In a world the place new video games are topic to months-long (if not years-long) prerelease campaigns, usually resulting in disappointment when the completed product cannot dwell as much as the hype (I am you, Cyberpunk 2077), a real shock may be exhausting to search out.
Breaking this mould is Hello-Fi Rush, an surprising new rhythm motion sport introduced at Microsoft’s latest Developer Direct Showcase for Xbox. Along with updates on upcoming video games like Redfall and Minecraft Legends, Microsoft not solely introduced Hello-Fi Rush, however stated the sport was releasing that very same day on Xbox Recreation Cross. Meaning subscribers to the Xbox service can obtain and play it nearly instantly at no additional price. (It is also obtainable for buy on PC or Xbox.)
Naturally, a number of of us downloaded and performed the retro-feeling sport instantly. We had been quickly buying and selling impressions by way of Slack, so I requested a few my colleagues to share their preliminary ideas.
Eric: Hello-Fi Rush jogs my memory of the glory days of Sega. The late Saturn, early Dreamcast period the place groups had been simply doing seemingly regardless of the hell they wished to do in video games like Burning Rangers, House Channel 5, Samba De Amigo and Jet Set Radio. As a lot as I like them, no writer would greenlight these video games right this moment. The truth that Hello-Fi Rush channels that period of Sega gaming so totally is such a nice shock.
I am impressed by the whole lot on this sport to date — the animation, vibrant colours, controls, combo system, writing and humorousness. It is an absolute miracle this sport stayed below wraps till the Jan. 25 reveal.
The most effective factor about Hello-Fi Rush: I can play this sport with my 4- and 6-year-olds on simple mode, and so they’ve been in a position to progress with out my assist (principally). They even took out a few bosses. That is the type of stuff I wish to see extra of from Xbox.
Microsoft
Dan: In contrast to another shock video games that flip up within the Xbox Recreation Cross catalog unexpectedly (which might typically really feel like low cost catalog filler), Hello-Fi Rush is… good.
It appears like a long-lost descendent of traditional video games like Jet Set Radio/Jet Grind Radio, the place cell-shaded youth tackle an oppressive dystopian society by means of a mixture of skating and graffiti (again then) or rock music and melee fight (now). The vibe is so comparable, it appears like they share the identical fictional universe.
As a free (for present subscribers) sport that is not based mostly on characters or themes already wrung dry, I haven’t got a lot to complain about. That stated, the one a part of the sport that did not totally join for me was the precise beat-matching, the place gamers should hit buttons in time to the music to tug off efficient combos.
With the inherent lag constructed into wi-fi controllers and trendy TVs and consoles, the timing by no means felt precisely proper to me. I’ve performed bass for greater than 30 years and may inform when one thing’s not sitting within the pocket. Sure, there are tweaks obtainable, like particular gaming modes on TVs, however perhaps the actual perpetrator is the essential four-on-the-floor rock beat. The sport must swing a bit extra, sitting simply behind the beat. I suppose perhaps what I am saying is, we want an R&B model?
Adam: I like surprises — like discovering out the minds behind The Evil Inside made a colourful rhythm-based motion sport that no person knew about, and it is releasing the identical day it was introduced. However the even larger shock was how inviting the sport is. The colours are vibrant, and the animation evokes the amped-up vitality of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The sport eases you into the beat-based fight with loads of tutorials and probabilities to follow the mechanics. And Robbie Daymond’s voice performing turns an in any other case annoying character right into a surprisingly endearing protagonist.
All of it provides up a enjoyable and contemporary gaming expertise. Hello-Fi Rush is not the primary sport to place rhythm mechanics in an motion sport, but it surely does mix issues collectively in a novel means. It by some means mixes the fight of Spider-Man with the brilliant palace environments of Persona 5 and units all of it to a rock soundtrack. I am not very far into the sport, however I am hoping Hello-Fi Rush can sustain this vitality as soon as I am by means of the fundamentals and dealing by means of the later parts of the sport.
