Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The Games, Movies, TV & Comics You Love
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
  • TV
  • Movies
  • Hardware
  • Video
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Deals
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Total Film
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
Subscribe now
Trending
  • Gamescom 2025 schedule
  • Gamescom
  • Battlefield 6
  • New Games for 2025
Recommended reading
Helldivers 2 PS5 screenshot
Games The 25 best online games to play today
The key art for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege X's Dual Front mode
FPS Games Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege X review: "Bigger, better, and more user friendly than it's ever been – it's the perfect time to dive in"
Toxic Commando screenshot with GamesRadar+ Autumn Preview 2025 frame
FPS Games Left 4 Dead has held the horde shooter crown for 17 years, but John Carpenter's Toxic Commando is the best challenger yet
Doom The Dark Ages Doom Slayer with yellow eyes
FPS Games Doom: The Dark Ages update 2 looks like a massive improvement across the board, and a horde mode and slow-motion toggle are just the start: "This ain’t an update… This be a BUFFET!!!"
Three players on a desert planet shooting bug aliens during one of the best games like Borderlands, Helldivers 2.
Third Person Shooters Helldivers 2 designer outlines Arrowhead's "trainwreck in slow-motion" design philosophy, and another essential guiding star: "The tingle in the ass"
a woman with a jetpack and pink bodysuit flies in the air and shoots enemies below with a beam of energy
Roguelike Games Terminull Brigade is the high-octane sci-fi shooter you need to play right now
Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Action Games I was already excited for Marvel Cosmic Invasion after the studio's incredible retro TMNT brawler, and 30 minutes of hands-on has me even more confident that the spirit of '90s arcade gaming is alive and well
  1. Games
  2. Action
  3. Sunset Overdrive

Sunset Overdrive's Chaos Mode is the most colorful horde mode you'll ever play

Features
By Ryan Taljonick published 10 June 2014

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Welcome to crazy town

Welcome to crazy town

Here's the wacky premise: a bunch of idiot human beings binged on too many (tainted) energy drinks and turned into monsters. Now it's up to a guy wearing some sweet Soulja Boy Tell 'Em sunglasses, another guy wearing a Cat in the Hat hat, and some other goofy saviors to stop said monsters from ripping into a huge cache of the aforementioned energy drinks. This, my friends, is the basis for Sunset Overdrive's Chaos Mode, an 8-player slaughterfest that plays like a mix of tower defense and traditional wave-based horde modes. Is it fun? Yeah, mostly.

The map I played looked like your average city block: tall buildings, tons of construction barricades, lots of neon pink cables perfect for using as zip lines--you know, nothing out of the ordinary. Each player had access to a trap that could be placed and forgotten--spinning blades and rocket turrets--as well as tons of awesome weapons. How awesome? I'm talking hand cannons that launch fireworks; grenade launchers that actually shoot explosive teddy bears, and weird guns that fire razor-sharp records (a weapon ripped straight from 1994's Revolution X, perhaps?), in addition to your standard AK-47s and shotguns.

The moment to moment gameplay feels a lot like your standard horde mode. Waves of eccentric enemies charge toward toward two nodes your team must protect, and you have to use everything at your disposal to blow them into glorious neon chunks. One thing that impressed me straight away: Sunset Overdrive's incredible sense of mobility. You can jump onto just about any surface and quickly grind across it while still attacking enemies. It's easy to quickly get from one side of the map to the other to protect your objectives, and the weapons are really fun to use. Will Chaos Mode imbue Sunset Overdrive with long-term appeal? Eh, maybe. But it certainly makes a decent first impression.

Be sure to read on for more Sunset Overdrive images and information.

Page 1 of 8
Page 1 of 8
Want to protect an objective? Placing a pyro geyser is a smart move.

Want to protect an objective? Placing a pyro geyser is a smart move.

Page 2 of 8
Page 2 of 8
This vat of Overcharge is one of the objectives you'll need to protect from the horde of.. whatever these things are called.

This vat of Overcharge is one of the objectives you'll need to protect from the horde of.. whatever these things are called.

Page 3 of 8
Page 3 of 8
Sunset Overdrive absolutely nails mobility. You can grind on just about any surface to quickly move about a stage.

Sunset Overdrive absolutely nails mobility. You can grind on just about any surface to quickly move about a stage.

Page 4 of 8
Page 4 of 8
Not all monsters are humans-turned-mutants. Some are huge creatures like this.

Not all monsters are humans-turned-mutants. Some are huge creatures like this.

Page 5 of 8
Page 5 of 8
True to Insomniac tradition, Sunset Overdrive features tons of goofy weapons, like this ProPAIN (get it!?) launcher.

True to Insomniac tradition, Sunset Overdrive features tons of goofy weapons, like this ProPAIN (get it!?) launcher.

Page 6 of 8
Page 6 of 8
Wondering how one goes about grinding on a rollercoaster track? Rub soap all over the bottoms of your shoes. That's all it takes.

Wondering how one goes about grinding on a rollercoaster track? Rub soap all over the bottoms of your shoes. That's all it takes.

Page 7 of 8
Page 7 of 8
Sunset Overdrive's stages are very much in line with the game's over-the-top presentation.

Sunset Overdrive's stages are very much in line with the game's over-the-top presentation.

