During the Osheaga 2014 music festival in Montreal, Xbox took the time to set up a booth to give music lovers the chance to get up close and personal with their latest Xbox One titles. Available to play on site was UFC, Trials Fusion, Forza Motorsport 5, Killer Instinct and Dead Rising 3. In keeping with the festival spirit, there was an amazing communal art piece where the public could leave their mark on a wrapped Honda. Of course Girls on Games had to tag the car too :).
Media folk, and lucky contest winners at the booth also got the chance to be brought back stage and into the artist world to test out E3 demos of Forza Horizon 2 and Sunset Overdrive. Being one of my most anticipated upcoming games of the fall, I jumped on Sunset Overdrive and went balls to the walls.
The demo takes place about halfway through the story of Sunset Overdrive so I already had access to an arsenal of hilarious weapons. The game is borderline information overload in the best kinda way; with its electric colour palate, playful art style and the serious speed reached when you are gliding around from rooftop to zip line to roller coaster ride. Enemies spawn constantly, so attempting to clear an area is a loss cause. You best bet is to zip through the world as fast as you can to get to your mission objective. I got the chance to fight a mini boss who was like a gigantic zombie with a very heavy fist that could knock you out good. Not the most difficult fight if you know which weapons are best used in each scenario. I tried them all, but had the most success with the freeze bomb which would lock my opponent in place while I smacked him around a few times with the melee weapon (which appeared to be an electric sword of some sorts). I did that a few times and the mini-boss was gonzo. No life bar listed in the HUD for the mini-boss, so you will just have to plug away until he is blown apart.
The second part of the demo brought me to a roller coaster. The objective was to slide around the rails while shooting zombies, runaway coaster carts, and barrels of fireworks that were placed on a castle structure in the middle of the coaster. At only 30 frames per second, I am impressed at how fast sliding around the rails felt. It took me a little getting used to before I was able to aim and shoot at the objectives. There is an auto lock on feature that is super handy.
The demo ended with a quick tease of a boss character that you will have to fight during the full game, but that will have to wait until October 28th.
We also learned a bit about the multiplayer mode for Sunset Overdrive. There will be an eight-person co-op mode called Chaos Squad. Your team votes on a set of challenges that range in difficulty in order to reach an event called Night Defence. The more difficult the challenges, the the more difficult Night Defence becomes, but you get better in-game loot.
There was also more light shed on the progression system for your character in the game. As you play, you earn Amps, which allow you to upgrade your abilities. You will be able to unlock movement powers such as the ability to dash, and attack powers such as manifesting a tornado when you melee attack.
Overall, the demo has seriously amped my anticipation for this title. Between the smooth controls, the hyper bright colours, quirky characters and the witty humour in the details, I am super stoked to get my hands on Sunset Overdrive.
To get Catherine’s impressions on Forza Horizons 2, check out her post on CHOM.com!