Hi-Fi Rush is stylish in almost every aspect. Music, art, humor, rhythm, dialogue, gameplay. Mending a rhythm game with the stylish action genre, every piece of Hi-Fi Rush is drenched in its apparent dedication to these aspects. The game moves at a certain BPM and EVERYTHING is based on the beat. The environments, the music in the background, the NPCs, the pace of the main character’s footsteps all move and flow based on this BPM. The game incentivizes you to play in time to the beat. Jumping to the beat, dodging to the beat, swinging your cool guitar into enemies FLCL style to the beat will allow you to jump higher and deal even more damage to your enemies.
Being a rhythm game, music is the foundation for every level. From puzzles and platforming to combat encounters and boss battles, the game uses music ranging from original music to indie bands to Nine Inch Nails. It’s jaw-dropping how well the first boss syncs up his attacks with NiN’s “1,000,000”. But just even the little things like grappling to a ledge right on the beat and hearing that cool little HEY!’ sound effect just makes you feel good.
Don’t worry though. If you aren’t musically-inclined you can still play well enough as the game doesn’t penalize you for not hitting the right BPM but rather it rewards the player for staying on beat. But I’ll admit, if you aren’t, at least regularly, playing to the beat, you are missing out on a ton of what makes this game so cool. The game does offer an optional metronome on screen to help with pacing but the visuals of the scenery do this just as well.
At first I thought that rhythm was the only gimmick this game offered but I soon learned that this game is a whole ass competent stylish fighting game in and off itself, with so many different moves to unlock, combos to learn, characters to help you assist that you can also customize, Hi-Fi Rush is so much more than a gimmick and honestly could hold its own without the rhythm stuff but the rhythm aspects are what makes this game one of the most memorable in recent memory. Not to mention, being able to replay older levels with all your newly acquired abilities to earn more cash to buy more moves or collectibles for your characters adds so much to the replay value.
Hi-Fi Rush was an absolute blast. Visually, musically, mechanically; everything comes together so well. Even the writing, the stupid dialogue of the loveable but braindead MC and the cast of both allies and villains give me so many Futurama vibes that just hits the spot. This game came out of nowhere and I’m glad to see how much more they can add to this in future installments.
Being a rhythm game, music is the foundation for every level. From puzzles and platforming to combat encounters and boss battles, the game uses music ranging from original music to indie bands to Nine Inch Nails. It’s jaw-dropping how well the first boss syncs up his attacks with NiN’s “1,000,000”. But just even the little things like grappling to a ledge right on the beat and hearing that cool little HEY!’ sound effect just makes you feel good.
Don’t worry though. If you aren’t musically-inclined you can still play well enough as the game doesn’t penalize you for not hitting the right BPM but rather it rewards the player for staying on beat. But I’ll admit, if you aren’t, at least regularly, playing to the beat, you are missing out on a ton of what makes this game so cool. The game does offer an optional metronome on screen to help with pacing but the visuals of the scenery do this just as well.
At first I thought that rhythm was the only gimmick this game offered but I soon learned that this game is a whole ass competent stylish fighting game in and off itself, with so many different moves to unlock, combos to learn, characters to help you assist that you can also customize, Hi-Fi Rush is so much more than a gimmick and honestly could hold its own without the rhythm stuff but the rhythm aspects are what makes this game one of the most memorable in recent memory. Not to mention, being able to replay older levels with all your newly acquired abilities to earn more cash to buy more moves or collectibles for your characters adds so much to the replay value.
Hi-Fi Rush was an absolute blast. Visually, musically, mechanically; everything comes together so well. Even the writing, the stupid dialogue of the loveable but braindead MC and the cast of both allies and villains give me so many Futurama vibes that just hits the spot. This game came out of nowhere and I’m glad to see how much more they can add to this in future installments.