Hi-Fi Rush is a PS2-era game that Xbox needed in 2023
Surprise drops for video games are nothing new, but not really in the triple-A space. Hype and analysis fuel that arm of the game industry in a constant self-sustaining cycle, even more so for titles from a console maker’s first-party studio.
So when Microsoft used its recent Developer Showcase to announce Tango Gameworks’ Hi-Fi Rush and then release it on the same day, calling it a surprise would be an understatement. Microsoft’s game output has been notoriously hit-and-miss, and other than some leaked concept art from months ago, there wasn’t any indication that the game even existed.
But the game isn’t just here, it’s pretty great, and that’s surprising to consider for a number of reasons.
Tango is best known for horror adventures such as The Evil Within franchise and 2022’s Ghostwire Tokyo. Those aforementioned games drew influence respectively from director Shinji Mikami’s Resident Evil tenure and Japanese folklore. Developers often change genres, but Hi-Fi Rush is as far from Tango's pedigree as you could get. At first glance, its cel-shaded art style would make you think you’re watching a Cartoon Network show from the late 2000s or early 2010s. At all times, it’s loud and boisterous in a good way; the game opens with lead character Chai jamming out to The Black Keys’ “Lonely Boy” as a robotic desk worker looks at him in irritation. In cutscenes, events are timed to hit with the beat, and the environment does the same thing while you actively play: platforms rise in a musical order or move in time with the music, and Chai even snaps his fingers while standing idly.
Comparisons between this game and Insomniac Games’ underrated 2014 shooter Sunset Overdrive (or Sega’s 2000 platformer Jet Set Radio) are inevitable.
Read more on gamedeveloper.com
