Hi-Fi Rush Review - A Rhythmic Masterpiece
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If you told me that at the start of the year I would be completely blown away from a rhythmic action game, I wouldn’t believe you one bit, but here we are. Developer Tango Gameworks (The Evil Within) shadow-dropped their new title Hi-Fi Rush during the Xbox and Bethesda Developer Direct and took fans by surprise - and, as it just so happens, there’s good reason for the hype, since Hi-Fi Rush is easily a Game of the Year contender for 2023, and I was blown away by almost all aspects of this charming rhythm action game.
Suddenly releasing a game the day it was just announced is no easy feat, but the developers pulled it off with our first look at the game carefully explaining the core concept of every attack and animation moving to the beat of the game’s music. I was on board the moment I saw the game in motion, and when they dropped the bomb that it was available on PC and Xbox platforms right after the show, I downloaded it and easily fell in love with the rhythm of Chai’s adventure in taking down a series of corporate bosses at Vandalay Industries.
In Chai we trust?
You play as Chai, a wannabe rockstar that participated in the Strongarm project, in which his broken arm was replaced with a robot one. Unfortunately, the procedure doesn’t go as planned, as a foreign object was included in the operation. With that, Chai is now branded a ‘defect’ and bears a music player fused into his chest, resulting in his whole world being forced to move into the beat. Apparently, being a defect means he’s to be killed on sight, so he fights his way through various robots in the compound, and meets new friends aiming to uncover Vandalay’s secrets and put a stop to it.
Hi-Fi Rush is such a perfect merge of Devil May Cry gameplay with the rhythm subgenre as Tango Gameworks sticks to the concept of everything moving to the beat. The moment Chai is thrown out of the operating table his surroundings and movements are in sync. Even enemy attacks and cutscenes are conscious about the music’s rhythm at all times, as the game never went off-beat, which is an impressive achievement for a game that is around ten hours long.
Even on Idle, Chai is moving and snapping to the music. There’s trees in the distance jamming, and cogs moving all in rhythm. It’s a sight to see and hear as I have never enjoyed a game in this manner before.
It’s still surreal that Hi-Fi Rush was created by the folks at Tango Gameworks, a studio more known for horror titles like The Evil Within, as they have Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami leading the charge in the studio.
This game is a complete contrast to what the studio is used to creating, as Hi-Fi Rush has this vibrant color palette all throughout, with a cel-shading animation that screams of inspiration from games like Jet Set Radio. Its cartoony style works so well and fits the characters of the game, since this is a mostly a comedic journey where Chai’s overconfidence and stupidity puts him and his group in such unusual situations.
There’s a lot of jokes being thrown in, and most of them landed pretty well for me, so it’s likely you’ll giggle here and there either in a cutscene or to whoever you’ll be talking to while going from stage to stage. Even the enemies have this clear comedic personality, from the stiff and serious guard robots ready to attack you the moment they see you, the engineers that are too chill and relaxed to not realize they are conversing with the enemy, to the cleaner bots that are always anxious that they’ll lose their job at any moment.
The game’s story is simple on paper, but the characters do work hard to keep you entertained and wanting more, as each of the major ones you meet are never dull and easy to forget. The main character Chai is an idiot; Peppermint is cool, collected, and keeps the group grounded in what needs to be done; Macaron just wants to do the right thing and tries to avoid conflict as much as possible (even though he’s the strongest), and CNMN is a robot that expresses his emotions by drawing them on his face with a marker. You can always count on him to never sugarcoat any situation. We then have the big bosses that are oozing with personality. Your time with them is short but sweet, as the final confrontation with these characters is a big choreographed performance with their own tracks to further set them apart from the rest of the game.
Just jam with the beat!
When it’s time for combat, everything comes into place as the music switches to a more upbeat sound that, most of the time, fits well for the situation at hand. I was doing my attacks to the beat, dodging to the beat, everything felt right as I was bobbing my head and clearing waves of Vandalay robots. The combat works so well that I was always itching to get back into the action. I was having fun and wanted to get back in there and experiment, mixing the different combo strings Chai has in his arsenal. Tracking can be a bit tough when things get chaotic, as you can’t lock on at a specific target, so if you need to prioritize one particular enemy in a fight, you’d better hope you’re facing the right direction.
