A man doing flips and tricks on a hoverboard at high speed on a vast and mysterious planet. Paired with some gnarly and thrilling music, you can’t tell me that this doesn’t just look fascinating to look at, but ambitious.
Star Overdrive opens with a somewhat familiar sci-fi setting. Our silent protagonist, Bios, receives a distress call from his friend on Cebete which is an abandoned mining planet. Details are left vague, but what’s certain is that something strange is happening on this planet. Bios rushes to his friend’s aid, but in doing so he crash lands on the planet leaving himself stranded, but not helpless.
It’s a good thing Bios has his trusty keytar and hoverboard to help him maneuver around the enormous and terrestrial world of Cebete. The keytar, one of the coolest weapons ever, doubles as a lightsaber and instrument for Bios. Upon first swinging it, I’ll be honest, I didn’t love it. It felt stiff and somewhat slow, and it doesn’t help that Bios moves around even slower. Besides being able to dodge, Bios’ keytar kit includes a three-hit swinging combo, a charge slash and an aerial downward slash which explodes on impact. The aerial move comes in handy the most since the enemies seen in this demos can be quick. This is what I was having an issue with at first. These enemies will dodge around plenty and with seemingly no way to lock onto them it make it feel like a chore to just hit them.
Hovering, with style!
In comes the hoverboard! Providing the key mechanic to Star Overdrive by being its main method of traversal, and boy does it not disappoint. It’s acquired right at the start of the game and once I realized it can be used in combat seamlessly that’s when it really clicked for me. When an enemy tries to run away I can simply get on the hover board in pursuit, then jump off of it and effectively swing down on them. This feels great especially with that electrifying guitar playing in the background makes it all the more satiating. It’s a shame that the music is only heard during combat, but once you hear that catchy music it sure does take the game up a notch.
Away from combat, the hoverboard is used to vigorously travel on Cebete. The opening area is a desert full of dunes. The dunes are important because if you time a jump on the edge of a dune or cliff the hoverboard will propel upwards allowing you to do tricks and gain a speed boost. At first I thought that a boosting button was especially lacking, but there are so many ridges and ledges around to propel yourself that I found myself not even thinking about it. In fact, I felt more skillful when I was able to complete challenges using my wits around the boosting mechanic. This felt similar to being able to continuously glide around in Spider-Man 2 and strategically catching the winds to extend the velocity of Spiderman. It feels great to get around with Bios on the hoverboard and with just as much style!
Another important aspect to quickly note that the traversal not only feels good and performs well. With the Nintendo Switch seemingly in its decline you may think, “can it handle this game?” It definitely has the chops to provide a smooth experience to flip and flop at high speeds on the hover board. I only got some slight frame drops, but none of it was during the hoverboard riding.
New Zelda-like
In the overworld there are quite a few resources to collect as you are exploring. Various resources can be found around the environment and from fallen enemies. These resources can be turned into upgrades and custom pieces for the hoverboard. This system to customize the hoverboard is DEEP. Bond, Speed, Boost, Control, Gravity and Power all provide a special attribute to the hoverboard and can be tweaked to your liking. I didn’t mess around with this too much, but depending on the objective to overcome you can equip your hoverboard to best fit the situation. And if you really want to tune the hoverboard the color all of its parts can be changed from the Wings to the Jets to the board itself can be customized.
There are certain segments where the hoverboard will be deactivated to trek through abandoned mines. These mines will emphasize the use of certain abilities to solve puzzles and to get items to progress through the campaign. For example, there is a ‘Grab’ ability which allows you to carry and throw objects (enemies too). This ability was used to solve puzzles and make my way out of a mine which resembled the clearing of a Zelda Breath of The Wild shrine. You even obtain an item which can be spent to upgrade your skill tree.
Additionally there was an awesome boss battle which had me using this ability while riding the hoverboard. The clever use of this ability fighting an epic creature left me impressed! Lastly, from the menu there are a number of abilities left to be unlocked. Thinking of their potential and how they can be used in boss battles and in the overworld has me wanting to see more of what the developers have up their sleeves.
The Verdict
From the first trailer, not only did I think Star Overdrive looked ambitious, but I think it looked fun. This game delivers! Having a deep system to customize Bios’ hoverboard, learning new abilities to solve puzzles and especially the hoverboard riding mechanic left me impressed and wanting more. Not everything is amazing like the combat which I feel like could feel floaty and slow at times. Caracal Games absolutely nailed the mechanic of riding on a hoverboard making it enjoyable and skillful. I am very excited to the full release in hopes that Star Overdrive will shine as bright as this demo.
