Turbo Overkill is a fast paced and explosion fueled shooter with quite a large arsenal of weapons and abilities to toy around with. However, in order to counterbalance that, the enemies come in hordes and can deal a hefty chunk of damage if you're not careful.
So if you're new to the whole 'boomer shooter' genre, or simply curious about what to watch out for in your first run through Turbo Overkill, allow me to share with you some handy tips and advice to help you get started. Without further ado, let us begin!
Video version of this guide (~7 minutes)
Never stop moving
Much like the rest of its 'boomer shooter' brethren, the key to success in Turbo Overkill is to never stop moving. Dash from side-to-side, strafe around enemies, jump over them or simply slide through them. Just whatever you do, do not stand still!
Even on the lower difficulty settings standing still is a surefire way to end up on the death screen, which is a lot less fun than exploding hordes upon hordes of TV-faced baddies. So even if you struggle to be accurate due to all of the movement, just keep doing it because your enemies are going to be suffering from the exact same issue!
The enemies love to swarm you, so don't give them the opportunity
Believe in the chainsaw
In order to help you stay alive during the frantic firefights Turbo Overkill gives you access to two dodges. However, once used these dodge charges take a bit of time to come back, so if you're using them as often as you should you're going to run out of dodge juice quite frequently.
This is where the good ol' chainsaw leg comes to the rescue. By launching yourself into a slide you will gain a huge burst of speed, and with it essentially a third dodge. And if you want to go really fast, you can also upgrade your chainsaw leg's launch speed in order to turn it into an endlessly repeatable boost. Super fun, and super powerful!
And if you slide into someone's face, that's even better!
Don't ignore any weapon
Turbo Overkill has a large arsenal of weapons, and they are by no means simple filler. Besides the primary attack of the very first pistol you receive, all of the weapons and their firing modes have a use in specific situations.
The double-barreled shotgun packs a punch but reloads slowly, so the weaker auto-shotgun easily eclipses it against scattered enemies. If you're fighting a bunch of snipers on different elevations then the pistol's lock-on mode can help even the odds. And if you're trying to gun down a powerful mini-boss from a distance, the precision rifle will do far more damage and hit far more frequently than the mighty chaingun.
So learn to rely on all of the weapons, because every single one of them has a purpose!
Even the basic shotgun is a powerhouse in close quarters
Upgrade weapons first
Turbo Overkill gives you access to a whole bunch of expensive characters upgrades from the very start of the game. However, while some of these might sound absolutely amazing, I would highly recommend first purchasing the weapon upgrades.
Unlocking something like the flamethrower mode on your chaingun or the grenade launcher attachment on your double-barreled shotgun is a far better use of your coins than making you explode enemies upon landing from a great height. The latter is still fun, and you should absolutely get it somewhere down the line, but for the first few levels focus on the weapons as they will give you the greatest bang for your buck.
The flamethrower upgrade is glorious!
Don't neglect your defense
Speaking of upgrades, you might be tempted to pour everything you have into offense in order to finish the fights as quickly as possible. While that is certainly a valid option, I would recommend mostly focusing on defense (after upgrading your weapons) for your first time through Turbo Overkill.
Making enemies explode when you hit them with your wrist-mounted rockets is again great fun, but the less exciting upgrades like gaining health & armor while killing enemies with your chainsaw slide will go a long way towards keeping you alive and in the fight. Same thing with giving your dodges invincibility frames. It might not sound all that exciting now, but you might just change your mind when you dodge straight through a swarm of missiles!
Even humble upgrades can get you pretty far
Secrets are well worth the trouble
Besides the usual pick ups like health, armor and power ups, Turbo Overkill has three types of secrets: cassettes, tech-chips and chests. All three are well worth hunting down, but especially the chests.
Chests give you access to free upgrades that are generally quite powerful, while being fairly easy to sniff out since the keys are always hidden close to the chests themselves. Tech-chips on the other hand give you access to new modifiers to help spice up your future playthroughs, while cassettes give you bonus content like the always-handy horde mode.
So if you want to dive into as much content as possible, the secrets are well worth the trouble.
The keys are always close to the chests, so make sure not to skip them
Let the enemies guide you
While Turbo Overkill's levels are by no means labyrinthine, you might occasionally miss some obvious clue and end up getting lost. Should this happen, the best advice is to simply follow the enemies.
If you're moving towards an area that's constantly bombarding you with new foes, even if this is a place you've already been through, you're on the correct path. Similarly, if everything around you is devoid of all life, simply go back to the scene of the last firefight and see if there's a convenient door or marker you may have missed.
Also, certain doors and areas require you to kill all enemies in order to proceed. These places are usually walled off with pink energy shields, so if you run into those, make sure to finish off any stragglers before going on your merry way.
If everything is exploding, you're going the right way!
Closing thoughts
And there you have it, seven small pieces of advice to hopefully make your first run through Turbo Overkill a nice and pleasant one. Naturally, this is still a 'boomer shooter' we're talking about so you're most likely going to die a bunch of times regardless.
However, rather than stress about it, I'd recommend simply jumping back in and giving it another bash. Trust me on this, you will get a lot better with each attempt, and quite quickly at that! So enjoy the ride and don't even consider giving up!
[Note]: If you're wondering whether Turbo Overkill if even worth your time, as well as how it compares to the rest of the 'boomer shooter' genre, I'd also welcome you to check out my review.