The game slowly opens up, providing more options for Chai as he can use a grappling hook to close the gap between enemies, parry (requires good timing), call allies to break specific shields, and do special moves called Reverbs to deliver a good amount of damage to enemies in front of you. As the combat gets more complicated, the game becomes more entertaining, so much so that it was hard to put Hi-Fi Rush down on my first night. It felt so good to feel like my attacks made me a part of the band, jamming, having a good time.
For those that naturally struggle to go by the beat, the developers have placed a few ways to make the game accessible in this regard as you are not strictly required to stay in rhythm to succeed. Doing so just makes your hits more effective and flow more naturally. You can still mash your way like a madman if you like. But if you need help following the beat, and the environments and music aren’t enough, the game also has a metronome visual guide at the bottom of the UI that serves as a rhythm assist to help you get in the groove.
Being one with the rhythm
In between missions, Chai and his friends hang out in their hideout, which serves as the game’s player hub where they can talk to characters and improve Chai’s fighting prowess by purchasing new combos and abilities as well as unlocking new perks which can affect combat, like reducing the cooldown of when you can summon an ally to battle again.
When it comes to the game’s overall flow, Hi-Fi Rush greatly resembles the Devil May Cry design where a player navigates through a large stage with secrets and resources to collect, then featuring pocket encounters that box you in, and only once you’ve cleared the area of enemies, the barriers are lifted and you’re able to move around freely again.
The game’s platforming sections are also jamming to the beat, as even the platforms you need to stand on go on and off with the music. It’s surprisingly fun to navigate through these stages, and the transition from gameplay to cutscenes are so smooth, it can be hard to tell when the transition occurred.
I’m a rocker by heart, and this game resonated with me so much that it unearthed my love for music as I’ve naturally fallen off listening to my favorite artists through the years. When I heard Nine Inch Nails’ ‘1,000,000’ or The Prodigy’s ‘Invaders Must Die’ playing in the background, I felt a rush of excitement I haven’t felt in a long time, and Hi-Fi Rush’s combat paired nicely with my enjoyment of such good music. But don’t get me wrong, not all the music you hear in-game is licensed music, as I was getting the same feeling with the tracks created just for the game. Hi-Fi Rush has a streamer mode that removes all licensed music and replaces it with their original creations, and they still fit the bill for each encounter.
The beauty of Hi-Fi Rush is that the game never skips a beat. After the first hour, I knew this was going to be something special and as I progressed through the story, the game only got better, from the set pieces to the people you meet. Hi-Fi Rush was a good start for 2023 as this was a masterfully-done rhythm action game that we have not seen or played before. It’s amazing how they can drop a game with a concept like this and execute it so gracefully with barely any significant bugs or technical issues that would disrupt players from having a good time. Hi-Fi Rush is one of those gems that only come around once in a blue moon, and while I know 2023 just started, I would without a doubt put Tango Gamework’s latest work as a Game of the Year contender.
10/10 (BUY)
PROS
Colorful game world and characters that greatly remind me of Jet Set Radio
Everything syncs to the beat - combat, cutscenes, environments, everything
A wonderful cast of characters, from small to the big baddies
Fun, rhythm-focused combat that doesn’t lose its appeal even as it gets more complicated in the latter parts of the game
CONS
Can be troublesome to focus on a particular target during combat
What I’ve Played
Finished the campaign on Normal difficulty at around 10 hours
Spent a few more hours going through a higher difficulty and trying out their endgame activities
Played the game through PC Game Pass
Stellar Blade’s potential was clear, but as its ambitions expanded into something greater, it lost focus. As soon as Stellar Blade tries to bring everything together, it merges into a single figure that looks deformed and uneven. The quality is unquestionable but it wasn’t the final product I was slowly building in my head as I went through the game’s first half.