Star Overdrive is a unique open world game. When the game was first announced for Nintendo Switch and shown off at a Nintendo Direct, I remember thinking that the overworld exploration looked like it would be a lot of fun! A lot of open world games on the market tend to give you a horse or some sort of vehicle to help traverse the often massive landscape, but Star Overdrive doubled down and went for a much more stylish route; hoverboards!
Rather than simply driving or walking from Point A to Point B, the trailer showed off how you would be flying through the air, going up ramps, doing tricks, and getting to your destination in the craziest fastest way possible. It looked like a breath of fresh air, and I was truly interested in giving it a shot sometime! Of course finding the time to actually sit down with it was more of the problem, and hearing of the wider release on PC and other consoles, it made more sense for me to wait. And that's when I was contacted by the developer's PR representative, and passed along an early free review key!
Well, after spending countless hours with the game I finally reached a point where I felt I could share my full thoughts, and honestly... I'm very mixed on the whole thing. I unfortunately made the mistake of clearing everything on the map, which lead to extreme burn out before clearing the final in game missions. It isn't a long game if you mainly focus on what is required, but this isn't something I can recommend doing as it is really some of the side content that plays with the more "fun" aspects of the game. That being said, this game clearly isn't going to be for everyone, and it is a game that is very far from being perfect. It does get very repetitive even with just the main "story missions," and the best part of it all really is the hoverboard. It's just unfortunate that the game focuses so much on slow on foot challenges, which were a constant call back to my personal least favorite part of games like Breath of the Wild; the shrines.
But saying this doesn't do the game justice! It doesn't let you know what the game is really about or how it really plays! There is quite a bit going on with this one, so if I haven't turned you off already, how about we just dive on in to the full review?
The Story:
Star Overdrive has a pretty simple story, at least in game. The game begins with our hero getting a distress call from his girlfriend who has gone missing. He follows the call, crash lands on an alien planet, and is greeted by a hoverboard that was left behind on the planet with an AI installed. From here players begin exploring the open world, and recover tapes left behind to learn more about what actually happened. The planet is filled with hostile aliens, sure, but it comes clear pretty quick that something bigger is at play here, and it is now up to you to figure out what that is.
Without going into any spoilers, this is the entire setup for the full game, with a manga also being released that expands the story and the overall lore. Of course there are a handful of cutscenes from time to time, but most of the story is told only through the tapes, and collectible pictures that provide insight to the central character's relationship. It works quite well with what type of game this is, but it also means that the story can technically be shown out of order. While there is initially a clear path you are expected to follow, the game does quickly open up with multiple paths to take, allowing you to tackle the world's challenges in any order. This means some tapes will, in a way, spoil others, and some will not make as much sense until you see what comes before. While this does play more into the mystery, I personally had the issue where I tackled a "hard" area before I was supposed to so I found out something before I feel like I should've. (Of course that was completely on me.)
Of course none of this will ruin the game, and it isn't until you see everything that you'll fully understand.
The Hoverboard:
As mentioned before, Star Overdrive has a huge focus on its hoverboard gameplay, and this is honestly the greatest part of the entire game! If there is any reason to play it, it is because of this and this alone.
When you first start the game, the hoverboard is a basic functioning traveling device. You can go over small ramps and jumps to do tricks, and doing such tricks will give you a speed boost. Water slows you down and prevents you from crossing it, and other type of landscape has different effects on your board as well. This limits where you can go and what you can do initially, and traveling does take a bit of time at first.
But then you get into the upgrades, and everything changes!
By collecting different types of materials across the game, and currency to spend on the upgrades, you can craft upgrade parts for your board. This is done by mixing and matching different materials together (or dumping as much of something as you can), and then choosing which part you would like to craft using them. A chart on the right will show you your general stat increases as you add materials, but choosing an actual part will impact what part of the board will improve. For example choosing a booster part will in fact make your boosts faster, but using the same materials to craft something else might increase your overall speed. There's also an attack power stat, but for general hoverboard use, all of the other stats matter more.
