Hi-Fi Rush Review
Played on PC
Developed by Tango Gameworks
Released 25th January 2023
Even though I tend to review games released a decent amount of time ago, and 'Hi-Fi Rush' is only about a year old, it felt appropriate to visit this game so soon due to its recent Sony adoption. To better explain if you're unaware of the situation, Microsoft's plans to extend its first-party exclusives outside of the Xbox terrain has led to a couple of games seeing light on the rival console, the PlayStation. One of which, was 'Hi-Fi Rush', a silent release as its marketing was limited to an announcement of the game's existence on the day of its launch.
Development on this game is quite wonderous seeing as the developers, Tango Gameworks, best known for their survival horror efforts like 'The Evil Within' series, and the publishers, Bethesda Softworks, best known for their many franchises like 'Elder Scrolls', 'Fallout' and 'Dishonoured', have created complete polar opposites of what 'Hi-Fi Rush' entails. Developed alongside the 2022 'Ghostwire Tokyo', executive producer Shinji Mikami wanted to venture out of the survival horror genre and "nurture younger game creators". The game started as one of those "drunk" ideas that would easily get passed off, but with enough perseverance and focus, director John Johanas pitched a creative idea that persisted throughout development without changing its core identity. All that I can say is that this game has made me instil a level of confidence in Tango Gameworks that, regardless of whether they want to make a sequel or experiment further and go for yet another outside-the-boundaries idea, I'll fully believe in whatever they come out with next.
Story
Combined with the writing, the story perfectly cumulates that Nickelodeon animated show energy. 'Hi-Fi Rush's narrative follows Chai, who, after enduring a limb-replacement procedure gone awry, follows his dreams of being a rockstar on to a path of rebelling against the same company that gave him the limb-replacement surgery. There are a couple more layers to the story that get unravelled naturally, thanks to the narrative's excellent writing. I think one of the many reasons I gravitated towards the experience so much is due to how much it radiated that Nickelodeon energy and how I grew up on that vibe, more specifically, with 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'. I will talk about this more in the character section, but the crew in 'Hi-Fi Rush' felt like a wave of nostalgia back to that cartoon goodness. Aside from this, the game is also well-paced, both in plot progression and character development, and (nearly) all the plot points, twists or even "epic" moments were heavily appealing, never making me lose interest, despite its slightly predictable formula of going after each head of Vandelay Technologies.
Gameplay
Despite the obvious superbness of the visuals, I think the game's strongest element is the gameplay. 'Hi-Fi Rush' is a rhythm-based beat'em up brawler with a combo system and flair akin to the 'Devil May Cry' and early 'God of War' games. Because of its rhythmic focus, each attack you dish out, whether it's light, heavy or special, can be synchronised to the music and such synchronisation leads to a higher score output and greater damage inflicted onto enemies - as expected in a rhythm-based game. What makes this game so brilliant, however, is how both of these components work so well individually, that, when coupled together, make for a fantastic experience.
The beat'em up alone is already great with many cool combos and special attacks to be pulled off with ease, and are as flashy as they are beneficial in combat. Additionally, the well-designed and timed parry system leads to some spectacles that continue the game's flow. The only thing that isn't great about the gameplay is the overuse of QTEs that appear even out of the combat in trivial things like breaking down a wall. While it's understandable that they're supposed to be there to continuously supply momentum to the game, outside of the soundtrack or visuals, they do lead to some frustrating moments.
As for the rhythm aspect, the movement of objects in the environment would align and provide more accessibility to the easy-to-learn, hard-to-master style of this rhythmic beat'em up by providing so many cues to land your strikes on time. This is a phenomenal gameplay loop that doesn't get tiring regardless of its 10-hour duration, especially with how it constantly adds new mechanics like the summoning of your allies for a quick burst of damage or collaborative super moves, a grapple used in and out of combat and much more.
There aren't many issues with the game, with the most notable problems being nitpicks like how the flying enemies caused more grief than joy for me or how it wasn't as easy to aim your super moves, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't a skill issue and how I'm not that good at games.
Bossfights
Even though the gameplay is the best component of the game, its integration into these spectacular duels was most likely my favourite part. Every fight from the roster of bosses was splendid and did the final push in convincing me that 'Hi-Fi Rush' is the best rhythm game out there as it managed to blend all the standout qualities into one grand encounter, on several occasions. The music, the flow of the gameplay and the extravaganza-level visuals made for some amazing bossfights, with highlights spawning from the Roquefort and Rekka battles. Even the lower-tier fights like Zanzo and his style-over-substance encounter, or Korsica and her QTE-heavy staredowns left, at the very least, a smile on my face once they were over, due to them simply being that enjoyable.
Characters
The characters, while not as good as the story, still provide a high-quality impact. As mentioned earlier, the crew here reminds me of the 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' show, not because there can be parallels drawn between the two groups, but because of the friendly dynamic between them all creating this "let's go team!" identity that doesn't tread over to cringe territory, but instead sits comfortably in the immersive zone. Individually, the characters are still pretty great, with the protagonist, Chai, being initially very annoying to sit with, but his growth into a mature goofball is fantastic to experience, and worth the wait that many may otherwise find unbearable. As for the antagonists, while the primary villain, Kale, doesn't have much depth and the conclusion to his arc feels undeveloped due to it being sidelined for another character's finale, other villains provided enough of a show in their personalities to remain memorable and even gave me a couple of chuckles, especially Zanzo and his blatant JoJo pose references.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere, from the visuals to the audio, is just a rush of grand spectacles. Everything about this game aesthetically is a case of unrestricted creativity and as a result, the game goes a long way with it. The vibrancy of the colour palettes, the boldness of the art style's lining, the liveliness of the environment and how it reacts and synchs to the music, the overly familiar yet still loveable soundtrack and more all contribute to make this a wonderful blend of talent and artistic ingenuity.
I'm more of a Hip-Hop fan than I am of Rock, but the guitar riffs or the drums' bounciness are all so elegantly put together that they propel the gameplay's fluidity. In addition, because of how detailed and optically engaging every surface was, while I was listening to the OST for this review, I could just imagine how the music complemented the art and vice-versa. This level of duality between the two is quite often only seen in near-10/10 titles, but with how well it works here, 'Hi-Fi Rush' establishes a new bar for other rhythm-based games that will make them feel like underperformers if they don't achieve what this game has.
Story - 7.5/10
Gameplay - 9/10
Bossfights - 9/10
Characters - 7/10
Atmosphere - 9/10
GREAT
The best rhythm-based game out there.
