Hi-Fi Rush

Originally Posted 3/5/23

Brief Overview

In Depth Review

Hi-Fi rush is a really unique game to me because I haven't played anything quite like it. It's a rhythm fighting game, where you're rewarded if you're able to stick to the beat. I was a little hesitant about buying it since I didn't really have anything to compare it to, but in the end I'm very happy with my purchase. I really liked the art style and really enjoyed the parts where it looks like a comic book.

The Good

The main gimmick of the game is the fact that it is a rhythm fighting game. The developers implemented this in an interesting way where instead of forcing the players to attack or move to the beat, they instead reward the player if you mange to do so. So, you can press the attack button out of beat for most fights and be fine, but if you mange to hit the attack button to the beat, your attacks do increased damage. I really like this implementation, as I quickly found I'm pretty bad with keeping tempo. The game also does a good job with not overwhelming you with mechanics. I felt like you had time to learn about an ability and use it for a bit before you were given another ability to try.

The story line is also really enjoyable. I thought the cast of characters you meet throughout the game were all unique and fun to interact with. It's extremely light-hearted, and being able to play the game to the beat of some pretty great music made the experience just so much fun. The game also encourages you to explore for upgrades and collectibles, and the maps I thought were very well designed, with a lot to look at. The game a couple of times breaks the fourth wall and will poke fun at itself, which I absolutely love. An example of this can be found below (minor spoiler)

One other thing I really appreciated about this game is the accessibility features are amazing. I'm not disabled, so there might be some things it doesn't have that I'm unaware of, but overall I was impressed with the amount of settings that could be changed to really make this game approachable for seemingly anyone. The game has multiple ways to visualize the beat if you're deaf or hard of hearing (or, like me, unable to carry a beat). There's ways to make challenges simpler so instead of having to press different buttons rapidly, you just press the same button to the beat. It seems like the team put a lot of thought into making sure anyone would be able to have a good time with this game.

The other big compliment I've seen online, and agree with, is that this is an entirely self contained game. What I mean is, there's no micro transactions, you don't need DLC to really enjoy it, and parts aren't behind a paywall. You get a complete game for the price you pay. As of the time of writing, I believe there is DLC you can buy (Or, at least, there's a deluxe edition), but the only things included in it are extra cosmetics, as well as in game currency which you can unlock from just playing the game. On the topic of in game currency, I never really felt stressed for it- I honestly felt I received a good amount throughout the game.

The Bad

So, in the advertising for the game they bring up about how many ways there are to visualize the beat, and how they want to reward players for staying on beat, rather than punish them for not staying on beat. And this is the case for probably 90% of the game. However, there are certain enemies or parts of the game where you have to parry or dodge to the beat and if you can't you simply can not progress. In most games, I'd chock this up to "whelp, it's just part of getting better and learning the game". But it just bugged me a bit when the game (or, at least, trailers) seemed to pride itself on not punishing players for not hitting the beats, but then had sections like this. Now, like I mentioned before, there are many ways to visualize the beat which helps. And I did eventually get past these areas. But it did stand out to me as it seemed to go against the rest of the games design.

Another thing that hinders this game is not really particular to this game, but rhythm games in general - input lag. It's hard to stay to the beat when it takes a little bit for the game to register you've hit a button. Throughout the game, I had a hard time sticking to the beat in most cases. However, it's nearly impossible for me to say if it was the game, my controller, or just that I'm bad at keeping a beat. I played on the steam deck, and often paired it with either a wired or wireless PS5 controller. As far as I could tell, there were no real settings in game to try and adjust for input lag. The game does warn you about the possibility of input lag at the beginning and offers some solutions based on the monitor you're using, but yeah overall no real way to tweak anything. Like I said, I can't definitively say what the cause was. I remarked to a friend at one point that I know my timing isn't terrible, as I'd beaten multiple Dark Souls games and timing is super important in those. They did point out though that timing isn't necessarily the same as keeping a beat. Whatever it was, it is just something I noticed throughout the entire game.

Lastly, I wanted to bring up the replay-ability of the game. This is going to be slightly spoiler-y, so if you don't want any skip to the conclusion. I won't be spoiling plot stuff, but just talking about what happens after you beat the main campaign.

Once you beat the main campaign, the game provides you with the chance to play through the levels again, in any order you want, and find "Spectra Signals". You also unlock some additional functionality in the hideout. I think this is a great idea, as it allows you to play the game more, and gives you the chance to beat challenges or get collectibles you might've missed otherwise. The downside here that bugs me, is there is no new or changed dialogue when you go through the levels again. What this means is, every single thing your character said throughout the game, and every cut scene, you will see again. Now, cut scenes are somewhat fine as you can hold B (Circle on PS5 controller) to skip them. But it's a bit jarring that you're getting sent back out to trace down these signals, and all the character interactions are as if they've never met you before. It just feels really odd. And like, I'm not expecting a whole new story line worth of voice acting, but even if it was just something like "Alright Chai, give it your all" or something when starting a mission, it'd be nice. Or just no story voice lines honestly.

The other thing too, is the game doesn't have any tracking or anything to point you towards the spectra signals. So you just have to try really hard to find them as you go through the maps, which can be really large at times. There is an 808 upgrade you can get to help with this, but it still would've been nice if there was a toggle or something for help tracking these areas down.

Conclusion

Overall, I think this game is worth getting and playing if it looks even remotely interesting to you. I have some friends who know rhythm games aren't their thing, and so skipped it. However, if you're on the fence about it, I think it's a wonderful game to pick up. The characters are fun, story line is well done, the world is fun to explore, the dialogue you can overhear in the world is fantastic, and yeah I don't have enough good things to say about it. The biggest drawback to me is the replay-ability aspect of it, especially since the play time is not that long. However, it is cheaper than most brand new games, and if you like the combat it can be fun to just replay levels you've already beaten

Final note: O5-Kar is my favorite NPC (Clip is not me, but exact scene that made me love him. Somewhat spoiler-y)