Turbo Overkill Review (ItsSomething)
The gist: One hell of a wild ride, but not without some problems.
The pros:
-The presentation is one of the best I've seen in a shooter. Bright, popping colors, an absolutely killer soundtrack, and some breathtaking setpieces and cutscenes make it a treat to watch.
-The game loves to one-up itself again and again with the upgrades. Your killsat gun turns into a nuke. Your shotgun turns into a long-range sniper rifle. You go from one chainsaw leg, to having every single limb be chainsaws. Even your pistols turn into damage-dealing monsters that work great with the bullet time powerup.
-The vehicles (for the handful of segments they're used) feel genuinely powerful rather than a forced gimping, usually with powerful machineguns, regenerating health, and a very strong secondary weapon on a rather short cooldown.
-Most boomshoots have one or two secret levels for every batch of levels. Turbo Overkill has a secret level for EVERY level, giving you a lot to do even without specific completion points.
-The voice work is stellar, barring maybe the Teratek Executive getting rather grating.
-Johnny is already a highly mobile character at the start, with a fast running speed, dashes, a fast slide-kick, and double jumps. But by the end game, you'll have more movement options than you know what to do with.
-The skill ceiling for how the weapons and movement pair together is absolutely insane.
-E2M8.
The cons:
-The weapon balance gets kinda fucked in the endgame. The chainsaw gets so powerful you're gimping yourself by actually shooting anything less than a Leaper, and the single assault rifle is insanely powerful for how plain it is - accurate at longer ranges, lots of damage per shot, and a ton of ammo basically makes the plasma gun obsolete. (It doesn't help that I couldn't seem to figure out how to get the projectile catcher to work - skill issue on my part?)
-Levels are long, especially if you're going for completion. For most of the game it's negligible thanks to the wonderful set design and movement, but episode 3's levels in particular can be real slugfests with waves upon waves of spongy enemies; and the later levels have enemy counts that push towards 1,000. It feels less like a test of skill and mastery, and more a test of endurance.
-E3M7.
The overall package is wonderful enough for me to recommend it, and I consider it an S-tier boomshoot up there with the likes of Dusk for its energy, presentation, and its total embrace of over-the-top carnage that a game called "Turbo Overkill" ought to deliver.