Hi-Fi Rush Review

"Feel the Smashing Beat"

Campaign

February 2, 2023 at 6:49pm
By Jason Stettner

A bit of a surprise, Hi-Fi Rush has you step into the shoes of a wannabe rockstar named Chai. He’s part of this program that upgrades humanity with some robotic limbs and it just so happens that he becomes a bit of a defect.

That is, he gets infused with his music player and begins experiencing the world in a whole new way. That of course, with everything being exactly to the beat. That’s what a lot of the game is, enjoying the music infused environments as you time attacks to smash on theb eat.

It’s an interesting idea, and it really works here. The story follows your path through this vast corporation’s campus as you meet a quirky crew of characters and try to battle back against those that have ruined the company that once stood for so much good.

You’ll largely be accompanied by this special cat 808 and firstly your main companion Peppermint. The companions are excellent fun both in a narrative sense and that they aid you in combat when called upon. The story was actually very well done, full of heart and charming to work through.

The length of the campaign was really solid for this sort of game having that right level of pacing over several hours with numerous ways to replay the game if you so desire to. That ranges from revisiting areas to access new spots with extra abilities or just amping up the difficulty further.

Gameplay

You’ll move through a variety of linear environments that are bursting with colorful vibrancy. These spots feature light bits of platforming mixed with interesting level traversal and dialogue. There are the odd hidden surprises to find as well. Most of which will grant you gears or other bonuses that allow for character improvement across a range of areas. From general boosts to getting new killer combo attacks for example.

The visuals are definitely popping not only in their colorful range, but also in how most things sort of vibe to the beat. You’ll of course have calmer moments broken up by arena type battle segments where you take on waves of enemies. From a pacing perspective these could have been integrated more into regular movement but they work well and get more charming as you progress.

There’s also the odd boss battle and some other interesting sequences. I did notice some of the parry cinematic parts where a bit annoying and those did impact my pacing in a negative way. Parry aside the combat generally feels really fun with a variety of unique moves to unleash, particularly as you get the full team together. It really does feel like a swirl of wild magic going on once you improve and call in the team to battle as you continue smashing along.

There are some collectibles to find as you go through and revisit as well, just a quick mention of those. On the Xbox Series X it’s a 4k resolution at 60fps with the performance being perfect throughout my run. There’s both licensed and streamer safe options for audio with that latter option almost being perfectly timed to the world’s beats which are such an important aspect to combative rhythm as many aspects are tied to it.

The Conclusion

Hi-Fi Rush is an absolute blast nailing almost every beat along the way to its smooth rhythm filled conclusion. It really does have some charming moments with a fun cast of characters providing fun quips as you smash a variety of robots to bits.

Speaking of those robotic enemies, shame they didn’t keep the comedy with them going throughout as some initial cutscenes were just hilarious. Anyways, the boss fights are varied in terms of concept and the type of character you’re battling. They do fit some fun smaller sequences here or there that mix things up and it’s largely delightful.

I did have some issues with the parry system though, particularly the moments where it slowed the pacing to a crawl which isn’t great for a game about moving fast to the beat. Whatever the case it was a great time and definitely something I could see getting expanded upon down the road as it was fun.

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Hi-Fi Rush Review on Xbox Series X
Review Code Provided by 47

Rating Overall: 9.0