Hi-Fi Rush Review – Stealing the Show with Style! (SSS)

Hi-FI Rush was revealed and subsequently released during the Xbox Direct Developer showcase, to the surprise of many. The game didn’t receive any sort of promotion, and oddly enough, it managed to gather a huge audience of players. The game even managed to become one of the top sellers on Steam, thanks to the support of fans.

But how could a game like Hi-Fi Rush become such a success? Well, in my opinion, the first thing that stood out was the fact that the game brought back two genres to make a very delightful combination: Rhythm and Platforming. On top of this, the game also brought back a breath of fresh air with a lighthearted story with colorful characters as opposed to the realistic games we have nowadays.

Of course, the game wouldn’t have had as much success just because of the graphics and because it had a unique concept. Otherwise, it would’ve just been a sleeper hit that would’ve been lost in the gaming discourse as soon as the Dead Space remake was released. Instead, Hi-Fi Rush became an overnight success, with many players showing off the mechanics to the fullest extent.

But what do I, the guy who plays rhythm games quite often, think about this video game? Well, I took the time to play the game, and I have a few words to say, so let’s talk about it.

Right off the bat, the very first thing that will stand out to Hi-Fi Rush players will be the visuals. The game uses a comic-book-inspired look with cartoony designs that flow pretty well. This game’s presentation is coupled with many colorful backgrounds and environments. Even in areas like factories and sewer tunnels, the game manages to stand out with its visual design.

I like how the main character (a youngster with dreams of being a rockstar named Chai) looks. In a way, you could say that Chai is a lot like Francis Vendetti from The Artful Escape, except his goals and personality are much more simplistic. The kid just wants to be a rockstar and even enters a program that changes his life forever to accomplish this dream.

The supporting cast all have unique looks and a variety of personalities. From the heroes to the villains, every character has their charm that makes them stand out on their own, especially when it comes to the deeper scenes. One of my favorite characters is Macaron, a gentle giant that looks like Barret from Final Fantasy VII but has the personality of a teddy bear since he doesn’t like to fight. But the other members of the supporting cast also have cool designs and personality traits.

The game’s story is quite predictable on the surface. Chai and his jolly gang essentially team up to take down an evil corporation run by a bunch of assholes. We learn later on the true motivations behind the head honcho’s plan and then proceed to beat him up with the power of friendship. However, in the case of this game, the thing that stands out the most is the characters themselves.

Each of the members of the main cast in Hi-Fi Rush will have their own story to tell as Chai goes deeper into Vandelay University to take down its corporate leaders. Initially, it’s just him and a techie girl rebel known as Peppermint. As you might imagine, they don’t initially get along but eventually warm up to each other as friends and open up to each other.

Is it anything deep? Not really, but at least the characters aren’t really relegated to having some dumb stereotype that they will stick to for the entirety of the game. They end up coming together as a team and learning about their strengths and weaknesses to help each other.

While the game’s story and presentation are certainly something to speak about, the real meat behind Hi-Fi Rush is its gameplay. In this game, everything moves to the rhythm of a song. That means your movement options (jumps and dodges), your attacks, and even the environment around you will move to the beat of the song playing in the background.

Hi-Fi Rush is a simple game to get into if you’re a fanatic of stylish combat games like Devil May Cry. However, what sets this game apart from games like the aforementioned is the fact that to get anywhere, you’ll have to learn how to perform attacks and other actions on beat. While the game is certainly playable at lower difficulties with just a basic knowledge of action platformers, you will be faced with very strict mechanics on the higher difficulties.

Every track (or stage for the conventional fans) in Hi-Fi Rush will be broken into several Verses in which you’ll be attacked by several enemies. Your job is to use Chai’s junk guitar to smash them to pieces while holding their attacks off. At the start of the game, you’ll only have access to a dodge and some basic button combos. However, as you continue smashing your way through the game’s various stages, you’ll unlock more abilities for yourself and your partners in crime.

And yes, while the game is accessible at first, some enemies will not hesitate to force you to do certain things, such as using partner abilities in which your allies swoop in to perform an attack or help stun the enemies or, in some cases, force you into a scenario where the only way to deal damage is to parry every single attack thrown your way successfully.

Enemy attacks will always land on beat. Whether you decide to dodge, parry, or counter is up to you, but the majority of the mechanics won’t work properly if they aren’t performed precisely on the beat. For example, if parries are done slightly off-beat, you will take a small portion of the damage, and if you do it completely off-beat, you will just get hit anyway.

Every Verse and Chorus will always Rank your performance based on the combos you pull, how much you stay on beat, and how quickly you clear the area from enemies. To achieve higher ranks, you have to do this at a near-perfect level, so grasping the game’s mechanics as soon as possible is essential for your survival.

