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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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