Entering Overdrive is by far the best thing you can do to catch up in Screamer. It activates a long boost, and any car you hit gets knocked out, allowing you to catch up as fast as possible.
Activating Overdrive isn’t easy, and you might not even get to do it once in a match. Here’s a quick guide showing you how to unlock and enter Overdrive in Screamer.
How to Activate Overdrive in Screamer
To activate Overdrive, you must fill up the Entropy Meter to full first. It takes a while, but that’s the only time the “Overdrive” overlay will appear, as shown in the image above. Once the meter is full, press L3 and R3 together to activate Overdrive.
In Overdrive, your car will have a non-stop boost for the full duration of the Entropy Meter. Every car hit while in Overdrive will be knocked out unless they activate their shields. While in Overdrive, you can also knock yourself out when crashing hard into walls, so you’d better be careful turning on corners because it is very difficult to control your car while having a non-stop boost active from the Overdrive.
The Entropy Meter gradually fills up during a race, but doesn’t fill up any faster by doing manual perfect shifts or by speeding while in gear 6, which are two of the main ways to fill up your boosts or Sync Meter.
Because of this, it’ll be hard to activate Overdrive in a race unless you really save up for it. That means you’ll have to refrain from using Strikes and Shields because those use up the Entropy Meter as well.
Overdrive isn’t really a big factor in a race if you are using your Shields and Strikes efficiently. Since Strikes also give you a quick boost, apart from knocking out other players, using them can get you ahead, especially when you are out of boosts.
Shields are also important since getting knocked out will set you back a few places in the blink of an eye. There are indicators (red flashes) that show when you are being targeted by a Strike from behind or when someone in Overdrive is near you. Always use your Shields to defend, even if it burns out your Entropy Meter.
The Overdrive meter is mostly there as a catch-up mechanic since you are most likely not using Shields and Strikes when you are behind.
