This is just going to be a collection of thoughts. Probably a bit rambly. I've read what other people have wrote about it too and I think I largely agree with a lot of what's been said.
My Progress:
I've finished the main game and I've nearly finished the first DLC. To be honest, I spent the earliest sessions playing this game just mopping up the collectibles on the map because that seemed the most fun thing for me to do. I've still got most of the green markers to do though, I love the platforming challengers but I'm not very fond of the combat challenges unfortunately.
I'll start with the Bad
Lots of sound glitches. I am not sure if this might be to do with the lack of a Series X update and the use of Quick Resume.
I've had a lot of lines in cutscenes cut off the last few words.
When I got to Las Catrinas, the whole faction was entirely mute despite my character speaking normally. Had to reboot the game which fixed it.
Had the game crash once
Some of the Platforming isn't very clear at the beginning, like collecting Overdrive signs was hit and miss. Do I have to wall run? Do I have to have some charge? I don't know, its largely resolved itself without any conscious input from me.
The Meh
I don't love the tower defense mechanics to get amps.
Upskilling the characters platforming abilities takes a bit too long. If I wasn't doing side stuff, I'd be almost halfway through the main story or further before I got the Air Dash or the Big Bounce. I've encountered another new permanent platforming mechanic in the first DLC too.
I don't love the Amps, Overdrives and excessive customisation stuff but that's a me problem. Insomniac are known and loved for this sort of thing in their Ratchet games.
I'm not amazingly fond of the post-modern meta storytelling style. Maybe it was moderately novel when the game came out, even then I suspect it wasn't but perhaps the overtness of it was?
I'm not crazy on how much the game makes fun of it's target audience either. Loads of geek hobbies are depicted with such disdain with lazy caricatures and low hanging jokes and it's not even funny. I'd give this a pass if it was actually funny or cleverly done but I don't think I've laughed once at a punchline which is a great shame.
The Good
Platforming, when you have all the moves. Traversal is effortless and fun. Before all the moves were unlocked, I definitely preferred something like Spidey but I'm edging towards the variety afforded by this game now it's all available to use.
Some combat variety. I haven't had the inclination to experiment with different guns because I've spent most of my in game cash on collectible maps. I feel like this could be a fun system to get into if I was that way inclined as I was playing it.
Collectibles. I loved picking everything up. Lots of variety and different ways to pick things up tied to the platforming mechanics.
The Animation is flipping brilliant. The way the protagonist struts around and stuff. It feels really realistic and if it was combined with photorealistic graphics I feel like how natural it looks would bridge the uncanny valley that more photorealistic games struggle with due to stiff animation.
The graphics are still good though (for it's time). Stylistically very cool, especially the protagonist.
The Voice Acting. My female protagonist has bundles of personality even if I'm not always fond of the script itself.
Overall
I have very much enjoyed this game, particularly how it plays. However, I haven't been that invested in the story or the characters. The main missions felt like just going through the motions. I liked the collectibles. Tower defense and weapon customisation hasn't really grabbed me.
It's been a fun distraction to kind of kill an hour or two each day.
I'm not sure I understand the love for it and the desire for a sequel. I suspect it's probably due to the moderate drought of Xbox exclusives. I think a sequel could work if it could keep the character of the first one while still dropping a lot of the corniness (clumsy and lazy jokes that are supposed to be smart and clever but just come across as dumb with a heavy dose of "punching down")
Overall, Sunset Overdrive is a jack of all trades but master of none. Perhaps a master of one, the platforming. There's lots of variety other than that but I just didn't find it that compelling. But I did enjoy what I took from the game.
I'm going to keep plugging away at the DLC and perhaps eek out the last few achievements I'm willing to do for MS Rewards purposes.
I had some extra guns at the beginning of the game because I have the deluxe edition. I think I'd have struggled with the first Amp thing without them. Having these might also have contributed to my lack of need to get into gun buying and customisation too because they are still good and I still use them.
Also...
I started the second DLC and there is an overt reference to the film Office Space (the killing the photocopier scene). I liked this reference more than I liked the million other done to death pop culture references in this game
@ralphdibny I agree with many of your points although I kind of like the humour of it and the gameplay even platforming never got that much interesting to me (indeed I only had unlocked the aerial dash well into the campaign as I was pretty much not going for collectibles until the story made me do it).
A new month, a new game and I cannot say I was expecting Turnip Boy Robs a Bank but I am definitely on board!
It is a 2024 game reviewing well (including overwhelmingly positive on Steam) with roguelite mechanics.
Please use spoiler tags when discussing spoilerish moments of the game. You do so by typing your spoiler between spoiler tags like this: [spoiler]insert message here[ /spoiler] and removing the space between [ and /
Some HLTB Stats:
Main Story - 4 Hours
Main + Extras - 4.5 Hours
Completionist - 6 Hours
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@ralphdibny never got around to the dlc. Normally, I never play dlc actually. Unless it's something I absolutely admire.
I think I had fuzzy brain when I replied to this (got a lot going on RN)
I'm actually quite the opposite! I always do the DLC if available. To the point where I normally wait a game out until it's "complete".
I've had a couple games where I've not ended up playing the DLC (namely Insomniacs Spider-Man and Breath of the Wild) because I played them at launch and kind of got put off by the fact I've probably forgotten how to play the game itself by the time the DLC comes out, especially to the extent where I need to jump back in to something that may be more challenging than the base game.
About an hour in and its fun so far. Like the writing, and the characters. Never played the original so some of its a little lost on me, but I get the gist of it. I guess my two questions so far are...
does it really matter if you stay out past the time? Other than police officers showing up?
once you defeat a boss, is there any benefit to doing it again aside from money I assume?
@ralphdibny interesting my dude. I just feel like whatever I paid for said game should be good enough. There's so many games and so little time that, once I roll credits, I'm onto the next thing. The only dlc I purchased was the booster pack for MK8D. I felt that was meaty enough to drop some coin on it.
@NintendoByNature ahhh I really want MK8D booster pack. Too bad I already bought MK8 and it's original DLC (which I thought was good value) on Wii U so I never double dipped on the Switch version!
Hoping for a Deluxier edition at some point and failing that, just to find a cheap/free copy of Deluxe somewhere that I can buy the new dlc for
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