REVIEW - Hi-Fi Rush is a charming surprise from a developer that’s clearly having a blast
Rocking out.
By Jonathan Garrett
09/05/23
Reviewed on Xbox Series X.
Played via Xbox Game Pass.
When you consider the very specific pedigree of a studio like Tango Gameworks, Hi-Fi Rush should on premise alone feel like some kind of elaborate ruse. No-one could have predicted such a unique and comfort zone avoiding shift, let alone the Game Pass shadow drop nature of its release. The notion that the team best known for The Evil Within, and hot on the heels of Ghostwire: Tokyo, would produce a rhythm action game with such a jolly tone is something of a marvel. Thankfully, the experiment was worth indulging; Hi-Fi Rush is one of the best games of the year to date.
Given the importance of matching actions to the beat, it's an equally surprising feat that Hi-Fi Rush manages to click so early on. Although I myself painfully lack any semblance of rhythm, I was able to mix heavy and light attacks, deliver combos, and interact with timed prompts relatively quickly. There are a number of on screen prompts that you can enable to assist if you’re musically challenged, with scalable difficulty and accessibility options that will cater to a broad range of players.
In fact, the entire thing feels so keenly polished that it’s a wonder Microsoft didn’t tease it even just a couple of months before launch, especially given what we got with Redfall (thanks Mike for this interesting perspective). There are so many wonderful and deliberate choices being made here that land so well. The 24fps cutscenes are a joy to watch, and evoke top tier animation in movies like Spiderverse. Voice acting across the board is outstanding, with energetic delivery matching the flamboyant character designs.
It also runs like a dream, with a predictably banging soundtrack and crisp visual style that feels premium in every sense. We haven’t even mentioned the sheer amount of collectibles, secret nooks, or the combat encounter grades that will genuinely have you trying to boost your rank. You’re constantly being rewarded with new moves, customisation choices, and ways to personalise your playstyle. Hi-Fi Rush is as feature complete and laser focused a title as you could expect.
However, defying expectation is also something Hi-Fi Rush does well, which is evidenced time and again as you progress through the tightly paced campaign. New support characters are introduced which provide fresh wrinkles to combat, but it’s the enemy types and their numerous attack patterns which will leave you constantly on your toes. It’s a lot to take in, especially when you have to balance the timing of your attacks with the often conflicting strategies required to eliminate a particular combination of foes, but it works beautifully.
The only major drawback is the difficulty spike toward the back third of the game. It just started to become a tad frustrating in places, which is a shame as so much of Hi-Fi Rush is so carefully tuned. If you’re happy to push through that escalation, you’ll consistently find moments of pure joy in this responsive, original classic.
The writing is as sharp as the art style. Look at that key art!
WORTH IT?
At the bottom of every game review, we ask the question: Worth it? And the answer is either “Yeah!” or “Nah”, followed by a comment that sums up how we feel. In order to provide more information, we also have “And” or “But”, which follows up our rating with further clarification, additional context for a game we love, or perhaps a redeeming quality for a game we didn’t like.
YEAH!
Hi-Fi Rush is without question one of the biggest surprises of the generation, and a must play.
AND
It represents the first in what is likely to be a number of future Game Pass titles that will be shadow dropped in this way. The future is bright.
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
