Hi-Fi Rush Review

Released out of nowhere on January 25th of this year, Hi-Fi Rush was Developed by Tango Gameworks and Published by Bethesda Softworks. It's an Action-Adventure, Rhythm, Single-Player game. I will be reviewing it based on the Xbox Series S version of the game. Now let's get into the review.

Story

The story follows Chai, a guy who just wants to be a future rockstar, he volunteers to get his disabled arm replaced so he can play guitar and during that process accidentally gets fused together with his MP3 player, which gives him his rhythm powers and he gets deemed a defect by Vandelay. He then goes on to meet his allies as they fight members of Vandelay to expose their true intentions.

While not a bad story, it's pretty average. The main protagonist Chai is a funny character, but he is a bit too one-dimensional for my tastes, being very dumb just for the sake of laughs, he never really grows as a character. The story had its funny moments here and there, but it could have given us more memorable moments and better character growth. Ultimately, I would have liked some more depth to him, his friends, and the story.

Gameplay

The most important thing in this review, how is the gameplay. The gameplay is good. Chai, his enemies, and the environment move to the beat. Timing the attacks right will reward you with more damage and combo options. I'm not the best at timing or rhythm games in general, but I still enjoyed the combat, and it was fun getting better throughout the game. You unlock more moves throughout the story, and you buy moves in the shop with in-game currency you find through the levels. You also complete challenges and find secret areas and items on levels. One big thing you get later on is your allies' abilities. The gameplay can get pretty wild once you have all 3 apart of your team.

Although I enjoyed the gameplay, I will say not everything is perfect. A boss fight that's a glorified quick-time event and quick-time event-like mechanics to finish off certain enemy types are a mixed bag. I get that it's a rhythm game, but unlike the main rhythm aspects of the core gameplay that reward the player with good timing, this interrupts the gameplay and will likely cause frustration for those who struggle with timing, as they take you out of the gameplay and force you to do these over the course of the game.

Presentation

Hi-Fi Rush looks beautiful, the art style reminds me of Sunset Overdrive mixed with some Dragon Ball FighterZ. It really brings the game to life.

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Sound

In a rhythm game, one of the most important things is the soundtrack and this game doesn't disappoint as all of the audio is in sync with the gameplay. The game also has a streamer option that replaces the soundtrack with original songs made specifically for the game, and even those are good.

Performance

Hi-Fi Rush runs great on the Xbox Series S, running at a locked 60 fps at 1440p while on Xbox Series X it's native 4K. The cutscenes do lower the framerate to a locked 24 fps, but it's for style rather than any performance issue.

Value

It took me over 9 hours to beat the main story. After you complete the main story you unlock cosmetic options to grind for, along with access to replay levels at the same or a different difficulty to try to improve your previous ratings.

Conclusion

HI-FI Rush earns a 7.5 from me and it was a nice surprise from Microsoft. It released on the same day it was announced and it did not disappoint. The gameplay is good with a few flaws, with an average, but not bad story. Tie that together with a great art style and soundtrack and you got yourself a good game.