4.5/5 ★ – PaisanSensei's review of Sunset Overdrive.

I had every intention of playing this game sooner than I was able to. I didn't own an Xbox One when this game initially came out and was late to the party as it is, yet I was compelled to immediately add it to my backlog as soon as the opportunity arrived due to the amount of people whose opinions I respect did nothing but wax lyrical about it. I found some time waiting for a couple of games to come out recently and decided to dive in. Once I did and I hit that first big combo, I found it difficult to stop. The game wastes no time throwing you headfirst into the action, using the prologue as a means to introduce the player to most of the basic mechanics, as well as get a feel for the overall tone of the game. Another short introductory mission later and you're thrown right into the thick of things, with a couple of weapons and a vibrant, sprawling city to traverse as you see fit. While all the areas won't be immediately open up to the player, it didn't take too long before the entirety of Sunset City was available to explore and take back from a greedy multinational conglomerate that brought on a citywide apocalyptic event. Going back to the traversal for just a minute; its sensational and it makes a tremendous amount of sense as to why this team was picked to make the Sony Spider-Man games. One part Jet Set Radio, one part Spidey, more combinations and techniques become available to you as you continue to use and perfect those that are initially provided to you. It's truly an "easy to learn, difficult to master" type learning curve, as the game never feels inaccessible or intimidating when you first start playing. After at least 40+ hours, I feel I have gotten damn good at navigating the space and engaging enemy combatants, yet I still feel there is room for growth in my understanding of the games mechanics, and while my time with the games single player mode is virtually over (I've yet to do the DLC), the online mode would provide even more opportunity to explore and improve. Playing this game natively on a Xbox Series S, it looks absolutely phenomenal and the stylistic choices match perfectly to the game's themes and tone. Despite coming up on 8 years old already (holy crap), it really doesn't look like its aged a day and while I'm sure some resolution improvements into 4k would make it look even better, its not necessary. If cel-shading is done well and authentic to the game's feel, it makes for environments and art direction that remains tasteful no matter how far removed from its original creation. It makes tremendous sense given what this game presents thematically and conceptually. In fact, I would be lying if I said I was caught a bit off guard by how satirical and sharp this game is. At its core, this game is a heavy critique of corporatism and gross consumerism, but it isn't repetitively beating you over the head with its core philosophy. It's certainly scathing, yet never preachy which is a tremendous part of its charm; its story is presented in a way to where if the player doesn't necessarily want to engage with that, they don't have to. However, it certainly doesn't shy away from it either, and it won't pull any punches to spoof on everything from big budget action flicks to American gun culture. This game was truly a delight and spending so much time with it really has me hoping that a sequel will one day make its way into the world. I think there is a lot of promise in this hilariously over the top, yet surprisingly smart (even heartfelt) world that Insomniac has created. I hope that despite their Sony acquisition that they are presented with the opportunity to explore it quite a bit more.