What is your first memory of playing Sonic? For many people, this was running through green hills or escaping cities. But for gamers in the 90s, one iconic moment in Sonic history was the Sonic CD opening. With no dialog whatsoever, you got such a clear demonstration of Sonic’s personality and insane speeds. Sonic Overdrive, a fan project in the PS4 game Dreams captures this same feeling.

Sonic Overdrive Final Demo Trailer

Demigod Games said the following on the YouTube description of this project;

The time has finally come. For a while now, you’ve been drip fed the content of old, it’s time for a change of pace and to say out with the old and in with the new! I and the rest of the team PROUDLY PRESENT, the NEW SONIC OVERDRIVE!

Impressions on the Demo

Playing this on my PlayStation 5, the demo opens with a short level. Sonic runs through a cloud-like environment, letting players get their sneakers active with the controls.

Controls/Movement

Sonic’s movement is very responsive, with the blue blur having a real sense of weight to him but the movement still feels snappy. A major focus is building up momentum, which is done through careful timing when you roll (which is done with the R2 button). Rolling down a hill or at the right time during a ramp builds up insane speeds.

That is only supported by a very generous trick system, which you use the L1 or R1 buttons to engage with. The L1 button lets you get an extra jump, while the R1 button lets you launch forward at fast speeds. In addition, specific ramps and objects can let you perform ‘basic’ trick jumps when holding down R1 and pressing X.

All these movement options come together in Never Lake, the only ‘finished’ level in the demo. It is quite literally the opening area present in Sonic CD. There aren’t many robots to smash up, with the level simply being a semi-linear playground for Sonic to let his speed do that talking.

Presentation/Music

The visuals themselves are quite impressive, going for an art direction ripped right out of the Classic Era of Sonic. While official games like Sonic Generations and Sonic Superstars demonstrate this in 3D quite nicely, seeing a Cell-Shaded look applied to Sonic and the world is amazing.

The vast grasslands and blue skies pop off the screen, only helped with fantastic animation work from Sonic himself and a stable 60FPS on PS5.

And like all things Sonic, the music is amazing. The ‘You Can Do Everything’ remix present for Never Lake is such a bop. Melding various themes together (Sonic Boom, You Can Do Anything, Palmtree Panic JP), I kept tapping my foot as I played through this demo multiple times.

The presentation and music in the ‘test room’ area in the demo, which shares the visual stylings of Sonic Frontiers City Cyberspace local, is striking despite how basic it is. The music remix is a combination of various cyberspace and ‘Final Horizon’ tracks, having a similar effect to the ‘You Can Do Everything’ remix offered.

Where Can You Play This?

The game is playable through Dreams, a game-maker that Sony and Media Molecule recently sunset support for. Despite that, the servers are still up and continue to get creations such as this one. Another Sonic fan project called Sonic Breeze is also being made within Dreams and offers a similar promise that Sonic Overdrive is trying to accomplish.

I have not tested this on a PlayStation 4 but the game runs very well on PlayStation 5, with only the test level having minor frame drops.

Overall Thoughts on Sonic Overdrive

Sonic and Fan Games are a combination that many people are familiar with. And while we covered this in the past, seeing promising creations being present on the console is a big deal.

Usually, Sonic fans need a PC to access this content. But console owners through platforms like Dreams and Roblox are being able to experience amazing creative efforts from the community.

Expect Lord Sonic to cover other developments on Sonic Overdrive and other projects in the future.

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