The best way to describe Sunset Overdrive is to compare it to coming home after a long night of trick or treating, locking yourself in your bedroom and gorging on your bounty. Take that sugar rush, chase it with a few Red Bulls, and you have the essence that makes up the heart and soul of this wonderfully over-the-top action game.

More than that, after straying from their roots with the gritty Resistance trilogy and losing their way a bit with Fuse, this is the first Insomniac-developed game I’ve played in some time that actually feels like they’re making the kind of game they would want to play.

Insomniac is a ridiculously talented studio that’s had a monumental impact on video games, so it’s good to have them back.

As for Sunset Overdrive, this game is goddamn bonkers, and I do mean that in the best way possible. It employs a liberal use of color, has a great sense of humor and it’s managed to take one of the things I loved most about Crackdown, like abusing my newfound powers to cause mayhem and ruin anyone who’s dumb enough to get in my way, with the fluid movement of InFamous.

As we find ourselves wading in a sea of video games that strive for realism, Sunset Overdrive embraces insanity. This is a video game, and that means its sole purpose is to be fun. In that regard, this game doesn’t just succeed, it excels.

There’s even a bit of Saints Row in here as well. The big open world this game offers is your plaything, something to keep you entertained. There’s a story, but this is definitely one of those games where some of the most fun and memorable experiences you’ll have are waiting off the beaten path.

Now, when I play any game that gives me the option to really customize my character, I tend to spend an inordinate amount of time tweaking the face and making sure my clothes let monsters know I’m a laid back guy, but not one to be trifled with. There hasn’t been a character customization system that’s blown me away since Brink, and that ended up being the best thing about that otherwise terrible game.

Sunset Overdrive has plenty of options to choose from when you’re designing your character, and many of the options are themed to match the game’s colorful, punk-rock world. I’d say I would’ve liked to see more, but there really is more than enough to satisfy most folks.

Speaking of the game world, the art style here is more than eye candy, it’s eye protein. If Insomniac had any trouble working with the Xbox One hardware, it doesn’t show at all in the final product. This game looks fantastic, and it never slowed down for me, even when much of the area surrounding my character was populated by explosions, gunfire and the orange arterial spray from slain mutants.

Any time I see or play a game that doesn’t shy away from bombastic visuals and vibrant colors, I can’t help but give it some praise. There are so many games that stick to the greys and browns that it genuinely excites me when I see something that’s anything but. This may be an action shooter, but it’s one that isn’t burdened by anything other than the singular goal of being fun enough that you won’t want to set it down.

One of my few “big” complaints about this revolves around the controls. They would’ve benefited from some extra fine-tuning, especially since you’ll rarely be shooting while standing in place. There’s plenty of games that offer exactly that. In Sunset Overdrive, you’ll be shooting while bouncing from one car to the next, scaling buildings and riding power lines.

Granted, this issue could be a matter of my needing more practice before I’m mowing down hordes of mutants while using power lines to race from one roof to another like a significantly less grim Cole MacGrath.

If its colorful world and wealth of quirk, wit and charm don’t draw you in, the weapons might. Sunset Overdrive has an arsenal that even rivals Dead Rising, the current king of coming up with batshit crazy weapons for us to use on the zombies hordes.

As your arsenal grows, you’ll accrue weapons that spew fire, exploding cat statues, harpoons, bowling balls, streams of acid, and vinyls that ricochet between enemies, among so many others. Finding the loadout that works best with your playstyle will be important, especially if you’re planning on surviving in a world overrun by mutants.

Plot isn’t super important here, but here’s a introduction for those who care. Sunset Overdrive takes place in Sunset City, where the Fizzco Corporation has decided to gift its citizens with an exclusive first taste of their new energy drink, Overcharge Delirium XT, weeks ahead of its public launch. Almost immediately after consuming it, people start mutating into violent monsters.

With no one left to enforce the law, some of the remaining survivors turn into real dicks, forming groups of bandits that are just about as dangerous as the mutants. That leaves you, an still-human teenager with a penchant for shooting things without breaking stride, to clean up this mess.

Along with the main campaign and the aforementioned memories that will only be made when you stray from it, there’s a number of optional side quests for people like me, who’d very much like to get as close to 100% completion as possible. Yeah, I’m totally the type of person who will — and has — spent hundreds of hours collecting every stupid orb in Crackdown. There’s nothing quite as time-consuming like that here, but there are some collectibles.

Should you find yourself needing a temporary break from the single-player offering, Sunset Overdrive has an eight-player co-op mode called Chaos Squad that pits you and a group of friends and/or strangers against hordes of mutants. Killing everything that moves is only part of it, as you’ll also be tasked with random objectives — like climbing tall structures, defending convoys, etc. — to complete in order to make it to the next round.

If the idea of killing humans in another generic shooter is beginning to sound as dull to you as it does me, I suggest you give this a go. Just make sure you set aside some free time in your schedule beforehand, because this game is very difficult to put down.

The Final Word: Sunset Overdrive is colorful, addictive and apologetically bonkers. This is a wild ride you won’t soon forget from a developer that finally seems to have returned to its roots in delivering zany, over-the-top fun.