When you’re not busy taking down enemy forces and achieving high ranks, you are going to deal with several platforming sections while going from one Chorus to another. In them, you have to deal with platforming challenges that also depend on a good sense of rhythm to be crossed: Some platforms will appear and disappear at the beat of the song, and some other challenges involve timing certain patterns right; you know, standard fare for what a game like this would have.

The platforming in Hi-Fi Rush is not as much of a highlight as its combat. The more fun combat sections pretty much overshadow the puzzles it can offer. It probably doesn’t help that the game’s pretty streamlined in these sections with small hidden bifurcations that usually have a bunch of in-game currency or upgrades for Chai’s HP, Special Meter gauge, and other goodies.

Don’t expect something complex from the platforming sections, or you might be disappointed, is what I’m saying. The majority of those rewards are often hidden for players that have a knack for exploring the stages thoroughly. But if you don’t really care about upgrades or hidden goodies, you can skip these sections while focusing on the main combat sections.

Speaking of the upgrades and in-game currency, this game also has a shop where you can purchase upgrades and more moves to expand your combo arsenal. You’ll need to use a lot of currency just to buy them, but you can gain a lot of it by completing several challenges that the game throws your way.

You can later on use that currency to buy alternate outfits for you and your companions. in addition, some of the game’s challenges also include some cosmetics that you can use on Chai and his merry band or tickets to unlock various soundtracks in the Jukebox. Once you expand your ability pool, your partners and yourself will become a force to be reckoned with as you perform a wide variety of combos and hit very powerful attacks.

Once you complete the game, you also gain access to additional challenges that will test your skills in specific scenarios. These scenarios offer a wide variety of combat conditions, such as enemies only being able to be attacked for 12 beats after they get parried or a timer that counts down to zero whenever you are on the ground.

Additionally, Hi-Fi Rush also opens up a new difficulty called Rhythm Master (demonstrated in our gameplay video!). This hellish difficulty brings more aggressive and resilient enemies while also deathly penalizing you if you make several mistakes. See, the game has a style meter that increases your score the higher your Rank. As any other action game would have you do, you increase your rank by using various combos and hitting several enemies at once. In Rhythm Master mode, you lose all your HP if your Rank ever drops to D.

Here’s the thing. What I think may be a fatal flaw for Hi-Fi Rush is the lack of an Offset Wizard tool. Many games, such as Unbeatable and Metal: Hellsinger, have automated tools that allow you to adjust your display to the song’s beat. While the game has its own offset tool, it’s purely manual, and you will have to downright guess the right delay according to your screen. Even with NVIDIA Reflex, this game had some issues at the default offset, so I had to spend a bunch of time finding the right offset setting.

I praised the combat and platforming sections earlier, but something that also irks me about both is the fact that these stages become long. From the second stage onward, you can expect some stages to last up to 30 minutes, if not longer. Granted, whenever I play this game, time tends to fly by as I get absorbed with the beats, but you will have to commit to these stages as Continuing from Checkpoints (even if you don’t die) will affect your Rank at the end of the stage.

At the very least, the soundtrack is varied enough to make me forget about the length of the stages. But repeated playthroughs can drain you if you want to achieve higher ranks; you need to have an exceptional performance across all the verses and take the least amount of damage possible. If you don’t do that or if you decide to take a break, that means you have to do the whole stage over again.

Still, I think that these flaws are worth dealing with regardless because Hi-Fi Rush is a worthwhile experience all around. Once you overcome these hurdles, you’ll find yourself with a very addictive game that will test you with very strict challenges should you be interested in such a thing or aim to complete it rather than finish it.

If you are patient enough, you can master this game’s mechanics quickly. But higher ranks will require a level of mechanical skill that only enthusiasts like me will have. I certainly plan on eventually achieving an S Rank on every stage in the Rhythm Master difficulty, but that will be a very long time commitment.

The game is still very accessible for beginners, and that is also very important as that means everyone will have a great experience all around watching as Chai gains confidence in himself and his teammates and learns how to be a rockstar. If you need some shine in your life, I would definitely recommend giving this game a spin. It has something for everyone.

Reviewed on PC.

Hi-Fi Rush

Hi-Fi Rush is a fantastic game that combines two very popular genres and makes a wonderful and innovative game with a low skill floor but a high skill ceiling. The game is both accessible to newcomers to rhythm games and very challenging for veterans looking to be tested in several other areas that don’t necessarily have to do with just rhythm games. The combat is varied, the combos you learn are great to execute, and the music is a joy to listen to. Overall, a great success.