From pause combos in Devil May Cry, to the parry sequences in Sekiro, rhythm has always been an integral part of action games. What hides this fact is that while the rhythm has always been there, it's typically unfocused. Bayonetta may be dancing to one beat, but the enemies are marching to one of their own, and the ost is going to an entirely different bpm. Action games have always been rhythm games, in the same way that the members of an orchestra all tuning their instruments disparately is still music.

This is what makes Hi-Fi Rush so brilliant. It realizes that the only missing piece keeping these games from being recognized as musical is a consistent beat. The player, enemies, music, stages, and cutscenes, everything is in sync.

It helps that the game is killer too, Chai's combos are slick and weave well into each other. The game has a strong set of enemies, and the partner mechanic is fun to play with. The animation is great, the levels are fun, and it has nearly all the features I look for in one of these games. (As far as I can tell, difficulty modes don't change enemy formations, that's pretty much my only disappointment)

It's just really rad ok? Go play it.