Hi-Fi RUSH Reviews

A lovable dork that wields a guitar made of metal junk that fights back against an evil company man's plan while rocking to a killer track. Believe it or not, this game is about to become one of your favorites.

Chai grooves his way into your heart before you even know it as the game starts early to ensnare you into it's musical beat. With Chai's dream of becoming a future rock-star, he gets himself into the Armstrong Project to upgrade himself and his life. But due to the perfect set of coincidences, Chai's MP3 player falls atop his chest just before he gets tuned-up. With the MP3 player incorrectly installed Chai is labeled as a defect and the Vandelay robots and staff are now set on... disposing of him. Fortunately for Chai though, this accident proves to be his greatest blessing.

Hi-Fi Rush wants you to feel the beat just as much as Chai does. The world, the hud, even the enemies attacks move to the beat of the world. You can even attack to the beat as well and this is even a grade in combat rooms. Don't let that worry you as the game does have several different ways for players to get on beat in case you're having some difficulty.

To talk about the combat though, Hi-Fi Rush is a wonderful blend of a character action game seamlessly blending with a rhythm game. Things seem pretty basic at first but that's just to ease you in instead of overloading you with too many skills. Down the road you'll get a couple things to your basic move-set, possibly the biggest and most important being the parry. With the parry you will become a force to be reckoned with as just about every move can be parried, trust me on this. Each fight has a grade, ranging from the demoralizing D all the way to the smokin' S. Being able to beat up the robots and bosses is good, but only part of the formula, you gotta have style; change up your attacks, not get hit, and rock to the beat.

As you'll quickly come to realize though, Chai isn't going to get to far on his own. Dumb luck can only carry our boy so far. Shortly, we encounter a robotic cat named, 808 and it's creator, Peppermint. 808 is one of the in-game methods of helping players stay on beat as the floating cat head (yeah you read that right) will flash to the beat and Peppermint will help with getting past certain areas and can even help us in combat down the road too.

Let's take a quick minute though to talk about the hideout though. This is where we'll find Chai, Peppermint, and whomever else may join you on this adventure. besides being the spot where you can pet 808; you can buy new skills and chips for combat, talk to your allies, change out your clothes (only after completing the game), enjoy your favorite BGM from the game, and check out the mural that continues to fill itself out from your accomplishments.

In the levels themselves, nearly each one hosts a set of collectables and/or challenge rooms for you to find. These collectables are all useful as they'll either be health upgrades, super meter upgrades, and more. There is an additional type of collectable to find that isn't directly useful but you may appreciate the art and the final reward for finding them all will put a smile on your face.

I'm going to round this out by talking some more about the bosses and the characters, no spoilers of course, with the story, all you need to know is it keeps things fun and enjoyable and it really is something you should experience yourself. Each boss has they're own unique style, flair, and beat you need to adjust to. Some of them aren't boss fights in the typical sense even but they're still so fun and keep you engaged. The final stage does an immaculate job of really making you feel like Chai isn't alone in this struggle and the final boss really brings together everything you should have learned and been using throughout the game as a final test.

Hi-Fi Rush is pure fun and enjoyment from beginning to end. Almost every character, even the villains, have likeable qualities about them that you'll wish you could see more of. The gameplay becomes addictive as you get better every little bit, sometimes without even noticing at first until you see the end result screen littered with S's. About the only negatives I could find were in certain combat rooms where certain enemies were annoying to fight, but that tempers out as experience grows. To talk about the achievement completion, overall I'll say most are easy to achieve, the difficulty themed ones get easier with better chips and experience you attain, the one that's going to take you awhile though is completing that wall of fame so buckle in for that. Overall, please give this game a play-through as the game is just an absolute treat to play from minute one to hour 40. Between the characters, the visuals, the music, I am sure you'll find something that keeps you playing until you see those credits again and again.

Have you ever been listening to music, and that *one* epic song comes on? The song that makes you stop whatever you're doing and just listen as you push everything else away and listen. As it plays, your imagination takes hold to conjure the perfect vision to go along with it, be a fight scene or an equally epic moment.

Hi-Fi RUSH is essentially a video game version of that imaginary fight scene. The game is fundamentally a Hack & Slash brawler where you fight to the Rhythm of an outstanding soundtrack, but it's supported by stellar art direction, great characters and a surprising amount of content even after the credits roll.

The Story revolves around Chai, a 25-year-old lazy wannabe rockstar. Looking to jumpstart his career, he volunteers as a candidate for Project Armstrong, a program from Vandelay Technologies aimed at providing robotic limb enhancements. Thanks to a series of unfortunate (or rather fortunate) events, Chai's music player gets lodged in his chest, giving him the power to sense the beat in everything but also making him a target of Vandelay itself for being a "defect".

Chai finds help in a colorful series of characters, including 808, a robotic cat that assists Chai; her intelligent creator Peppermint, who's looking to expose Vandelay; the "gentle giant" Macaron and his blunt psychiatrist robot CNMN. Each of these characters are distinct both in their writing and their gameplay, as each provides Chai with help during combat along with their witty dialogue (that involves a lot of puns, strangely).

