Zero Punctuation: Sunset Overdrive - Trying Too Hard?

[LoneWolf83]

I disagree with Yahtzee, trying too hard is legitimate criticism. When a game, movie, book or someone, tries too hard they become offputting and awkward, it significantly effects the entertainment value of something when it's trying too hard.

Why does the corporation have to be evil? I know most corporations are evil but at this point it has become cliché in fiction. Why can't the corporation just be incompetent (though that might hit Microsoft a little too close to home), or bumbling, or have some in the corporation evil and others not?

Why did they name it "Sunset Overdrive?"? That would be a perfect name for a racing game, not a sandbox game.

 

[PinkiePyro]

as soon as I first saw the tv ad for sunset overdrive I knew it was gonna be like this it just sounded so stupid

 

[gridsleep]

Mandatory fun.

 

[Alek The Great]

Why does the corporation have to be evil? I know most corporations are evil but at this point it has become cliché in fiction. Why can't the corporation just be incompetent (though that might hit Microsoft a little too close to home), or bumbling, or have some in the corporation evil and others not?

Why did they name it "Sunset Overdrive?"? That would be a perfect name for a racing game, not a sandbox game.

The company (Fizzco) in the game actually just rushes the product to market which is why they didn't do proper testing and the mutation isn't predicted. So it's really and oversight. The whole evil corporation segment comes into play when they try to contain this outbreak for their bottom line so I suppose you could say the upper management is evil and unethical. That said, you do have Fizzco scientists that are not evil (in fact the first character you meet is a former Fizzco scientist who explains that he didn't have time to do proper testing to you).

It is easy to miss some of the story pieces in the chaos however and the gameplay overshadows the story, but I actually enjoyed most of the characters. I disagree that the game makes fun of nerds, however. Yes, three of the four "good" factions can be seen as nerds (rich, smart preppies from a really prestigious school, scouts, and LARPers), but these are the factions that survived (outside of the anarchist Scab assholes that kill everyone) as opposed to everyone else so it's saying that these are the groups of people that would actually be competent enough to survive an apocalypse. (Well, there's also a bunch of cheerleaders as the last "good" faction that actually don't really fit the nerd label either.) They're the ones taking the fight to the mutants and Fizzco so I don't think the game is distancing itself from these groups as much as it's trying to get the player to accept the groups for who they are and what they bring to the table. Yes there are jabs at the groups here and there, but there are jabs at everyone. And I'm not trying to say there aren't any grating and underdeveloped characters because there are.

 

[Trishbot]

Humor is a tricky panda to create.

Talentless humorists think referential humor, randomness, and self-awareness makes you funny, and you wind up with this:

Wow, it's so wacky and silly and it mentions that thing that I know of that's popular.

... But satire done RIGHT can be all those things, but clever and tactful, with meat and substance, where the crux of a joke can stand on its own and be hilarious even if you know nothing about the source material. That gives us things like these:

Games are the same way. Sunset Overdrive is the former example.

I'd say an example of the latter are games such as Secret of Monkey Island, Brutal Legend, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, and other games with a clear love of the things they're satirizing.

 

[gamegod25]

Perhaps the key part of "trying too hard" is the "trying" part because there is a difference between trying and succeeding.

 

[oldtaku]

So as someone who actually played and beat the game, it is a hell of a lot of fun (once you figure out how to never stop moving). But tonally, yes, the game never gets any better (or funny). SO 90S EXTREME D00DS. So just enjoy Jet Set Radio bopping around, shooting things, and trying out new weapons.

 

[Erik B-L]

From what I've seen and heard, this game looks a lot like InFAMOUS 2, which is a pity because Sunset looks like the Deadpool game, but I suppose less justifiable in terms of being self-aware and 'fourth wall breaking'. It looks hollow- a style searching for a substance. Hopefully that substance will be meth, and the sequel will be a bit more interesting.

Yhatzee himself said that InFAMOUS 2 had a good ending with good characters, so where's the depth here? Sorry, it just irritates me when the framework of a game I love gets bastardised in such a way, and how so few people recognise what it's done.

 

[SnesgenisthebestGen]

Just Finished it last night. I dont hate the humor though I could see how its not for everyone. Great game mechanics, hands down best traversal in a sand box game ever. The tone almost put me off but the gameplay kept me coming back. Also I don't see how having 3 of 4 surviving factions in an "awesomepocalypse" (...sigh) being nerds is terribly insulting to them, they hold their own in the story vs corporate robots and anarchist dickheads, must be doing something right. If you aren't the aloof, too cool to just play along type, this game may be the best thing on any of the consoles right now.

 

[bluepotatosack]

You know, I was actually hoping that Sunset Overdrive would succeed. Not because I was going to buy it (I couldn't be payed to touch an XBOne without a hazard suit) but because I was hoping for more than two quality AAA games this year.

The devs need to try harder.

I'm pretty sure it is succeeding. I've been hearing about that console bundle selling out everywhere, let's go take a look at the figures... which I can't find anywhere. Okay, I do know the bundle sold out on amazon really quickly anyways. I'm just going to keep arguing that it is absolutely a quality title.

 

[Saika Renegade]

I think my main problem with the game is that, for all the liveliness and wackiness of its presentation, all it is is liveliness and wackiness. Without some sort of straight-faced counterpoint, even a minor one, it kind of blurs together and the end result is more corny and awkward than humorous. This is the same sort of problem that a lot of modern warfare shooters have, except read that last line as "more depressing and awkward than inspiring."

