Over the course of a few weeks, I finished the main story line of my first free game, courtesy of my Xbox Live subscription. After sitting through a painstaking download, I finally managed to start up "Sunset Overdrive." The game begins on an exploding station platform with creatures jumping from the nearby buildings. It's nothing but confusion in chaos at first in this game, which may or may not be "Bordlerlands" meets "Splatoon" meets "Scott Pilgrim Vs The World." After a harrowing adventure across rooftops, completing Tony Hawk-esque feats of skill, grinding across rails and bouncing on air conditioning units, you find yourself in your home. The game switches to a cut scene that explains how exactly your character got to be in this situation. It turns out, the creatures you were running from used to be people — people now pumped full of Overcharge, an energy drink that mutates them into monsters.
The night they changed is referred to throughout the game as "Horror Night" and the creatures are dubbed OD, for "Overcharge Drinkers," by Walter who the player meets in the game. Walter is an inventor and the former head of Fizzco (Creator of Overcharge) security who has managed to survive thus far with the help of Floyd, a Fizzco scientist, and Two-Hat Jack, a weapons maker. The madness continues in a downward spiral as throughout the game, the player becomes more and more aware that something is amiss in his universe — and it's not just the monsters and, you know, the apocalypse. (Or the Awesomepocalypse as one of the NPC vendors, Floyd, refers to it.) He becomes aware that he is in a game, questioning the disembodied voice that only he can hear that is explaining game mechanics to the user — us. He can even eventually manifest the weapon wheel in his own reality, showing it to another character.
By the end of the game, the player is able to assume control over the game itself ... but that's spoilers. Each character in the game is wacky and full of life, even if they don't have a name — which includes the player character him/herself. One of the many interesting features of "Sunset Overdrive" is that all clothing and makeup is gender neutral, meaning that no matter what character body type you pick, your character can wear it. From cheerleader skirts to ties, anything goes in the world of Sunset City. The appearance of the game is gorgeous, and Sunset City is an explosion of bright colors and futuristic inventions. It took a while for me to figure out, but by examining posters and other in game items, I realized I was in the year 2027 — a far stretch from today, which makes a mutating energy drink a little more believable, but not by much. The game makes up for an unbelievable plot with a compelling story line, comedic action and interesting NPCs. Some parts of the game could have been a little more serious, but perhaps the creators didn't want seriousness in this wacky game. For example, whenever there was a major death, it didn't quite feel emotional enough to be believable. However, when the player character becomes aware that he respawns, the seriousness and permanence of death becomes less of an issue. After all, what would we do without those awesome respawn animations? I particularly liked the DeLoreon tribute to "Back to the Future," which either shows Walter or Marty McFly running to steal the DeLoreon from the Player.
I would strongly recommend this game to anyone ready for a wild ride, pumped full of '80s music and meta humor.