Page 8 of 8
Page 8 of 8
CATEGORIES
Xbox One Platforms Xbox
Ryan Taljonick
Ryan Taljonick
Social Links Navigation

Ryan was once the Executive Editor of GamesRadar, before moving into the world of games development. He worked as a Brand Manager at EA, and then at Bethesda Softworks, before moving to 2K. He briefly went back to EA and is now the Director of Global Marketing Strategy at 2K. 

See more Xbox One Features
Read more
Helldivers 2 PS5 screenshot
The 25 best online games to play today
The key art for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege X's Dual Front mode
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege X review: "Bigger, better, and more user friendly than it's ever been – it's the perfect time to dive in"
Toxic Commando screenshot with GamesRadar+ Autumn Preview 2025 frame
Left 4 Dead has held the horde shooter crown for 17 years, but John Carpenter's Toxic Commando is the best challenger yet
Doom The Dark Ages Doom Slayer with yellow eyes
Doom: The Dark Ages update 2 looks like a massive improvement across the board, and a horde mode and slow-motion toggle are just the start: "This ain’t an update… This be a BUFFET!!!"
Three players on a desert planet shooting bug aliens during one of the best games like Borderlands, Helldivers 2.
Helldivers 2 designer outlines Arrowhead's "trainwreck in slow-motion" design philosophy, and another essential guiding star: "The tingle in the ass"
a woman with a jetpack and pink bodysuit flies in the air and shoots enemies below with a beam of energy
Terminull Brigade is the high-octane sci-fi shooter you need to play right now
Latest in Action
GTA 4
Rockstar veteran says GTA 4 PS5 port wouldn't "be easy," but the effort "would be tiny compared to building a new game"
Marcus Fenix looks on in horror in Gears of War: Reloaded
If playing Gears of War while feeling the thrum of the PS5's DualSense is wrong, I don't want to be right – this is still a genre masterpiece 19 years on
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Hollow Knight: Silksong speedruns have already begun and the game isn't even out yet, as world record holder for the limited Gamescom demo modestly calls his sub-3-minute run "pretty OK"
Gears of War: Reloaded screenshot
Gears of War: Reloaded release time – here's when you can dive into the remastered 2006 shooter on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S
Replaced
The beautiful, sad cyberpunk game I've had my eye on for 4 years has sad, less beautiful news: it's delayed again, this time to spring 2026 - "It's no secret that it's taken longer than we initially thought"
Faye in Cowboy Bebop: Serenade of Reminiscence
After 20 years, the Japan-only PS2 adaptation of legendary anime Cowboy Bebop has finally gotten an English translation from the modder known as SONICMAN69
Latest in Features
World of Warcraft Midnight player housing
World of Warcraft has always asked us to call Azeroth home, but Midnight's new player housing is the first time you'll have one to call your own – and it's the best feature to come to the MMO in years
Jon Bernthal as The Punisher in Daredevil: Born Again
The Punisher special release date, cast, plot, and everything else we know about the Marvel Studios Special Presentation
Marcus Fenix looks on in horror in Gears of War: Reloaded
If playing Gears of War while feeling the thrum of the PS5's DualSense is wrong, I don't want to be right – this is still a genre masterpiece 19 years on
Directive 8020 autumn preview
Supermassive Games' new sci-fi horror game Directive 8020 doesn't just let you redo your worst mistakes, it also speaks to my completionist heart
Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival preview
I was already nervous about playing gory survival horror Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival, and then I saw the stack of vomit bags provided by the devs
Sonic Racing Crossworlds
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is filling the Mario Kart-shaped hole in my life that World isn't, and I'm as shocked by that as anyone
  1. The Prince runs along a bridge across a pretty pond in The Rogue Prince of Persia
    1
    The Rogue Prince of Persia review: "I roguelike but don't roguelove this freerunner – there's just not enough to stand out"
  2. 2
    Shinobi: Art of Vengeance review: "So close to being to a pitch-perfect revival of a classic series, but just can't quite line up the killing blow"
  3. 3
    Fate of the Fellowship is the most anticipated board game of the year, and it's a thing of absolute genius
  4. 4
    This is the perfect cozy board game for Fall with its compelling mix of Redwall and city-building
  5. 5
    Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater review: "Little surprised me in this rigid remake, but it's still one of my favorite games of all time"
  1. Julia Garner in Weapons
    1
    Weapons review: "A twisted fairytale that bests Barbarian"
  2. 2
    The Fantastic Four: First Steps review: "An occasionally thrilling heroic adventure that sits safely within a B-tier MCU range"
  3. 3
    Superman review: "A triumphant reinvention and a promising start for the DCU"
  4. 4
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  5. 5
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  1. John Cena as Peacemaker holds a gun to the head of a different John Cena as Peacemaker in Peacemaker season 2.
    1
    Peacemaker season 2 review: "Darker and sadder than the first year, but there's still a lot of fun to be had with the 11th Street Kids."
  2. 2
    Wednesday season 2 part 1 review: "Complex and exciting but weighed down by too many subplots"
  3. 3
    Alien: Earth review: "Arguably the franchise's strongest outing since James Cameron's Aliens"
  4. 4
    King of the Hill season 14 review: "Hank Hill himself has evolved into a much more open and accepting person"
  5. 5
    Eyes of Wakanda review: "A creative premise shortchanged by the runtime and Marvel bloat"

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...