Pressure Overdrive Xbox One Review: A rare vehicular shooter that's awesome in co-op

It's less a race than it is a battle.

Pressure Overdrive is a fun buggy racing battle game fresh onto the scene bringing a fresh, fun game to the Xbox One. You'll race through fire pits and green pastures firing away at enemies the game throws at you. Fun, fast paced, and available for a steal, we have the details for you here!

See at Xbox Store

Stop Count Soap and his Uber-Spa

The neighborhood here used to be lovely and filled with sparkling water. Right up until Count Soap decided to swoop in and subvert for his new project; an Uber-Spa. After seeing the devastation his greed has wrought, you pick up arms, jump in your buggy and join the resistance.

Pressure Overdrive is essentially a vehicular shooter with tons of ugprades and customization, over thirty levels, and a cartoon style.

Fun and on point

Pressure Overdrive utilizes a top down format where you can see your buggy, the enemies attempting to kill you, and the sides of the race track.

Everything is painted in bright, easy to read colors from the sides of the track to the projectiles that you are firing to try and stay alive.

Keeping an eye on everything is no small feat.

Pressure Overdrive enlists cartoon-style animation, but it plays to the game's theme, and it works out really well. As you move from one set of levels to the next, the track backgrounds start to change. Everything remains clear and pleasing to the eye.

Considering at some points you are wading through waves of enemy buggies, all firing madly at you, while you try to plow, jump and fire your way through them, keeping an eye on everything is no small feat.

Deal with boss battles

Of course, every good adventure game requires a few boss battles to make sure that things aren't too easy. These levels are far more difficult than the normal ones and will require you to deal with several different phases. Boss levels swap the swarms of smaller enemies for a single, larger foe.

The boss will shoot dozens of projectiles that you need to dodge, while specifically aiming to hit weak or vulnerable areas. There's a lot of repetition involved, and some guesswork as well, but these big boys will fall all the same, providing a rewarding challenge in the process.

Drive and shoot

The aim of Pressure Overdrive is to shoot as many enemy buggies as you possibly can while driving through sporadically treacherous race tracks. The game is divided up into 30 levels, and at the end of each, you'll get a scoreboard that grades your performance in numerous ways. This is also where gold used to upgrade your buggy and weapons.

You can upgrade the buggy in various ways, including the frame, armor, weapons, and frontal ram.

You'll be able to upgrade your buggy as you progress, but it can get quite pricey. That of course just means that you'll have to keep racing in order to get the buggy that you really want. You can upgrade the buggy in various ways, including the frame, armor, weapons, and frontal ram.

There are nine different styles of weapon, each with their own benefits and drawbacks. After initially purchasing a weapon you can swap out between races, and upgrade their effectiveness. However, you're only able to have one weapon equipped during each race.

Contained chaos

Half of the fun of Pressure Overdrive is just how absolutely chaotic the gameplay can be. It's all essentially controlled with your two thumbsticks.

It's a fun time, and it also supports two player co-op, which means that you and a friend can jump in together and rock out together.

Wrapping it up

Pressure Overdrive is a fun arcade style game for anyone who likes racing games and shooting things. The short levels make it easy to jump into, and with plenty of ways to customize, there is an avenue for many different styles of gameplay.