Hi-Fi Rush - What Having Actual Fun Is Like

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To explain Hi-Fi Rush, it's like trying to remember a game you played where you had the most fun out of it. A game you wanted to keep playing before you were done with it, and you wear that like an achievement. Anybody else who detracts against it has something wrong with them, obviously. Understandably, that could easily be scrutinized as to being fanboys, but for this game, it's alright.

And from Bethesda, of all people, releasing a single-player game with no preorder bonus or in-game spending. It came out like a surprise hit, and for many different reasons. Even if Shinji Mikami decided to retire right after its release, this was his best send-off.

It's been awhile since I played a game so engaging, non-stop fun, it really does take me back to the old days and freshens my palette.

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Meet Chai, a literal nobody that listens to MP3 all day, decides that he wanted upgrades just like everybody else. After his prosthetic enhancement, somehow accidentally gets the MP3 integrated to his chest. And behold, his new profound powers are now beating robots to a pulp, to the rhythm of his music player.

After a tutorial section, a robot infatuated with his combat style giving him tips, and some security bots confused about what hit them, I am soon thrust into a conspiracy where a megacorporation has really been up to no good. But more reason for Chai to just do what he wants.

I am making quite a lot of derogatory statements, but that's how the game is. All the silly stuff happening in this setting is cool enough to let people interpret anyway they want, with how much personality is in everywhere I have looked.

There are these nice bits of story, intersected with gameplay moments, and there's plenty of these as the hours of playtime goes. So imagine playing a game made under Shinji Mikami's studio, the same guy who made Godhand, Devil May Cry, Vanquish, among others. This is their Sunset Overdrive, without the open-world traversal. It's linear, and it's ok.

The combat is first introduced with light and heavy attack, with a simple dodge mechanic (parry gets introduced much later on). Each of these can be timed to the beat and rhythm of the BGM, like providing more damage or allowing you to dodge more times than one.

And figures, it plays out like DMC. There are various list of combos available, and using them more often increases score rank and can be used to change the battle in numerous ways. Like sending the grunts up the air and beating them back as scrap metal. A hook gets introduced later, and it helps me take out the bots with guns, that shoot me up while hovering above.

Whatever else it introduces later on, like multiple special abilities or partner skills, they all needed to be used as the enemy scaling intensifies. They will start having shields, my partner Peppermint's skill does damage to that.

Within an hour and half, after a cutscene with a minor antagonist, she sends me off to fight off this robot. And then I thought my ears were deceiving me, but it was playing a Nine Inch Nails song. Like, this battle with a kick-ass song accentuated the fun and chaos of a rhythm action game. The music even was accompanied by their audio samples like percussion to signal when I should hit.

Shenanigans aren't stopping. Just after beating the boss, I get berated in a highly cartoonish manner by this brutish lady. And then initiated a QTE sequence where I have to dodge cargo by timing the direction changes while riding this railway.

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Well, it is a fun quirky game, but what else is it? Well, a lot of things. But it's also simple to get into. I clocked in several hours, and it was getting increasingly challenging that I forgot at times to sync my attacks. But everytime my health went down, for some reason it came back up. I was doing every attack I possibly could. Not to mention, the score ranking system is harsh.

As for the premise and story, it's like that Saturday morning cartoon where it doesn't have much of a story that stands out, but you watch it for the characters and the episodic situations that ensues. The main character is part doofus, part obnoxious, and it works in the game. Compared to the reasonable cast of good guys.

There are crazy platforming areas, just based on just the environment design, I have to even time my air dodge right. Thankfully not all of them results falling to my death, just me losing some health is all. Hidden behind neat areas are these items that increases my health, ability gauge, and so on. They are, like, placed in very interesting places of each level.

Reason it's also important for me to play well, is because I have to do my best to earn enough scrap points to spend for newer ways to play the combat. That includes stuff like passives and being able to switch special abilities.

And the antagonist bosses, the licensed music they have in this game, the personality injected in almost everything, creative puzzle games, the visual fiesta, the fun combat and exploration, and like overabundance of cool stuff. The bosses exist just for me to flex how well I can play, and they provide the challenge for it, too.

There were times I was really kicking into my fighting streak, like beating the bots while pulling in S rank score meter. The high I felt, I thought I was in the sky. Only to see that I got a C rank for timing in some of them, and I was like "wait, really?!". Game is harshing my vibes here.

But I will say, as I've continued to play this, I realized just how pronounced it is of the importance of playing to the beat, while becoming better at it at the same time, having real fun. The game does all of that all so perfectly most of the time.

I kind of also feel bad that I never got around to talking about this game earlier. So preoccupied with things. I am glad that I have now. I never felt this alive as I do now. Good time to be in this decade for games, bad for everything else, I guess. I think if you're reading this, you should really get into this game. Like, really should. If not, I'll understand, but that also could mean you don't like music, and you're not a party person either 😛.

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