Sensory Overload is a fast-paced dropper-style game from developer Pancake Studios.
Before playing Sensory Overload, I was aware the developer claimed to have created a game with the sole purpose of assaulting the senses with noise and colour. Being a father of 3 young children, my senses are assaulted on a daily and sometimes hourly basis, so I thought I was more than up to the challenge. Booting up the first time and after completing the tutorial, I jumped straight into the action; there is no story, you simply have to navigate down an ever-turning tunnel, avoiding the different obstacles as fast as possible.
After a few attempts I started to get the hang of things, before I knew it, I was flying down the tunnels marveling at my superhuman ability to brush past the psychedelic obstacles with impunity until I reached the finish line and was greeted with the leaderboard and was instantly humbled when I realised I only managed 8% perfection on my run and could see the top 10 of players who don’t have the reactions of a sloth.
Improve your run times or improve your reactions!
This hasn’t deterred me; however, the game is incredibly addictive. The controls are extremely simple; the mouse is used for everything. Once you get used to how the game reacts to your subtle movements with the mouse, it really is a joy, and the game has a way of making you feel skilled even when you are not. With the speed boosts you can perform and the point multipliers you can achieve by successfully grazing past or dodging an obstacle, it’s all extremely satisfying. And when you combine these movements with the electrifying soundtrack, it really gets the blood pumping! This all leads to the game having incredible replayability as you constantly strive to better your scores and beat others on the scoreboard.
Sensory assault on my eyes!
The developer wasn’t lying when he said his game is about making the gamer uncomfortable. I did notice that after about 30 minutes of playing, I did get serious eye strain. Luckily, I have a pair of Gunnar Gaming Glasses, which actually did help alleviate this, and it certainly didn’t deter me from completing a particularly frustrating level after 30+ failed attempts. With this in mind, I certainly wouldn’t recommend this game to anyone with photosensitivity issues, which the game does warn you about upon start-up.
If competing on a timed leaderboard isn’t your thing and you want a more relaxing experience, there is an endless mode where you can complete the levels at your leisure with no concern about how fast you are, which is a good thing; once I discovered the speed boost button, my failed runs went up massively.
Vibrant and colourful. A real sense of speed!
The visuals of the game are a combination of simple pixel-style obstacles and tunnels with pulsing and vibrant colours; as you progress, these constantly change and get increasingly more psychedelic. And when you combine these with the fantastic and pumping techno soundtrack, it gives you a real sense of speed and makes playing the levels an incredibly fun experience.
Simple controls and interface.
Very simple interface, and there is a good tutorial to play that helps you get to grips with the basic movements such as dodging and speed boosting. The game handles well, and the controls are simple yet intuitive. The game also played very well on my handheld device, a Legion Go S and had no performance issues whatsoever.
An addictive sensory experience
Overall, I found Sensory Overload extremely fun; the game is perfect for a mindless 30 minutes of gaming to unwind, but be warned this can very easily turn into hours as you try to beat your previous run times. As a middle-aged gamer, it was a humbling experience; I now realise my reactions aren’t what they used to be, but it was no less fun finding this out! If you want to test how bad your reactions are, here is a link to purchase the game here.
