Hi-Fi Rush (Xbox) review: groove to the beat

Bethesda’s shadowdrop of Hi-Fi Rush came as a bit of a surprise. No teasers, no gameplay demos, no marketing, no leaks, NOTHING! Not only that, but the game is developed by Tango Gameworks, the guys who made the Evil Within Series and Ghostwire: Tokyo! This, coming from a major publisher like Bethesda, could mean one of three things.

• The game was so bad that Bethesda did not want to waste more money on it
• The game is so good that Bethesda knows it is a great game and trusts gamers to make the right call, along with the leverage of launching on Game Pass.
• Bethesda doesn’t really care

So to find out, I started playing the game on the Xbox Series X!

Story

The game is set in a future where robots and cybernetic augmentation are pretty common. While this may be the ideal setting for a futuristic dystopia (Deus Ex, Detroit: Become Human, Cyberpunk 2077). Hi-Fi Rush is far from it. It’s a fun, goofy, and colourful game that revels in the absurd. Humour is subtle and reminds me of classic cartoons that had the right amount of slapstick humour.

You play as Chai, a young wannabe rockstar with a disabled right arm. He comes to Vandalay Industries to get a brand-new robotic arm. Unbeknownst to him, he was designated to become a garbage collector. During the augmentation process Unfortunately, there is a mishap and he accidentally gets his music player implanted in his chest.

Chai is then labelled a defect and pursued by robotic security. Thankfully, his new magnetic grabber arm can create a guitar-like instrument that can be used as a weapon. He can also see beats in the word, which then ties down the game’s primary game mechanic.

Overall, the story is well laid out and the characters are quite likeable. Chai is goofy, dumb and wise-cracks all the time, but the dialogue isn’t annoying or cringe-inducing (looking at you Forspoken). The character is very similar to Spider-Man and Deadpool. Chai also keeps wisecracking and quipping like these Marvel characters. But the writing is so good that it makes him seem relatable rather than annoying.

This extends to Chai’s buddies and bosses. Even the random robot enemies have a certain charm about them. A really memorable character you encounter is a sentient refrigerator that helps you get to grips with the controls, but it delivers each line in a very creepy innuendo-laden manner.

Gameplay

On the surface, Hi-Fi Rush is a third-person hack-and-slash action game, like the original God of War titles. But that would be selling the game short. The rhythm mechanic is key here as music is at the heart of the whole game. The entire game world grooves to the beat. This includes everything from the protagonist snapping his fingers, to the trees, to the buildings, light fixtures, and even the platforms and hazards.

This is very important as hitting your enemies to the beat of the music nets you extra damage. You to combine light attacks and heavy attacks. The light attack is to be hit on every beat, while the heavy attack is to be hit every two beats. Along the way, you unlock more combos and attacks. A little music icon lets you know when you’ve timed an attack perfectly. At the end of each battle, you get a grade, which reminds me of Devil May Cry.

It should be noted that Chai will attack on the beat regardless of the player’s timing. So it looks very impressive, even though you would be randomly mashing buttons and not getting that extra damage bonus; if you’re tone-deaf like me. The developers have included a handy on-screen metronome to help you stay on beat. This can be toggled on or off at any point in the game. Or you could just take a look at the game world to get an idea of the song’s beat as pretty much the entire game world moves to the beat of the game’s music. This is also handy from an accessibility standpoint.

Speaking of songs. A music-focused game such as this needs good music and thankfully, it delivers. You have licensed tracks from bands such as Nine Inch Nails, The Black Keys, The Prodigy and more! It should be noted that the game comes with a special ‘Streamer Mode’. When activated, it removes the licensed music and replaces it with ones specifically created for the game. This should help ensure that streamers aren’t hit with a copyright strike.

It should also be noted that the checkpoint system in Hi-Fi Rush is very good. The multi-stage boss battles each have checkpoints in the middle. This helps ensure that while the bosses remain tricky, they are not overwhelmingly frustrating to complete as players don’t have to restart every battle (or level) from the beginning.

Of course, there are also some platforming and puzzle selections between battles. While the puzzles are fine, it’s the platforming that can get a little tricky. It’s easy to miss a jump and fall down to your death and restart the section. It’s a relatively minor niggle, but it is quite annoying.

Graphics

Calling Hi-Fi Rush gorgeous would be an understatement. The game features colourful cell-shared animation with thick borderlines that make characters stand out. It reminds me a lot of XIII (not the remake) and the TV show, Archer. The animation and reactions are very comic book-like, similar to Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.

The only gripe I have with the graphics is that it can be a pain to see exactly what you are doing at times since there is so much going on. Since almost everything is happening to the same beat. Everything is moving at the same time. This is most prominent when you are in the middle of a hectic battle. This can be a bit of an issue if, like me, you are more dependent on visual cues rather than audio cues to match the beat.

Verdict

Hi-Fi Rush is a true game-of-the-year contender. It’s a textbook example of how a game doesn’t need years of teasing or hardware-breaking graphics to be great. Gameplay is tight, simple, and addictive. The humour is subtle and not ‘in your face’. Sure, the platforming can be a mess at times, but the overall gameplay more than makes up for it.

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Pros

• Engrossing rhythm-based gameplay
• Excellent soundtracks
• Beautiful graphics
• World design that blends with the music

Cons

• Platforming can be tricky
• Action can be tricky to follow

More info
Developer: Tango Gameworks
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Platforms: Xbox Series X/S and PC
Reviewed on: Xbox Series X

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