Co-op in Overdriven Reloaded perfectly emulates the feeling of standing in an arcade with friends and pockets full of quarters. Up to four local players can join in at any time by pressing enter/start on the keyboard or gamepad. There's no friendly fire, but power-ups aren't on a per-user basis, so you'll have to share. Players can drop in or out at anytime, and the game doesn't seem to change the frequency or strength of enemies depending on how many people play. That means two people will have an easier time, four will practically burn through foes like leaves in a bonfire.
Overdriven Reloaded sticks a lot of optional features into the experience for no reason other than to give us more things to do. The modes listed above provide a ton of variety, but you can also change story mode's difficulty every time you play, starting with easy and moving to normal, hard, and nightmare. There's also a great deal of hidden stuff to collect, like 35 alien artifacts and the secret space cows. It's shocking how much fun hunting for hidden stuff is in a shmup. With all the bullets flying around and your attention razor focused on edging out death, it's nice to try looking at something else for a change.
Shmups tend to attract the same core group of followers no matter when or where they're released. This has given them a definite reputation in the gaming world, one that nudges out strangers or anyone casually interested in shooting things, vertically or otherwise. Overdriven Reloaded takes steps to mend that relationship without alienating core genre fans. The difficulty toggles are a great first step, as are the multiple modes and hidden items. Multiplayer can totally change the experience for the better, so if you've got a friend competent enough to hold a gamepad, invite them over. Trust me, you'll have fun.
It's got style, it's got variety, it's got a killer rock soundtrack, and it's got four player co-op. Overdriven Reloaded opens up the vertical shmup genre for players of all interests and skill levels to come in and play. Start with a little casual shooting, then switch on nightmare mode and see what you and your friends are made of.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
Overall
The Co-Op Experience: Play through any of the game's modes with up to four players locally
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.