The innate musicality of combat is only enhanced by rhythmic structure, elevating typical gameplay to a whole other level. Listen carefully and you can sense in the music what's about to happen next. Once the rhythm of attacks, parries and dodges clicked into place, I was able to not only kick ass effectively but preempt enemy hits and think ahead in bar lines. I've never felt quite so empowered in an action game, like a musical superhuman. That's where those head nods came in as I tap tap tap tap.īut when all this lines up with the music, it just feels awesome. In later levels I found myself surrounded by enemies, the screen a riot of colour, no way to button bash, and left overwhelmed. Bosses aren't so much about learning attack patterns but rhythmic patterns that require perfect parrying through call and response, testing memory and feel for syncopation. I did find later bosses to be a touch frustrating. Get it right and a bright perfect pops up in the score. It's like I'm improvising over the soundtrack, alongside cartoon thuds and booms and explosive effects that had me non-stop grinning. Every action is accompanied by a guitar lick, a cheer, a hand clap, or a shout. Further options include an on-screen metronome, colour-blind indicators, and customisation of your pulsing cat companion.Īll of this is delivered with exuberant feedback. Its immediacy is gratifying, but levels gradually add in new moves for an ensemble that's tough to master. Bonus points and damage are awarded when buttons are tapped exactly on the beat, but even if players are slightly off the animation still occurs in rhythm. There's no other way to play.Īlong with its relentless rhythm, Hi-Fi Rush really excels in its accessibility. Gameplay becomes music attacks become crotchets and minims combos are musical phrases.Īnd so I sit at the TV. Then there are special attacks that expend the reverb gauge: hit, hit, smack before launching into a diving guitar thrash that feels oh so good. Light attacks take one beat and heavy attacks take two, while a pause between attacks becomes a launching combo and beat hits reward correct timing with powerful strikes. Where other character action games have a sort of rhythmic flow to combat, Hi-Fi Rush makes that explicit. Players can move and jump freely, but every step is in time to the beat, as is every attack, dodge, and parry. In practice, the addition of rhythm can sometimes be either too heavily structured, restraining you, or too loose and lacking impact. It's hardly the first time that rhythm has been applied to gameplay, but it still comes with risks. The visuals of Hi-Fi Rush may evoke Sunset Overdrive for many, but really the game is a silly cartoon Devil May Cry set to music that answers the question: what if Iron Man's heart was an iPod? One look at the trailer was enough to have me running to the console to play it immediately - I'm a sucker for a music game. Tango Gameworks kept Hi-Fi Rush as a complete surprise until its announcement at last week's Xbox Developer_Direct. Everything fizzes and bops in time, enemies pop in a whiz and a bang, and the beat pulses through your fingertips. Hi-Fi Rush thrives on these sorts of moments. It proves the power of licensed music, whether that's a mournful Linda Ronstadt song in the midst of a post-apocalypse, or a young hero with a metal guitar smacking some robots. Without spoiling too much, it's the kind of level where you're approaching the big bad boss and all your friends are with you and the music hits this euphoric high at just the right moment. Whirring is one of a handful of licensed tracks used in the game, accompanying a late-game climactic level. Availability: Out now on PC ( Steam), Xbox Series X/S (Game Pass).And that's how I feel about Hi-Fi Rush as I struggle to put my enjoyment into words. The song is, perhaps, about not being able to express emotions in words, the music taking over all feeling for an almost seven minute long crescendo. "Turn the dial on my words, I can feel they fall short," sings frontwoman Rhiannon Bryan before the band takes over and the guitars escalate to a rapturous peak. I've been listening to a lot of The Joy Formidable recently, namely the Welsh band's 2008 hit Whirring. Vibrant and self-assured, Hi-Fi rush happily embraces the 00s' cheese - and is all the better for it.
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