Additionally special upgrade items will provide added bonuses, such as being able to travel over water, and having more of these bonuses will increase the special effect. Mods can also be applied later on, and there is a wide range of color customization and pattern options to fully deck out your ride. Getting all of this requires walking around and picking up everything you see, but most items will come to you without even having to think about it. Not to say some grinding isn't required, but the game more than provides what you need! In fact, the game also provides you with some board parts without the need to craft them, but most of the time I found I already had better parts.
Once you have your board all setup however, the traversal becomes absolutely insane!
Just like the trailers initially hinted at, you will be flying through the air, launching yourself off of ramps, performing tricks, riding up walls and inside of cylinders, and reaching new heights all in record time. It feels great, and makes traveling the world an actual joy. There are races to take on, time trials to do, and other challenges that require the board as well, and this is where the game truly shines the brightest. Sadly most of these activities are optional and not a part of the story, but the game does encourage you to actually stop and partake in everything you possibly can. Completing such tasks does reward you, and you do need to keep your board upgraded to be able to handle completing other areas.
Early on I did hit a roadblock with one of the actual required races, where my board simply wasn't fast enough to reach the goal in time. This meant I had to go progress elsewhere first, get more upgrades, and then come back. The side activities make leveling up even easier, so again, there is a reason to complete these tasks. It's just not all of these tasks are hoverboard focused, and that is where the problems really come in.
The General Gameplay Loop:
Outside of traversal, the general gameplay loop simply comes down to this: solve a mini puzzle to activate a tower, climb said tower to activate it, travel to the main "cave" that opens up to get a new power, use said power to complete multiple versions of the same puzzle over and over again, and fight generic enemies along the way that will annoy you until you kill them.
And that's about it.
Each cave is a decently long puzzle that focuses on the new power you obtained, which does provide some unique gameplay mechanics from time to time. The shooting power up isn't anything too crazy, but being able to place a bounce pad below you at any time is pretty cool, and being able to freeze time is especially useful when it comes to dealing with enemies. These abilities can also be used while riding your hoverboard to provide additional ways to navigate; however, the puzzles do eventually overstay their welcome once the ability is unlocked.
One of the biggest issues with the game is how there is little to no retry option, and the game over death screen is only there to slow you down. Failing a puzzle often sends you back to the start (which can sometimes be a good 20 minutes back), and the nature of the puzzles themselves often make checkpoints impossible. The jump pad ability one in particular has you climbing up a platforming section, which continues to have you throw yourself off the cliff just to bounce to newer heights. The game's often clunky and slippery controls makes it pretty easy to miss your target and slam off the ground, which means you have to start over from the beginning.
Death on the other hand has the slow "GAME OVER" screen fade into view, which requires you to wait for awhile before you hit retry. Again, it really serves no purpose and only slows you down more. And while this jump ability does get used in some interesting ways later on in the game, the puzzles that focus on it are simply more of the same over and over again.
Moving past the jump ability, every new upgrade does follow the same pattern. Some are actually easier and faster to use, while others have much more annoying puzzles attached to them that will make you want to go back to the previous ability's focus. Without spoiling every upgrade given, the time one is the first that really drug on for me as its puzzles mainly focus on freezing moving objects and getting them to land in the "on position" at the same time. At first this saw me running back and forth between all the points trying to freeze and hold them fast enough, only to them miss by a few seconds, but eventually I realized it made more sense to just spam freeze and hope for the best. Eventually the unfrozen objects got into sync, and simply put themselves in the on position on their own. Was it still 10 to 20 minutes of trial and error? Sure. Was it lest frustrating than running back and forth failing? Yep!
