#fizzco

Commission of the player from Sunset Overdrive (The boxart design) and a resurrected Fizzie, making use of a Fizzie balloon and a Fizzco robot for parts.

Sunset Overdrive Review:

If you grew up playing games like Jak and Daxter or Ratchet and Clank, then you understand what it is to dive head first into a world full of whacky characters and over the top weaponry that makes for optimum comic-book destruction. That's what we get in Sunset Overdrive, the incredible third-person shooter that is a jacked-up adult version of Insomniac Games most notorious properties. Bringing the zany antics into this fast-paced open world shooter makes for some of the most fun gameplay we've had at On Request Magazine, and even though this game is a couple of years old, we had to share our thoughts.

The game follows the player, an anonymously named character who is one of many survivors of a mutant outbreak in Sunset City. When an energy drink called Overdrive from a company the player works for, FizzCo, starts turning the people of the city into mindless mutants called OD, or Overdrive Drinkers, the player must use his sarcastic humor and natural abilities to fight the creatures, as well as bloodthirsty survivors who take advantage of the chaos known as Scabs. Navigating the city and looking for a means of escape, this futuristic shooter set in the year 2027 features a ruthless company looking to cover up their mistake by blocking all access out of the city, cutting off communications, and sending hordes of killer robots to destroy all evidence of their failure. It's up to the player to use their arsenal of creative weapons and charm to save and unite the unique survivors of the city, in hopes of escaping.

My awesome avatar in Sunset Overdrive.

I have played a lot of Sunset Overdrive in the past few days. I have said, and stand by saying, that this game is worth everything I paid for an Xbox One because it’s like being able to play around inside my own head - i.e. a gaudy, kind of tasteless, neon lit, awesome wasteland full of loud music and lurking monsters. As such I decided to do a rough stream-of-conciousness review of it. Be warned that this is also very self indulgent. I am capable of looking outwards, I promise. 

__________________________________________________________________

This character creator has my hair! I lovethis game! No game has ever had my hair before! 

… Man, my hair is so stupid.

Alright, we’re on a train - oh wow, no preamble here, run away run away… crikey, these mutants are generic looking OH MY GOD I can jump like a goddamn flea on speed! When do I get to grind along the edge of things, let me do that now. Oh, very prompt, thank you. Wheeeeeeee! Taste my rail-dust, monsters that look like mac and cheese. Hmm, a penis-shaped shotgun that explodes things. And to think this game had been so subtle so far!

This city is really pretty in an eye-watering way ooh signposting things in the environment with the environment itself, very cool. Very meta. I bet it’s going to do a lot of stuff like that. Meta meta meta. Cool cool cool.

Okay, so the set up is that this energy drink is screwing everyone up then. Man, who pounds energy drinks at a corporate-event concert like they’re having a good time? Is this a metaphor for ecstasy? Don’t take E, kids, you’ll become an unrecognisable monster. And energy drinks. Don’t drink them, either. Whoops, cut scene over.

Defend the base? I don’t want to defend the base! You defend the base! In every game I’ve ever played how come I’m the only one who is halfway competent? Oh, because then it wouldn’t be a game, I guess. Ahaha these preppy kids are just like everyone I was at University with, fetch-quest your own bottled water you butt, and how come I was never invited to your parties – too late, this woman will sell me a feather-boa to wear, I’m all about her now, oh my god what is this monstrosity made of a giant pile of rubbish trying to eat me? Oh, standard trash-mob generator, I see.  So we will get escalating types of mutants to fight and – wait robots? Where did the robots come from? What is going on here?! Oh man I died.

Wait, no I didn’t. Did I just step out of the phone booth from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure? Because if so then that is the best thing that has happened to me ever. Doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter; work on filling up your style meter again because that will activate the lovely upgrades and make this gun that fires records fire electrified records. Tee hee, the noise it makes when you bounce on something is funny. Boing. Boing. Boinggggggg. Oh okay, this phone booth lets me play online with other people. Anarchy. This is why we need government.

Okay I need to stop now. This is too much. Ratchet & Clank. Saints Row. Borderlands. Some kind of weird flavour that tastes a bit like Crazy Taxi. Bright colours. Loud music. Explosions. Pop culture. General seediness. I’m getting over-stimulated. This gun fires exploding teddy bears. I need an adult. I need an adult!

10/10 Alice Bells

Playing the first mission which you can replay when going back through missions,

This mission is One Man’s Trash.

Give it a watch, let me know what you think.