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Insomniac Reveals Overstrike

Up until now, despite technically being a third-party studio, Insomniac Games has remained exclusive to Sony's platforms with series like Ratchet and Clank and Resistance. That's all changed with Overstrike, their latest title revealed at this year's E3.

While gameplay footage has yet to be shown, the CG trailer demonstrates Insomniac's trademark sense of humor and fun with the tone of the game seeming to sit nicely between realism and cartoony madness. Centralizing around an elite team of four specialists, all of whom seem to have distinct personalities and abilities, including the leader Dalton Brooks (an ex-mercenary), Jacob Kimble (a detective), Isabelle Sinclair (a scientist) and Naya Deveraux (a thief). What came to mind initially for me were the likes of Team Fortress but with the production values and expressiveness of a Pixar film. Being made by Insomniac you know it will have a well realized narrative full of colorful characters and, given the primary focus on the four, it should be expected that co-op will be seamlessly weaved into its design. 
 
Visually I would say it's somewhere between The Incredibles and a stereotypically more realistic shooter but where the characters are pseudo-realistic; fully detailed but exaggerated, with Dalton above for example having a jaw line similar to Captain Qwark from Ratchet and Clank. It is safe to assume it will be a third-person game, most likely over the shoulder ala Gears of War and feature the usual cover and shooting core mechanics, but no doubt Insomniac plans to change things up with the unique tools, gadgets and weapons the characters will have access to as the trailer hints at. As for the setting of Overstrike, it seems to be their take on a not-too-distant future world with the trailer showing off a nifty sequence involving a terminator-esque cyborg.


Numerous abilities are demonstrated with one team member using an energy shield barrier to deflect bullets and another firing some kind of sticky rounds that expand upon hitting the target as a form of immobilization more than straight offense. The overall feel of the game reminds me of films where a group of random highly skilled characters work together to get covert or special ops work done, all the while giving their commanding officers headaches due to their methods and lack of responsibility.  

I'm really excited to see more of Overstrike as Resistance never clicked with me and despite how much I've enjoyed every Ratchet and Clank, the series definitely needs to take a break. It's also kind of awesome that at long last people who have only owned an Xbox 360 for the past few years will get to experience the amazing work Insomniac does.

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