Let’s say that one day you wake up with your right arm missing and find out it’s replaced with a robot arm. While you might miss your arm, you also quickly learn that this new robotic appendage allows you to summon a makeshift electric guitar! In addition, you also come to realize that every movement you make is on time to a rocking beat. The only problem? Everyone you encounter is trying to kill you.
This is the premise for Hi-Fi Rush, a rhythm-based action platformer that was published by Bethesda Softworks and developed by Tango Gameworks. Hi-Ri Rush feels like it was ripped out of a comic book with its bright colorful world that’s come to life. Artistically it feels like an opposite approach to Tango and Bethesda’s previous projects Ghost Wire Tokyo and The Evil Within Series.
In Hi-Fi Rush you play as Chai, a young guy on a mission to become a rockstar, even though he doesn’t know how to play guitar. After waking up with a new robot arm, Chai quickly gets wrapped up in a rebellion that aims to take down an evil corporation whose ultimate goal is to create mind control. The narrative themes at the game’s core are pretty punk rock, destroying the system to take down the man feels like a tale as old as time in the modern era, and yet Hi-Fi Rush makes the journey worth it. It’s colorful, bombastic, and in your face about what it wants to be.
Everything Is Connected
If the bright and loud aesthetic of the game isn’t catchy enough, the first thing that will jump out to players is how interconnected everything is musically. Not only are all of Chai’s actions and movements set to the beat of a song that’s playing, but everything in the environment is on time as well. When the song changes, the movements of machines in the background change too. Cutscenes are all choreographed to sync up with the song that’s currently playing and more often than not, it feels like watching an expertly crafted music video.
The challenge of Hi-Fi Rush comes from staying on time during combat. Sure you can dodge an enemy attack or string up a combo into an enemy but how well are you in sync with the music around you? After each combat encounter you’ll be graded from D to S on rhythm timing, score, and how long the fight took. If you play well enough you’ll also see Chai’s guitar transform from a hunk of metal into a proper-looking instrument. If you want to master your fights and shoot for the highest rating of S you’ll have to do more than just spamming basic attacks over and over with no regard for timing. As you progress through the game the fights start to bring in more timing-based mechanics forcing you to react to the beat if you want to continue forward. Luckily for those that may have trouble with rhythm mechanics, there are settings that can be toggled on, such as seeing the beat meeter at the bottom of the screen, that make the game more accessible.
While you aren’t forced to utilize every combo the game offers (unless you’re going for 100%) you definitely get a more rewarding experience if you choose to experiment. You have the option of equipping Chai with upgrades that may suit your playstyle better, and special attacks that act as an ultimate attack that requires a full meter of Reverb, Hi-Fi Rush’s special meter to pull off. You can also pull off combos with the companions you gain along the way, creating even more opportunities to deal a ton of flashing damage while looking like a rockstar.
If you’re worried about having to master combos or any potentially difficult boss fights, I’m glad to say the game is pretty forgiving. If you mess up your timing, or even die in the game, you don’t lose much, or sometimes any progress, which allows you to jump right back into the action.
I am Not A Robot
The story of Hi-Fi Rush is one that at its surface is pretty simple. A giant corporation known as Vandelay Technologies or Vandelday for short, has gained too much power and now wants to try to enslave humanity with mind control. Once Chai and a group of rag-tag heroes you team up with learn this, they do everything they can to stop it. While the gameplay is what mostly kept me intrigued, the colorful animation and bombastic style was paired well with the louder than life story narrative that Hi-Fi Rush goes for.
After learning about his new musical abilities, Chai is rescued by a girl name Peppermint who is excellent with a gun and has a robot cat, named 808. (Pronounced eight oh eight) Peppermint quickly brings Chai up to speed about the origins of his new robotic arm and that Vandelay may not be as altruistic as Chai was led to believe. When Chai learns that he’s not being hunted by Vandelay robots as he is labeled a defect due to his new and accidentally gained music powers, he quickly agrees to fight back and take Vandelay down. In order do so, Chai must fight through an army of robots to reach each department head of the company. It’s an interesting take to see someone target department heads and humanize the evil company a bit, even so, I still love that some of the major boss fights are a kid fighting the head of marketing or accounting by swinging a guitar at them. As silly sas it sounds, each department head comes with their own unique song which results in a different experience, making it feel sometimes like watching a compilation of music videos instead of playing a video game.
Along the way to defeat Vandelay, Chai and Peppermint meet others who join their cause like Macaron and CNMN, an acronym for Consciousness Review Allocation Personnel, which is pronounced as cinnamon. Not only do all of these characters share a similar goal but you may have noticed they all have fun food-related names too. While I would personally never name my kid after food, I love when artists and developers have fun with names and try to create them around a theme. A more notable example may be some of the villains in the Japanese anime Dragon Ball Z all having a name that is a pun on being cold.
While Hi-Fi Rush may not have a narrative that cuts deep into my heartstrings, what I loved was how endearing the cast is. It feels like every character has their personality dialed up to eleven in a way that matches the game’s vibrant aesthetic and doesn’t feel draining. This may be due to cut content that is referenced by characters a few times in a meta-narrative way, but personally, I think the cut content helps the pacing and makes the game much more enjoyable as it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Music for the Soul
Hi-Fi Rush would be nothing without its soundtrack. It’s easy to not overstate how cool it is to have everything be in sync with all your actions in the game but it helps that the soundtrack is the perfect match for the game’s tone. While most of the songs were composed specifically for the game there are a few big name artists like The Black Keys and Nine Inch Nails that make an appearance in the game’s soundtrack. At the time of this review it is unknown which came first in the design of the game, the music or the environments? Either way, it’s evident that a ton of labor and love went into making sure each scenario that happens in the game felt like a full experience where good thematic music was obviously a priority.
While I have a lot to love about Hi-Fi Rush an area I felt was a missed opportunity was the game’s customization options. After completing the main story you’ll gain a whole new array of options to change Chai’s look along with the companions in your journey. A lot of the options are awesome, and definitely help reinforce the rock n roll aesthetic but are only available as post game content. Maybe the intent was to get players to go after end game content to unlock the outfits of their choice but it feels like a missed opportunity. The visual design is part of the soul of this game and it was a shame to not have more options available much earlier on. I think Chai’s base outfit really works for his personality but not giving players additional options feels like a missed opportunity.
Final Thoughts
Hi-Fi Rush is a game that I enjoyed a lot but I know I would have been obsessed with as a teenager. It’s the use of bright coloration, loud rock music, and over-the-top characters make it something that stands out initially but the unique gameplay style and world design will keep players coming back. There’s a ton of extra content such as additional challenges and unlocking different clothing options, that players who love Hi-Fi Rush will have a ton more to do after rolling credits. I would love to go on another adventure with Chai and his crew and really hope we can get another soundtrack with more recognizable games.
Hi-Fi Rush is currently on Game Pass or available for purchase at $29.99 for Xbox systems and on PC via Steam and Epic.
