Turbo Overkill Reviews

Turbo Overkill is a first-person shooter for the Nintendo Switch. While this genre isn’t exactly in short supply, there aren’t many decent outings for Ninte

Turbo Overkill proudly wears its influences on its sleeve to weave together a ferocious blast through a cyber retro world. It's chock full of charm with plenty of viscera to boot, and reminds you exactly why you loved all the games it doffs its cap to while simultaneously feeling like its slick modern counterparts.

Turbo Overkill is one of our favourite boomer shooters, modern or otherwise. Johnny Turbo's chainsaw-sliding, wall-running and grappling combine with slo-mo silliness to provide a whole lot of punchy murderizing that's a joy to get down and dirty with. Paradise is a glorious playground, a combat puzzle box packed full of amazingly explodey mutants, and the whole thing looks and sounds fantastic in both docked and handheld. If it wasn't for that 30fps cap and a current lack of gyro support, we'd call this the best boomer shooter on Switch so fast you'd think we'd just activated our very own version of Turbo Time.

Turbo Overkill, despite its great visuals and gameplay loop, is constantly stuck in the shadow of the media that inspired it. The story is unremarkable, the references to other entries in the genre become distracting after a bit, and there are several issues with the sound, pacing, and visuals, alongside frequent crashes. As a result, you may find yourself asking why you aren't playing another boomer shooter instead, despite the game's few exciting moments.

Turbo Overkill is one of the best shooters I have played in recent times, though performance on the Steam Deck hampers the experience at times.

Turbo Overkill is a blast to slash, shoot, and chainsaw your way through. It stands alone in its visual style and stands its ground in gameplay and audio. The story leaves much to be desired, but as it’s a small part of an otherwise great package, it rarely takes away from the experience. Turbo Overkill knows what it is, and delivers you exactly that. It plays to its strengths and gives you a great, fresh take on the old man’s “boomer-shooter”.

However, Turbo Overkill loses itself in its constant push for escalation. It’s often not as clever as it thinks it is, and there’s a real sense of quantity over quality. Packing in more mechanics is certainly a type of progress, but a better focus on fewer concepts probably would have elevated the game as a whole. As it is, it’s still a perfectly fun time, and I’d be completely willing to revisit it in a sequel, but it just doesn’t quite climb to the lofty top of the retro-inspired scrap heap.

Turbo Overkill puts petal to the metal and doesn't let up, providing a fresh and bombastic retro-inspired FPS experience.

Absurd, unrelenting and endlessly creative, Turbo Overkill is a masterfully composed symphony of violence.

Turbo Overkill is the new kid in the FPS town. The hero of the game goes by the name of Johnny Turbo. As touted by developer – Trigger Happy Interactive – Johnny Turbo is half-metal, half-human and half-crazy. Turbo cybernetic enhancements include hidden arm rockets, and a concealed chainsaw in your leg – called the Cheg – that can kick slice your enemies into pieces. Turbo Overkill is published by Apogee Entertainment, a company with a strong pedigree of indie FPS games like Duke Nukem, Raptor, and Rise of the Triad.

A perfectly paced retro-inspired FPS which'll have you wishing every future video game protagonist is outfitted with a chainsaw for a leg.