This Might Be The Last Time I Rave About Sunset Overdrive

Sunset Overdrive, arguably the best exclusive game on the Xbox One, has now ended the way it began: with a mix of not-quite-there meta-humour and a lot of very fun gameplay. Overall, I loved this game and am grateful that its last DLC gave me a gun that drops satellites on my enemies.

Yes, indeed. A gun that drops satellites.

See?

This gun, debuting in Sunset Overdrive‘s final expansion, the April 1st-debuting Dawn of the Rise of the Fallen Machines, mostly apes Gears of War‘s Hammer of Dawn by letting you summon a laser from the sky.

It’s better when it drops a satellite:

This, people, is what you play an Insomniac Games game for.

Crazy guns.

Crazy firefights.

Here’s but a brief moment I captured while playing the Dawn DLC:

So much is happening in that clip! I’m grinding on rails. I’m dropping sprinklers that spray acid. I’m tossing propellor-suspended pistol turrets. I’m emitting lighting from my feet. I think I summon a deadly dog at one point. I am shooting ridiculous guns.

I’ve been drooling over Sunset Overdrive these last few months has been due to scenes like that one above. It’s an acrobatic shooter with an iffy sense of humour, but who cares about its jokes when it can play as well as it does, when it is so well-programmed that it runs well even during its most chaotic scenes?

It’s typical of Sunset Overdrive that the Dawn DLC has a mix of trying-too-hard we’re-inside-a-video-game jokes….

… but even when it’s doing that manages to be a lot of fun to play. And, look, I think they know that this game can be grating.

Spoilers, though it was shown in the DLC trailer!

Check out who the final boss is:

This is Brandon Winfrey, the guy who is in all of Sunset Drive‘s hype videos. And look at how cool fighting him actually looks! (I cut it off early, spoiler-concerned people).

But forget even the idea of spoilers. The game is spoiler-proof, because nothing in the story is very important. The lore isn’t the draw. The characters are whatever. Hell, you could watch an entire Let’s Play and you wouldn’t be spoiled, because this is a game meant to be played, one that entertains you in how good it feels to grind, glid, air-dash, melee, and shootshootshoot hordes of enemies. That’s all it is and all it needs to be: the most fun on the Xbox One. You can’t spoil that.

If you need require info on this new DLC, all you need to know is that it’s set in a robot factory, which is Insomniac’s excuse for covering the floor with more rails to grind on, so that even a fight against a giant sword can be extra fun.

Never mind the new giant ball power. That’s just OK.

Nah, this is a game where just about everything else is fun, even dying as you try to tornado-melee some evil robots.

OK, I sucked in that clip, but it was the only footage I had of my great tornado power. I had to finally show it off.

I don’t know if we’ll ever get more Sunset Overdrive. Microsoft’s promotion for the game, frequent deals and recent permanent price drop to $US40 all reek of a game that never quite hit a big audience. Maybe that’s ok. I could stand for it being one-and-done. It’s a new-gen gem. Its final DLC, marginally funny and maximally fun as it is, would be a proper send-off. I look forward to playing whatever Insomniac does next.