.
Now that's another awkward thing which is tough to get to grips with at first... Amps. Basically by using the Style Meter to pull off tricks while killing, you fill up meters for every skill and weapon. Once that's been completed you acquire badges which you then spend on in the store to buy Amps, which are skills that you attach to weapons to help make your combat and agility far more lethal a bit like attachments or powers. Soon you'll acquire "Overdrives" which are special amps which just make things more explosive and easier for you. Did you get all that?!
The music was okay but I feel it really could have been a little better and theirs hardly any, at least I don't notice it enough because it's just instrumental pieces that hardly get noticed. I looked up the soundtrack and theirs like 4 or 5 bands with several songs each for the game... Sure they have a good theme in mind and even the title screen has a short 1 minute instrumental piece that sounds like a band practising in a garage. I think your better off not giving a damn or ignore the music or why not play your own? I have been listening to the Punk Rock on my iTunes with classics like Avril Lavigne - Skaterboy, blink-182 - Anthem Pt.2, Green Day - Welcome To Paradise etc. Songs like those help set the scene plus they'll be on my playlist if I was the character in this game for real.
.jpg)
Besides all the chaotic mayhem and jokes, some explosions even have the word "BOOM" inside the fire...but don't worry it's not all the time otherwise that would be a heavy distraction for the gamers.
I really liked this website which sums up a lot and I agree with the words on how "the creative director Marcus Smith and game director Drew Murray have both worked together on mutual love for punk rock, pop culture and the old Insomniac games and made a special recipe which is Sunset Overdrive". The website also states that "this is kind of like the game for adults who grew up on Insomniac games, because that's who we are". And they're right.
I am glad that Insomniac (the legendary team who brought us Spyro, Ratchet & Clank back in the day) have developed a game where it displays similar traits to Ratchet & Clank with incredible weaponry along with adult- teenage based humour and also added an apocalyptic atmosphere to make it stand out from past creations.
.jpg)
You can also team up to do a Co-Op 8 player mode called ChaosSquad where you all team up and defend a location from an oncoming horde waves of OD.
Like what my favourite slogan says from that website, "Sunset Overdrive turns the post-apocalypse into an energy drink-fuelled party" then that sums up everything I think. You'll get your money's worth for this little number, but why not play it for yourself, if you liked Prototype then why not try this one out? It's quite similar though they have turned down the heavy bloody gore, disturbing theme and your not playing the ruthless villain... nope, your playing an idiot. So I think I'll give this a solid 7.5/10, why don't you play it yourselves at Christmas?
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