HiFi Rush Review
Hi-Fi Rush Review
Hi-Fi Rush is part rhythm game, part action and part platformer. It’s like if you took Jet Set Radio Future, Devil May Cry, Guitar Hero and threw them in a futuristic anime blender. Sometimes throwing too many ingredients into a smoothie can lead to something that is unpalatable, but Hi-Fi Rush is a very tasty creation.
Album Artwork
Hi-Fi Rush is stunning, not only in the art style, environments and animation but also on a technical side. Hi-Fi Rush is current gen only and it shows as it runs at a flawless 4K60 on the Xbox Series X. The amount of things happening on screen at once without a dropped frame is very impressive. It can hard to figure out when to parry, grapple or when to use your ally at times but for the most part you can digest the insane amount of information being relayed to you.
Hi-Fi Rush is on the shorter side at around 10 hours to complete on normal difficulty, my time was just under 9 hours but I was moving along fast. It still feels like a full priced premium game and better than many other games released these days, which is why I found it confusing that it was only around 30 bucks depending on your region.
The story is essentially about nothing, hence the corporation name Vandelay. IYKYK. Another futuristic mega corporation stealing your personal information and doing unsavoury things is nothing new, but it serves its place moving you from one boss to the next which is the focal point of Hi-Fi Rush. You play as Chai, a human who underwent a futuristic robotic arm replacement procedure and is now considering defective, which means that the Vandelay wants him terminated and the whole theme that humans are disposable.
New Tracks
The levels reflect the different arms of the company from security, marketing, research and so on. They are all quite distinct in their own way. Combine the change in scenery with the constant slow drip feed of skills to add to your arsenal, along with puzzle sections, and platforming and Hi-Fi Rush shreds through its 10 hours of play while keeping it mostly fresh. There are a few too many battle arenas which can feel receptive by the end with the same basic robots with a few new introductions every so often that test your new abilities but this might depend on your affinity towards battle arenas.
The platforming sections were the most enjoyable, even though the character felt just a tad under precise. Venturing of the beaten path during the first playthrough will help you discover different types of currency and resources, but its on the new game plus that exploration gets rewarded with secret doors that you are able to access after finishing the game. The checkpoint system is also near perfect, if you die at any point during the game, there are no lives, even during some of the longer boss fights you don’t always need to start from the very beginning which is great
For a game that is centred around music, it would have been nice to have a little more licensed music. Adding in more licensed music would have undoubtedly increased the price of the game but it already felt like a full price game and it would have made the whole experience more memorable. Nine Inch Nails and Zwan at the end amplify this as those were the two moments of the game that stuck in my memory the most. The in house tracks that fill in the gaps were actually quite good as well and didn’t sound out of place beside some amazing bands but these aren’t grammy winning tracks
Verdict
The enemies can become very repetitive by the end, it could have used more licensed music, especially considering the best two tracks were saved for the very end and the story is fairly basic, but these are all minor gripes as Tango Gameworks first step away from darker themes is certified platinum. Using the music analogy, there are a few skippable tracks, but overall it’s a great album.