Review: Sunset Overdrive “Mystery of the Mooil Rig” DLC

After two months spent grinding, jumping, ground-pounding and combo-chaining, Sunset Overdrive has delivered its first substantial DLC offering in the form of “Mystery of the Mooil Rig”, a story-based extension to the game that occurs after the main story ends. As you’d expect, there are story spoilers ahead, so tread carefully.

After taking down FizzCo at the end of Sunset Overdive, the Player and co. are still hanging out in Sunset City (for some reason). Bryllcream, the mecha-piloting man-torso, enlists your aid to deal with the newest threat to the city – a new strain of the OD that has appeared, created by consuming a mixture of crude oil and the Overdrive energy drink. Your quest to eliminate them takes you and Bryllcream to their source… An offshore oil rig called the ‘Mooil Rig’ that was totally there the whole time and didn’t just suddenly appear, don’t question it.

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Now the first question you might be asking is, “how do you even say that name”, and honestly I don’t know. Is it ‘moo-il’, ‘moo-oil’, or should it rhyme with ‘royal’? The episode of Sunset TV (a video podcast showcased in-game with information about upcoming events) that introduced the DLC even seemed divided, with Major Nelson and the podcast’s host pronouncing it two different ways. I’m not sure if it’s meant to be a parody of Mobil or if some other joke is in play that I missed – all I know is there are no cows on this oil rig. Anyways, moving on.

The new Mooil Rig area is made up of a couple of oil rig platforms, interlinked with debris and easily grindable rails. The area is populated by warring factions of workers on the platform, along with the new oil-infused OD who have a more nautical theme than their land-based cousins. For the most part they are palette-swaps of the main OD range, but there are some tweaks and new enemy types at work here. While here, your mission is to take out the OD, stop more from being produced, and find Bryllcream’s sister who seems to be trapped on the rig as well.

Thankfully it’s not just a new area on offer for the DLC – as part of this expansion you will also gain access to some new costume items, new weapons and even some new traversal moves. Given the area’s water-based design, you gain the ability to perform a dive-bomb melee move with a follow up launch jump similar to the one you can perform on the ground, although this version launches you much higher to accommodate the verticality of the Mooil Rig’s design, Thankfully this move is usable back on the main map as well, as it greatly improves your ability to move over water. Falling just short of a jump when moving between Sunset City’s islands and losing my momentum was always an annoyance for me in the main campaign, a problem which has now been erased entirely.

“Mystery of the Mooil Rig” is constructed in much the same way as the main game – you can follow the main mission flow designated by purple icons, as well as taking on some blue-markered side missions. The humour for these is on par with the main game, which means you’ll either continue to love it or still feel it’s missing the mark. All in all, the DLC offers a couple hours of content, which expands when you take into account a new set of collectibles to collect (UFOs? Okay.) and new weapons to level.

While the DLC’s set after the end of the game, story-wise, it can be started before then –- meaning you could take your cool new toys with you through the main campaign if you don’t mind a couple nods to the story yet to come. It’s a worthwhile addition to a game that -– while it isn’t perfect –- is trying some new things. Come for the extra weapons, stay for the pun in the final boss’ name.

Sunset Overdrive‘s “Mystery of the Mooil Rig” DLC was reviewed using a promotional copy of the game on Xbox One, as provided by the publisher.