Ruée vers la Hi-Fi

Hi-Fi Rush is a blast of nostalgia that took me back to afternoons of snacking and playing PS2 non-stop

When a server decides to pay three full years of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate This is because he expects releases as essential as Hi-Fi Rush. It caught us all Tango games with our guard down in January 2023 when it launched a new video game without warning, especially since we received Ghostwire: Tokyo less than a year ago.

A cel-shading style hack & slash with as much humor as slaps? It sounded good and especially since Microsoft authorized its playback at the end of the Xbox Developer Direct. The good ratings, praise and applause began to pile up to confirm the title as one of last year’s revelations, so I noted it on my never-ending list of pending games.

It took me a year to decide to take the controller to see to what extent the general enthusiasm was justified and, even if I was not enthusiastic to the same level as the rest of the public, it is clear that Hi-Fi Rush is a major shake-up of the nostalgia factor that we each have within us.

Like any other child, many afternoons after returning from school were primarily occupied with a snack that included a sandwich. Between bites of a dish that could vary from the delicacy of ham to less appetizing minced meat, the PS2 would squeeze in as many hours of entertainment as it wanted. Play games like Like 3 , Ratchet and Clank 3 , Spider-Man 2 , ATV Quad Power Racing 2 and a good handful of works that I consumed non-stop.

Rush to Hi-Fi It feeds on this feeling or, at least, evokes these memories of yesteryear. It exudes from every pore the simplicity exhibited by many games from the mid-2000s, which were a perfect combination of perfectly integrated platforming, humor and doses of action. Chai is the cunning protagonist, with an overconfidence that in real life would play tricks on him, but in his world it serves to make us laugh at his mistakes.

He’s a crazy teenager who has a music player embedded in his heart, so the meaning of it all quickly fades away. Peppermint, 808, Macaron and the whole gang couldn’t love you better while Chai just snaps his fingers to the music constantly. Vandelay’s bosses are flashy and navigating their territories is an old-fashioned task.

Jump around, fight against security robots, and ask colleagues for help to make your way across the stage. All this sprinkled with gears, boxes to break and a few other secrets if one explores more than necessary. This combination of elements only reminds me of traditional video games, the ones that asked you to collect the most apples or the ones that rewarded you for destroying objects. Classic, no-fuss formula that still works today.

Rush to Hi-Fi

What I didn’t expect at all to like it so much was the synchronization with the music. I live in fear every time I have to face a hack & slash and dealing with the score the game gives me, which usually tells me I wasn’t diverse enough in combat. The original Devil May Cry trilogy left me traumatized, but Soulstice allowed me to relax and enjoy the fights. NOW, Rush to Hi-Fi managed to be part of this group.

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It’s impressive to see the enormous amount of visual stimuli that the game brings so that you have no way of missing a beat. Lights turn on and off, chimneys belch smoke and even the 808 emits note-related flashes. So it’s a pleasure to play a guitar made of junk, not to mention that the songs themselves are generally easy to follow. Of course, I expected a more recognizable selection of songs and a less powerful presence of original songs.

Lonely boy from the Black Keys At first it’s a great success, although perhaps the problem is my lack of knowledge of the music world and that’s why I didn’t enjoy as much just listening to what it sounds like. In any case, I really wanted to start destroying robots mercilessly, because there are so many combo possibilities to achieve that it’s a lot of fun to hit the metal. Reaching an S rating isn’t difficult at all, so I just got carried away in the fights trying to be creative, remember the best attacks and dodge the flow, block and perform the animations nice things he offers. Rush to Hi-Fi .

Rush to Hi-Fi

It’s now its first anniversary, which has meant the arrival of more content as well as a great post-game that offers many hours of additional gameplay. I won’t enjoy them because I have to concentrate on other works, but The dedication of the entire development team deserves applause . This won’t go down as one of my top titles of the year or past, but I’m glad that something like what Tango Gameworks created exists and has been so well received by audiences. In an age where budgets are geared toward long-term macro projects, an 8-hour title shows that it has as much to say as the most ambitious game as the service. Ode to Chi and his group.​