Star Overdrive
Review
Shredding Along the Sands
by Camrin Santchi
reviewed on PC
A Vast World is Only As Good As Traversing It
Gaming these days is full to the brim with sizable worlds to explore, which can be both a blessing and a curse. One thing that comes to mind for this reviewer is how traversal is done. If the world is big enough, just walking everywhere isn't going to be enough to get players from place to place. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is arguably one of the best examples of this, the Paraglider is a tool gained early on that lets players fly from on high in order to traverse quickly, and provides a specific identity to traversal that sets the game apart. In such a sizable field as adventure games with a large world, standing apart is the name of the game.
Star Overdrive is a game that drops players onto an unforgiving desert world as Bios, a white haired dude that screams retrofuturistic. Armed with a keytar and a hoverboard, he sets out to find his girlfriend Nous, who had gone missing.
Riding Sandwaves
The above mentioned hoverboard is probably the part that immediately caught this reviewer's attention when it came to Star Overdrive and its aesthetic. The idea of surfing the sand dunes was an immediately appealing thought, and in action it's even more satisfying. Players can build up speed by riding downhill, but more importantly, by launching off the top of ramps like sand dunes or sizable metal structures, Bios can do tricks that cause an impressive boost to the hoverboard's speed. Considering the hoverboard loses speed while riding uphill, it creates a movement loop of sorts within the confines of Star Overdrive, with Bios constantly tricking off of whatever ramps he can find in order to keep enough speed to get to whatever destination the player has in mind.
The Hoverboard can be customized in several ways in order to make it your own - if you can hoard the many materials scattered around the environs of Star Overdrive. Colours to dye the board whatever color, graffiti tags left behind to customize its design, and special materials that could be used to customize the board and boost its capabilities. Acceleration, top speed, handling, even giving it the capability to hover over water or on metal surfaces. Players have to experiment with combinations in order to customize the board for their needs, with no outright set upgrades. This makes upgrading the hoverboard a bit awkward, since players have to decide what part to upgrade and then what materials to use, hoping to come up with an effective enough combination of materials.
Tools of the Trade
Of course, Bios doesn't just have the hoverboard at his disposal within Star Overdrive. He also wields his keytar, which operates as his main weapon in regards to combat. Along with this, it also receives a multitude of upgrades throughout the game that offer it additional abilities. This brought to mind the runes used within Breath of the Wild, further added to by the scattered puzzle areas within the game. These challenges gift Bios skill points - but entering costs the gravitational core of the Hoverboard, meaning that it could not be used to it's full effectiveness within the challenges. It could still be used for jumps and dodges of course, but actually using it's full agility would make the tasks within too easy. Some of these challenges are harder than others, and allows players an opportunity to test their wits as well as knowledge of game mechanics. Beating these areas unlocks skill points that can increase drops, damage dealt, health for damage taken, and more, encouraging players to complete these when possible.
Coarse, Irritating, Gets Everywhere
The world of Star Overdrive is vast, and it has quite the look to it, massive sand dunes, fossils and rocks that can be climbed and traversed, old mining technology that has long been abandoned. There are three main biomes for Bios to traverse, but the vastness can be a bit of trouble for players as well. Locations can sort of blur together, making players need to rely on waypoints or the map in order to get to their destination, especially since having to weave along to reach jumps and do enough tricks to maintain a high speed- this might cause some disorientation for players.
The crafting mechanics take a bit of getting used to and feel clunky at first, but it doesn't take too long for players to get used to trying out different combinations of materials in order to find ways to continue to upgrade the hoverboard or customize its appearance to their liking. It is helpful that the game shows you the stats while crafting upgrades as well, so while there is some randomness players will not feel like they are wasting resources.
Does It Stick the Landing?
Star Overdrive is in all an enjoyable game that only has some minor issues that are not enough to stop Bios' adventure from being an enjoyable trek across a dangerous planet. With a creative and very satisfying traversal mechanic that really helps the game achieve an identity of its own, and puzzles that test the player's capabilities, Star Overdrive is a fun game that players could easily get distracted just hovering around the dunes but there's plenty to do if they want to actually progress the main story or search for upgrades, materials, or the puzzle areas.
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8.2
fun score
Pros
Fun Puzzles, Satisfying Traversal
Cons
Very Samey Environments, Crafting Upgrades Feels Awkward