As strong as the main character are, the Bosses take the spotlight whenever they can (often times, literally). Vandelay's variety of bosses all step up to take down Chai and his friends, from the wrestler focused Rekka to the master manipulator Kale Vandelay himself. Each has their own style that also converts into combat, with each of their Boss Fights providing their own flair and spin on the gameplay.

Speaking of Gameplay, Hi-Fi RUSH takes the Hack & Slash style of games like Devil May Cry or Darksiders and combines it with Rhythm elements. The world, the enemies, your attacks; EVERYTHING is to the beat. While you do get bonuses for sticking with the beat in the form of more damaging attacks, all of Chai's attacks will land on the beat regardless of input, making the combat surprisingly approachable.

Chai's attacks come down to mostly a Light and Heavy attack, which take 1 to 2 beats to land, respectively. Along with combining these attacks to form unique combos, Chai also has access to Special Attacks that range from dealing heaps of damage to distracting enemies. Chai even gets a Parry function to knock back enemy damage and avoid attacks, from everything to robot enemies to volcanoes (it makes sense, trust me).

On that point, the enemies Chai fights are varied in both design and gameplay. Everything from the standard fodder to stronger and faster enemies all have their own personality and presence in combat. Certain larger enemies will enrage and pull Chai into special "Rhythm Parry" attacks, prompting Chai to perfectly Parry their attacks to take them out in one hit! Certain enemies might be annoying to fight on their initial appearance (especially Barriers and Shields), but new moves you unlock later always provide new ways to fend them off.

Obviously, this combat style isn't for everyone, especially those who aren't rhythm-inclined or aren't very good with Hack & Slash gameplay. Hi-Fi RUSH does make good strides to ensure everyone can enjoy the game, as many Accessibility assist make certain parts of the combat easier and more approachable (although, many of these assists are disabled on higher difficulties).

Difficulty-wise, Hi-Fi RUSH features 5 distinct difficulties for its 12-Track Story, with each modifying the timing window for staying on beat as well as enemy strength and damage. The hardest Rhythm Master difficulty (unlocked after completing the game once) pushes all of these knobs to the max, while adding a twist where Chai must keep his rhythm high or face an immediate game over!

On the Performance front, Hi-Fi RUSH plays exceptionally well, with little to no noticeable issues (even at launch). The gameplay is responsive and quick, and nothing feels lost even in the most hectic of moments. There can be issues with the audio getting slightly out-of-sync (mostly with cutscenes), but this almost never happens in combat and the game even re-syncs audio whenever it resumes (even through Quick Resume) to ensure a precise experience.

The Art Direction of Hi-Fi RUSH is perfect, emulating a comic-panel style with thick black outlines to characters and environments supported by vibrant colors. Each character from Chai's friends to Vandelay's gallery of cartoonish bosses are equally distinct from the already flashy environments. Some cutscenes even transition to traditional animation or even direct comic panels, which never feel out of place.

And then there's the Soundtrack and Music, which Hi-Fi RUSH NAILS (given it has to for a Rhythm game, but nonetheless). The rock-focused soundtrack is perfectly executed, injecting each of the already bright levels with their own distinct style. Even the bosses get their own music tracks that perfectly fit their motifs.

While the game has an assortment of licensed songs used throughout the story from the likes of Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy and The Joy Formidable, the game also features a Streamer Mode which swaps these songs out for original tracks inspired by the licensed versions (some of which are arguably better than their licensed counterparts).

Hi-Fi RUSH also features a host of Post-Game Content to dive into. Even after completing its 12-Track Story, there's still special challenges along with the Rhythm Tower, a DMC Bloody Palace inspired gauntlet of combat! The post-launch Arcade Challenge! Update! even build on this concept with a "roguelike" variant (Power Up! Tower Up!) along with BPM RUSH!, a series of fights with escalating BPM to create the fastest combat possible at a whopping 200 BPM!

In addition, there's also plenty of Costumes to unlock for Chai and his friends, upgrades in the form of Chips and plenty more Special Attacks, as well as the Wall of Fame, a mural in your hub that's full of challenges to help commemorate your achievements.

Speaking of Achievements, there is quite a bit of "grinding" to earn a full completion. The Base Game can be summed up with just the Wall of Fame, which requires a whole host of tasks including no-damage Boss defeats, purchasing EVERYTHING from the Shops, several hundred individual attacks as well as an S-Rank completion of EVERY TRACK on EVERY DIFFICULTY. Your first playthrough almost doesn't matter for completion, given the repeated Story runs required and that some collectibles are unobtainable on the initial run. This all pushes the completion of the game towards 50-60 hours with decent skill. Even the Arcade Challenge! Update! can take 8-10 hours to complete all of its individual challenges, in addition to the fact that it can't be accessed until AFTER finishing the 10-12 hour story.

Despite the achievement woes, Hi-Fi RUSH is still a stellar experience that is definitely worth playing. From its snappy and unique combat to its exquisite soundtrack and presentation, this is definitely *one* epic song worth listening to.