This is really where the game falters, and a large chunk of the game is made up of this gameplay. Such sections remove the ability to use your hoverboard for travel, and the character's movement speed is quite low as well. Clearing caves does reward you with upgrade points to increase your health, energy, or learn new abilities, and one of these abilities lets you run a bit faster, but it doesn't help too much overall. This is where the real burnout comes in, and sadly this is actually where the "main progression" comes in. These sections are not the side activities, and are required to continue on.
In reality, these moments of the game wouldn't be as bad if it weren't for the clunky controls, slow speed, and annoying enemies. Combat comes down to mostly swinging your keytar around (yes you use a keytar), and using your abilities to gain an advantage. Going back to the jump ability, it can be used to bounce enemies around and remove shields, while your grab ability (one of the first you actually learn) can be used to pick up objects that shoot lasers to shoot at enemies as well. This is a slow process, but not killing the enemies will make your life so much harder and that is not something you will want to deal with.
The worst case of an enemy attack I encountered was when I was simply trying to go upgrade my board. It was early on into the game and I might've been in an area "too strong" for me, but I got jumped by a mob of enemies that had tractor-beams to pull me towards them. They were around me on all sides, pulled me from all sides, and what I found was the main character being suspended in mid air and thrown all around the map until he died; there was no escape. The only way out of this situation was to switch to my ranged attack and shoot the enemies, but with low health I continued to die faster than I could switch. After seeing the slow "GAME OVER" screen three or four times I finally got free, but it wasn't a fun time. Moments like these were really discouraging, and some simple tweaks to the gameplay could make things so much better.
Another great example comes from a mechanic where running on a platform lifts it into the air. The awkward controls makes it difficult to balance and run on it in general, but the real kicker is the moment you reach the "top." Most games with a similar mechanic lock you in place so you can't go anywhere, but in Star Overdrive you simply walk off the edge suddenly and plummet to the ground. Now not only do you need to do the whole process over again, but you also have to wait for the platform to slowly reverse being raised, so it takes awhile. Thankfully I only came across this specific situation a handful of times, and after the first time I was extra EXTRA careful and simply tapped the analog stick to avoid a repeat of my first experience.
Once you can get past these repetitive sections, slow gameplay, and minor annoyances (that do add up over time), you can get back to the fun hoverboard parts, and focus on the hoverboard based challenges that open up with each main cave you clear. Again, this is where the game truly shines, and I found myself wishing this aspect could be the entire game. Mix in the fact that there's actually hundreds of side activities across the entire game, many of which take you off of your board, and it really does get old pretty fast.
Should you play it?
Star Overdrive is an impressive game made by a really small team, but it is also a game that tried to bite off more than it could chew. The hoverboard action is so much fun, and honestly the only thing this game really needed to succeed! The board customization is great, the power ups are fun to use in combination with the hoverboard, and the gameplay itself is both fast and fluid. Sadly the rest of the game slows to a crawl the moment you are off the board, with clunky and repetitive combat, and puzzles that overstay their welcome.
Completing everything can easily lead to burnout, but skipping the side content also means missing out on some of the best moments in the game; this makes this game really hard to recommend for everyone, as not everyone is going to enjoy everything at play here. There are frustrating moments that could easily be fixed with some updates, but there is only so much that can be done about some of the puzzles. Of course some players may really enjoy the slower pacing and the puzzles in general (again, there are some unique ones here), but others will see the hoverboard gameplay and simply wish they can get back to that instead.
That being said, Star Overdrive isn't a bad game, nor is it the best open world game out there. It is a game with both highs and lows, and it is important to understand exactly what you are getting into before jumping in. My advice is to pace yourself with this one, and you'll find yourself having a much better time with it. Still, this isn't a game everyone will enjoy, and there is no denying fundamental issues that could for sure see some improvement. Increasing movement speed slightly, an improved checkpoint system, revisions to the "walk to spin" puzzles, and speeding up the "GAME OVER" screen would improve things greatly, but that is completely up to the developer.
VERDICT: Maybe
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