There’s no doubt about it, Hi-Fi Rush is one of the most charming games that launched last year. The game combines rhythm mechanics with action combat and a powerful art direction making it a true gem for those of you whom it was targeted at.
With the game finally launching on PS5 this week, it’s been a great opportunity to jump in and either experience it for the first time if you missed out last year, or even just re-experience it on the PlayStation console.
Worship The B-E-A-T
While a lot of the praise around the game tends to be about its colorful aesthetic, charming characters and the pinnacle of human perfection that is Korsica, one more thing the game really excels at is how good it feels to snowball.
Not real snowballs, mind you. But instead, the feeling of getting better at the game, especially within a single fight feels amazing . The rules are simple: Everything acts on beat, and if you can press your buttons on beat you get bonuses.
How the game communicates it to you, however, is magic: as I dodge through enemy attacks, do aerial raves and summon a hacker girl with a buzzcut to juggle, the soundtrack only gets more intense. It feels like an utter flow state, as the beat gets more and more intense, and the crowd chants your name for keeping on-beat for so long.
Even using the assists- tagging in your allies like Peppermint to keep the combo going- the game’s commitment to keeping everything on beat, making it feel like an incredibly hype percussion for your destructive orchestra. It meshes so well with the game’s overall Garage Band aesthetic- lots of discordant elements are slamming together, and by the time you’ve S-ranked an encounter you’re having a ton of fun.
It’s the kind of game where you’ll find yourself tapping along with your feet throughout the game, not because you need it to keep time- but because the result of your hard work always ends up sounding so good. At times the hardest part wouldn’t be any particular encounter, but rather keeping my inputs clean while I’m also headbanging to the game’s stellar music.
Get In A Good Jam Session
If you like good action combat with a fun twist, Hi-Fi Rush is a great addition to the PS5 lineup. It’s crisp in presentation and grungy in gameplay, with enough loving callbacks to everything from fighting games to JRPGs for the gamer who loves video games.
Admittedly its selling points are a tall ask- it’s a game for specifically people who like rhythm and action, not one or the other. If you’re rhythmically barren but action-focused you may need the game’s visual aids to get the most of your strings- and if you’re musically enclined but not too much of the action you’ll find enemy encounters taking longer than they should.
Still, if you’ve got it in you to get good at both this game’s facets you’re in for an excellent time. Just headbang responsibly.
