First, let me start this review by saying there is no one I know who gets more enjoyment and thrill from rhythm-based games than me. There is also no one I know who is worse at them. Try as I might, I went through years of dance classes, music classes and even Opera classes; if there is one thing I can not hear for the life of me, it’s the beat.
In fact, I’m so bad at hearing the beat that my parents, those people in your life who think you’re amazing and can do no wrong, used to always say they could instantly identify me while dancing because I was always the one-half a count behind everyone.
I don’t know what it is, and I don’t have any justifiable explanation for it, but no matter how hard I try or how much I focus, the beat is just something I can’t ever seem to find or identify. Meaning I am horrible at any game that requires that specific skill. Games very much like Hi-Fi Rush… Only I’m actually good at this one?
I’ll be honest, the last thing I expected when I received a Whatsapp from my editor asking me to review this game was to have an absolute blast, yet that’s exactly what happened. I’m familiar with the developers, Tango Gameworks, other games because they’re much more up my alley. With games behind their name like The Evil Within or Ghostwire: Tokyo, I’d never expect the cartoon-esque explosion of colour and life that is Hi-Fi Rush.
From the moment you first enter the game, Hi-Fi Rush hits you square in the face with everything it is. It’s a rhythm-based action game set to the glorious melodies of modern garage and alt-rock. Players take on the role of Chai, an oddly likeable protagonist who, after a surgery mishap, can both see and feel the pulse of the music in the world around him.
Even though I suck at them, I’ve invested my fair share of hours into various rhythm games. Many of them share that they take themselves more seriously than they should. Hi-Fi Rush, on the other hand, handles everything in a way that’s so playful and humorous you can’t help but want to move to its beat.
I found myself enamoured by Hi-Fi Rush because of how the game made me feel while playing it. As I said before, I love rhythm games. However, it is disheartening to have something you enjoy also make you feel bad because you’re bad at it. Whereas with Hi-Fi Rush, that was never the case.
Chai always executes his attacks on the beat, absolutely regardless of your timing. However, suppose you can keep rhythm with the game’s beats per minute. In that case, you are rewarded with extra damage in combat instead of being punished for missing notes. This might not be something everyone cares about, but it was everything to me.
For the first time in a long time, I could play a rhythm game and enjoy every beat (mind the pun) instead of being made to feel like I suck and that it’s a type of game not for me.
The game also matches audio cues to visual cues for those of us who struggle, which means that when trying to pull off a powerful combo or preparing against an enemy attack, there will be an AoE marker on the ground or a circle on the screen acting as a visual representation of the mythical beat others can apparently hear. There’s also an on-screen metronome, which I played with exclusively, that shows you where the beat is instead of expecting you to find it.
However, my favourite part of Hi-Fi Rush isn’t just that it catered to gamers like me and that I loved the music, art, and story. What I loved most is that the beat runs through the entire game, and it’s not just a novelty used for combat. Chai walks on the beat and snaps his fingers to the beat. The trees sway to the beat, and lights pulse to the beat.
For the first time in my life, Hi-Fi Rush let me experience a beat that I might not be able to hear, but I felt. When you’re not fighting, the game has its fair share of platforming and puzzle sections, but though frequent, I never felt like these parts of the game took the spotlight. Instead, they were just sections of time where you could relax and let the rhythm move you before running straight back into battle.
