Hi-Fi RUSH's gameplay feels great, and there's a surprising amount of variety and content. I often found myself practically working out during many extended game sessions, as the combination of rhythm gameplay and awesome music energized me to the point that I couldn't sit still. Some difficulty spikes hit me like a wall with certain late-game enemies, but I still always had fun blasting my way through every level. Combat is tight, with just the right amount of "easy to learn, hard to master" to make me feel competent while also realizing that rhythm brawler masters will have a lot of fun in Hi-Fi RUSH.
It's a straightforward linear game, with players exploring a myriad of levels and environments while battling hordes of diverse enemies, sniffing out secrets, and mastering the art of moving to the music.Īnd that gameplay feels great. From a gameplay perspective, there's much to love about Hi-Fi RUSH. Hi-Fi RUSH is an action platformer and a rhythm brawler, meaning players can expect lots of jumping and level traversal, plenty of high-speed action, and a bopping soundtrack that rewards you for keeping to the beat. As luck should have it, Hi-Fi Rush just so happens to play like one of the best GameCube games that you never had the opportunity to try at the time, one which benefits from the modern advancements that make a slick 60 frames-per second and gorgeous 4K rendering of a hyper-stylized cel-shaded playspace possible.Hi-Fi RUSH's combat is divided into neat "Chorus" sections, making it easy for players to return in the search for higher scores. Although Hi-Fi Rush does have a familiar ' Capcom Five' energy to it – an experimental edge, where a willingness to try something different supersedes the need to get it right all of the time. Is Hi-Fi Rush the game P.N.03 should have been all those years ago, or able to fill the void left in my heart by the demise of the Viewtiful Joe series? Not quite. Schneider, while the vivid colorwork and personality that helped define Joe's adventures through Movieland are present and accounted for here. The way Chai sways and snaps to the beat while idle echoes the motions of Vanessa Z. Consider the influence of Shinji Mikami, the studio founder who served as director of the former and executive producer of the latter in 2003 – and is now serving as executive producer of Hi-Fi Rush 20 years later.
Whether it was intentional from the team at Tango Gameworks or not, I did feel the interpolation of these cult-classic GameCube games throughout. I mentioned P.N.03 and Viewtiful Joe up top, which you may consider to be two strange touchstones for a game so thematically and mechanically distinct as Hi-Fi Rush. I was laughing out loud during cutscenes, wide-eyed during the larger combat encounters, and otherwise bemused as Chai and the gang shredded their way through the adventure with wild abandon. For a game with such impeccable rhythm you may not be surprised to learn that Hi-Fi Rush has incredible comedic timing, but I have to say that I was taken aback by just how consistently funny it is. It's splashy and undeniably bombastic, but there's detail to the framing of its oversized sequences and plucky facial animations that's difficult to ignore. The visual design echoes the hyper-vivid color palette used to great effect in games like Sunset Overdrive and Jet Set Radio, yes, but Hi-Fi Rush has perhaps more in common with the early morning cartoons that aired in the '90s. Hi-Fi Rush has good vibes, and while that descriptive lacks any distinction it does accurately capture the way you'll feel while playing. While its story is simple enough, as a ragtag group of reluctant heroes assemble to combat corporate overreach and the abuse of advanced artificial intelligence, there is an undeniable quality to the execution. But the studio rarely receives the recognition it deserves for its world building or writing. Tango Gameworks built its reputation on the back of combat mechanics – the snappy weapon wielding in The Evil Within 2, and the magical gestures that propelled Ghostwire: Tokyo.
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