Sunset Overdrive Review Roundup

[Crypto]

New IP for Xbox One from Insomniac Games launches tomorrow; here's what the critics are saying.

 

Sunset Overdrive, the new IP for Xbox One from Insomniac Games--best known for PlayStation games likeRatchet & Clank and Resistance--is nearly here. The over-the-top open-world game launches tomorrow, though the game's review embargo lifted earlier today. Below you'll find a collection of scores and opinions about Sunset Overdrive from a handful of publications.

Tomorrow also marks the release of the $400 Sunset Overdrive Xbox One bundle, which includes a white system and matching white controller. This is notable because it's the first time Microsoft will offer the console (publicly, at least) in a color other than black.

If you can wait, you'll get a much better deal on the Sunset Overdrive Xbox One bundle starting this Sunday, when a limited-time price drop will let you buy it for $350.

For more on Sunset Overdrive's critical reception, check out GameSpot sister site Metacritic.

• Game: Sunset Overdrive
• Developer: Insomniac Games
• Platforms: Xbox One (a PC version has not been ruled out)
• Release Date: October 28
• Price: $59.99

GameSpot -- 8/10

"Insomniac Games has crafted an excellent game in Sunset Overdrive. It's not without a few niggling issues, but you'll be too busy enjoying yourself to care. You can compare it to games like Crackdown, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and Ratchet and Clank, but by combining the best elements of those games into a single package and injecting it with an anything-goes, rock-and-roll attitude, you'll never think of it as anything but a singular achievement that stands tall on its own merits. It's one of the best games on the Xbox One, and a refreshing shot of merriment." - Peter Brown [Full review]

VideoGamer -- 6/10

"Sunset Overdrive has some excellent ideas, but its triumphs are sadly suffocated beneath ultra-repetitive mission design and unsatisfying enemy encounters." - Steven Burns [Full review]

Joystiq -- 5/5

"Each of the game's systems feeds into another, making the experience feel complete and purposeful. More importantly, it gives players a plethora of choices in how they look, what weapon they use and how they play, and then makes every single possible combination feel vindicated. Nothing goes to waste in the awesome-pocalypse, and everyone's invited to Sunset City's afterparty." - S. Prell [Full review]

Game Informer -- 9.25/10

"Outside of the mission monotony, Sunset Overdrive is an immensely rewarding experience that has a look and style all its own and a great gameplay package to complement it. It's a colorful return to form for Insomniac Games, and a hell of an exclusive for Xbox One." - Andrew Reiner [Full review]

Eurogamer -- 8/10

"If you wanted to be uncharitable, you could voice the suspicion that a great many baseball caps were turned backwards in the echoing board room where this project was greenlit, but with the campaign done and the city freshly filled with challenges, I don't really feel like being uncharitable. Beneath the glorious tech, and once the writing relaxes a little, Sunset Overdrive's wonderfully lurid and heartfelt--a bit like playing an old 4AD album sleeve. If you get that reference, you'll probably get this, too." - Christian Donlan[Full review]

IGN -- 9/10

"Sunset Overdrive is big, gorgeous, and a hell of a lot of fun. Never has getting from point A to point B in an open-world game provided so much enjoyment. It provides some of the most fun, frantic, and fantastic gaming I've had on the Xbox One. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to once-again adorn my wolf mask, leap off the highest ledge I can find, and fire an explosive stuffed animal at that group of angry robots." - Marty Sliva [Full review]

The Guardian -- 3/5

"Sunset Overdrive never quite surpasses the chaotic physics of Just Cause, the coherent style of Blood Dragon, or the assured sense of place of GTA V--nor does it manage to draw its story and systems toward a coherent, impactful point. In the end, its hero escapes the purgatory of a boring job and successfully wreaks revenge on the judgmental consumers he once served. But the game itself does little to undermine the increasingly over-familiar, open-world establishment, instead quietly celebrating the status quo." -Simon Parkin [Full review]

A selection of additional Sunset Overdrive review scores:

• Destructoid -- 8.5/10
• Polygon -- 9/10
• GamesBeat -- 85/100
• USGamer -- 4.5/5
• The Escapist -- 4/5
• Shacknews -- 8/10
• GamesRadar -- 4/5
• Hardcore Gamer -- 4/5