Hello-Fi Rush: Palms-on with a Shocking New Rhythm Motion Sport

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 will be laborious to search out. 

Breaking this mildew 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 Sport Move. Meaning subscribers to the Xbox service can obtain and play it nearly instantly at no further price. (It is also out there for buy on PC or Xbox.)

Naturally, a number of of us downloaded and performed the retro-feeling sport straight away. We have 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 have been simply doing seemingly regardless of the hell they needed to do in video games like Burning Rangers, Area Channel 5, Samba De Amigo and Jet Set Radio. As a lot as I really like them, no writer would greenlight these video games immediately. The truth that Hello-Fi Rush channels that period of Sega gaming so totally is such a pleasing shock. 

I am impressed by every thing on this sport to date — the animation, vibrant colours, controls, combo system, writing and humorousness. It is an absolute miracle this sport stayed underneath wraps till the Jan. 25 reveal. 

The very best factor about Hello-Fi Rush: I can play this sport with my 4- and 6-year-olds on straightforward mode, and so they’ve been in a position to progress with out my assist (largely). They even took out a few bosses. That is the sort of stuff I need to see extra of from Xbox. 

Dan: Not like another shock video games that flip up within the Xbox Sport Move catalog unexpectedly (which might generally really feel like low cost catalog filler), Hello-Fi Rush is… good. 

It looks like a long-lost descendent of basic video games like Jet Set Radio/Jet Grind Radio, the place cell-shaded youth tackle an oppressive dystopian society via a mixture of skating and graffiti (again then) or rock music and melee fight (now). The vibe is so related, it looks like they share the identical fictional universe. 

As a free (for current subscribers) sport that is not primarily based 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 fashionable TVs and consoles, the timing by no means felt precisely proper to me. I’ve performed bass for greater than 30 years and might inform when one thing’s not sitting within the pocket. Sure, there are tweaks out there, like particular gaming modes on TVs, however perhaps the actual offender is the fundamental 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’d like an R&B model? 

Adam: I really like surprises — like discovering out the minds behind The Evil Inside made a colourful rhythm-based motion sport that no one 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 vivid, and the animation evokes the amped-up power of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The sport eases you into the beat-based fight with loads of tutorials and possibilities to apply 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 singular approach. It one way or the other 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 power as soon as I am via the fundamentals and dealing via the later parts of the sport.