The other wacky game that came to mind aside from Saints Row 4 was Far Cry Blood Dragon, a game so goofy and satirical of its 80s heritage that it should by all rights be just as bad for its corniness...but they play their roles more or less straight without glances aside to camera (something the new Monkey Island needs to stop doing as well) and the pastiche works better for it because there's just enough seriousness to offset the ludicrous nature of Blood Dragon.

Deadpool gets away with entire conversations to the camera because that's his thing and they've had time to iron out the methods and style required for it. If there's one thing that the post-Liefeld Deadpool writers tend to be good at it's using Deadpool's lack of strict fourth wall boundaries to their advantage by having him do his thing two feet away from serious grumpy-faced gritty blokes like Wolverine and Cable. There's no one to really do that with here and so it just feels unpleasant and unimmersive.

Gameplay feels decent enough, but not something I'd regularly come back to, I think.

 

[ZeroFarks]

The weird thing is that a game almost exactly like this gets produced about once every two years and they never do well... yet despite this, they keep getting made. Like someone is honestly saying to themselves "Y'know this theme has been done twenty times already and they've all bombed but this time will be different, just watch!"

Seriously: Find an older gamer (35+) and say "Hey, do you remember that game about the guy who skates around and puts graffiti on everything?" I promise you they will say "Yeah, why?" Then ask them to name it, because I promise you they will have no idea. "Umm, a bunch of them? I dunno... I never played any of them. I mean, I've only got 300 titles on my Steam library."

 

[RicoADF]

I have no clue why people were excited for this. Nor do I understand why people were excited for stuff like Second son or Assassin's creed "Le France" edition. They've some how made sandbox superpower simulators mind numbingly boring and strangely identical despite a very different look to each.

Man. The wii u is a last gen console with a pointless ipad stapled to it, The xbone and Piss4 having no games, and the pc indie market increasingly being flooded with greenlit and kickstarted games that are mashups of minecraft, roguelikes, and anything else popular at the moment, all of which get to about 30% done and then stop updating. Gaming isn't in a good place right now.

I've started to look at other hobbies to occupy my time, I'll finish off the backlog of games I have eventually but as it stands new games are losing my interest fast. The only place that I find interesting games now are on GoG :-/

 

[Keiichi Morisato]

I have no clue why people were excited for this. Nor do I understand why people were excited for stuff like Second son or Assassin's creed "Le France" edition. They've some how made sandbox superpower simulators mind numbingly boring and strangely identical despite a very different look to each.

Man. The wii u is a last gen console with a pointless ipad stapled to it, The xbone and Piss4 having no games, and the pc indie market increasingly being flooded with greenlit and kickstarted games that are mashups of minecraft, roguelikes, and anything else popular at the moment, all of which get to about 30% done and then stop updating. Gaming isn't in a good place right now.

the gamepad isn't pointless, it gives actual functionality to a whole host of games and genres. the controller doesn't take anything away from the player like the Wii controller did, but simply adds to the overall experience with a dedicated map and item screen, gyro controls for precise aiming, touchscreen to quickly look through menus and select things as well as functioning as extra buttons. everything that made the original DS so awesome is now in the living room in HD, honestly i couldn't happier with the device. the only real issue with it is the poor battery life, but that mostly has to do with how energy consuming it is to have a wireless second screen with incredibly low latency (only 1 frame behind, which is a technical marvel).

 

[StriderShinryu]

Yeah, that's pretty much the impression I got right from the initial reveal trailer, except then I was at least thinking the gameplay looked like it might be fun enough to carry things.

 

[Flunk]

God bless you Yahtzee, you've given me yet another reason not to buy an Xbox One. Now I'm going to go get back to playing through Saint's Row 4 for the third time.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I agree with the "trying too hard" only said by cunts, who also like to say stuff such as; "oh everybodys a comedian" in a dismissmive tone. Whats that? You think humour should be restricted to a certain class of individual, whereas the remaining depressive peasants must wallow in sombre existence, sucking at the morsels of positivity that are thrown from the throne of humour?? Fuck. Off! ...****!

Anymoo, am i the only one reminded of Jet Set Radio, from this game?

 

[SnesgenisthebestGen]

Anymoo, am i the only one reminded of Jet Set Radio, from this game?

Nope, loved that and feel like this is a spiritual successor, gameplay-wise anyway.

 

[bluepotatosack]

The weird thing is that a game almost exactly like this gets produced about once every two years and they never do well... yet despite this, they keep getting made. Like someone is honestly saying to themselves "Y'know this theme has been done twenty times already and they've all bombed but this time will be different, just watch!"

Seriously: Find an older gamer (35+) and say "Hey, do you remember that game about the guy who skates around and puts graffiti on everything?" I promise you they will say "Yeah, why?" Then ask them to name it, because I promise you they will have no idea. "Umm, a bunch of them? I dunno... I never played any of them. I mean, I've only got 300 titles on my Steam library."

How many are there besides Jet Set Radio? Which is of course, a cult classic.

I mean, the only other games I can think of that have graffiti as a somewhat central theme are The Warriors and that Marc Ecko game, which I would not put in the same category as Jet Set Radio at all.

 

[WhiteNachos]

I'm surprised Insomniac games is making this kind of humor, there were a lot of funny jokes in Ratchet and Clank games. They did have lots of 4th wall joke pop culture references, or sarcasm.

E: That should say they did NOT have lots of 4th wall jokes etc.