Hi-Fi Rush is a rhythm and action game mashup developed by Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is a surprise release that was on no one’s radar until it dropped on the 25th of January 2023.

The surprise release and free inclusion on the Xbox Game Pass made this one of the most notable releases of the first quarter of 2023. However, the hype is not always a barometer for a great game.

Finding the Groove

The game follows Chai who receives a robotic prosthetic arm from the futuristic Vandelay Technologies. However, during the process, an MP3 player gets lodged in Chai’s chest, and he begins to feel the music.

This causes Chai to be labeled a “defect”, and he is sought after by the company to be destroyed. He meets a colorful group of allies throughout his journey and learns more about Vandelay Technologies and the world around him.

Everything in the game is on the same beat, and during combat, you are incentivized to land each of your attacks onto the game’s rhythm. Therefore, As you get deeper into the game it is almost a requirement to learn how to stay on beat.

If you have no rhythm you can enter the accessibility settings and select a way for you to only focus on the beat, and Chai does the comboing for you. The game is actually somewhat challenging.

Different Songs Same Chords

The game’s formula doesn’t evolve much beyond adding a quick-time event section around a third of the way through. Enemies are all approached in relatively the same way. This can be excused because of how short the game actually is.

I think the game is a perfect length. It doesn’t drag at any point, and I was getting tired of the gameplay right around the final boss. The final boss is very fresh even compared to the other boss battles.

I guess the problem could be if the game doesn’t hook you early on there isn’t much to stick around for. If anything the novelty of the game wears off very quickly. With that being said the novelty actually has some meat to it.

In Conclusion

Hi-Fi Rush is a great game that was a very pleasant surprise in the barren schedule at the being of the year. If you have no rhythm and have no interest in the genre then the game is a hard drop.

7.0

I am not a big fan of rhythm games, but something about this game spoke to me. I appreciate the uniqueness of the games I play, and it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.