Action game Hi-Fi Rush combines 3D beat ’em up combat with beautiful graphics and rhythm-based timing. Hi-Fi Rush’s music and tempo permeate every gameplay facet, making it a familiar action game yet entirely unique. You play as Chai, a young, plucky, airheaded wannabe rock star who signs up for Project Armstrong in hopes of receiving a new arm and realizing his rocker dreams. After a series of mishaps, Chai ends up with a robotic arm that is powered by a music player. To overthrow the evil board of directors of the big tech company, Chai teams up with rebels.
While Hi-Fi Rush focuses on action, it blends light puzzles and platforming sections into the game. It moves quickly between set pieces, keeping the experience fresh. A techno-colored chasm awaits you, followed by optional combat, then a quest for hidden secrets. Your only downtime comes in hub lounge intermissions, and that’s where you can purchase new moves, check your side-quest progress, or play with 808 (an adorable, pudgy robot cat).
It doesn’t matter how you time your attack, Chai’s attacks will land on beat, but good timing delivers more damage and knockbacks. Light attacks take one beat to execute. Heavy attacks take two beats to execute. There are many special combos that can be performed by alternating light and heavy attacks. The hub shop also sells new moves and combos such as spin attacks and quick-draw attacks. The combo branches aren’t too complicated, so you can reliably dispatch enemies by simply stringing along blows however you see fit.
There are other supplemental abilities to expand your offensive potential. Parrying deflects incoming damage without sacrificing your position (and both can be timed to the beat). In addition to their special attack properties, characters can also extend combos, break shields, and overload barriers. You even get a Nero-style grapple to pull yourself to enemies, giving you an excellent gap-closing ability to enrich your onslaught. There are plenty of tools at your disposal, which means plenty of combo potential.
Music and animations of Hi-Fi Rush literally move to the beat. The game is also a visual treat. The world pulses with life, and the art captures it perfectly. The crisp, 4K visuals, and the excellent cel-shaded models add just enough detail to make everything look stylish and distinct, without overwhelming the game. The game’s speedlines, comic-spread intros, screen-tone shading, and onomatopoeia evoke Jet Set Radio and Viewtiful Joe while looking unique.The only real criticism here is a practical one. On occasion, colorful background elements get stuck in front of the camera. This obscures your view until you manually move yourself or the camera.
