The demo that we were treated to took place in an amusement park and the environment was highly intractable, with various rides and buildings coming in handy to aid you in your fight. For instance, bouncing onto the carnival high striker sends out an electric shockwave, stunning any enemies close by. And trust us, there will always be enemies nearby. You really can’t stand still for too long in the game, as the mutants are relentless. The only way to contend with them is to keep moving and to fight them on the fly.
And when I say on the fly, I do mean on the fly. Though most of the footage that’s been shown to the public has focused on the player character grinding his/ her way around the city on rails, or something of the sort, that’s definitely not the only way to get around. It is handy, but this is a true open world experience and you can choose to move around however you want. There really aren’t any restrictions. If you want to bounce off bushes and onto rooftops that’s perfectly fine. The world is your playground, and physics is your bitch. Just use your imagination.
Anyways, once the amusement park was all clear of enemies, a massive Herker charged in. To survive this hulking beast, you’re going to have to combine movement, weapons and melee. The mutant would storm after us, picking up pieces of the ground and throwing them our way, while we out manoeuvred him and kept our style meter up. We were also told that all enemies have vulnerabilities, and the Herker was particularly vulnerable to fire and flame (keep that in mind for when you first encounter the baddie).
After the Herker was taken care of, a mini-boss appeared on top of the amusement park’s roller coaster (which is fully grind-able, by the way). It was there that our demo ended though, unfortunately.
But the meeting wasn’t over just yet. Insomniac still had to get us acquainted with Chaos Squad, the game’s 8 player co-op mode. While the missions here are entirely separate than what you’ll see in campaign, character progression is seamless between the two. Your character will look the same in both, have the same amps and weapons, use the same economy system etc., it’s all completely seamless.
In Chaos Squad, which can be accessed through the in-game world by stepping into photos booths that are placed throughout the city (no menus needed), you’ll play 20-25 minute rounds with up to 7 other people and be tasked with various objectives. Whether it’s defeating a mini-boss, racing around the city to find collectibles or something else entirely, Insomniac promised us lots of variety with the mode.
Each round of Chaos Squad culminates in Night Defense, which has you and your team setting up traps around your base and fighting off waves of mutants. It’s not terribly original, but it looks absolutely insane. At certain points you’ll have hundreds of mutants rushing your base and with seven players all running around and moving like they’ve just taken their fifth Red Bull, it gets pretty nuts.
Finally, before our meeting came to a close, Insomniac showed us Sunset TV, which is a TV station that streams right into the game world (you’ll see television screens spread throughout the city). If you take a second to watch it, you’ll be treated to updates on the game, including DLC, new features and more.
Overall, I really enjoyed what I saw from Sunset Overdrive. It looks like an absolute adrenaline rush and a blast to play. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my hands on it at the expo, as time didn’t permit, but what I saw from this behind closed doors demo was more than enough to have me eagerly counting down the days until its Fall release date. The movement is just so fast-paced and fluid, and the art design so damn eye appealing, that I can easily see myself sinking hours into this world without physics. It is a giant playground in every sense of the word, and I’m already giddy with excitement from thinking of all the possibilities that the final build will present. Honestly, if I had to sum up my thoughts on the game in one sentence, I’d say that it’s like Crackdown on crack. If you can even picture that.
Sunset Overdrive hits store shelves on October 28th, 2014, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.
