Hi-Fi Rush... Why?

Muttered at my screen "This is so FUCKING boring" and other obscenities as I waited for some slow lifts to get me back to where I was in Hi-Fi Rush, after prolonged frustration with the hard-to-nail beat parry system against robot samurai enemies who attack from outside of the picture. Almost all modern combat systems are basically glue, their creators having become so reliant on either dodges or timed parries and auto-targeting (the player turned towards enemies, a HARD turn) because they don't remember what it's like to move freely in better action games like Streets of Rage 2 or are too pathetic to learn and appreciate the slower pace. There, enemies don't move so quickly all over the place that your eyes and brain can barely follow, and they wouldn't have to even if the idea was faithfully brought into three dimensions, because it's more about positioning, taking advantage of where they are, shoving one into the next for example, or using weapons to keep them at a distance. The environmental traversal in this is trash. The heroic trio is bland, ALL of them. Protagonist is just the butt of a joke, pathetic, always bumbling, uncool. Have no idea why Robbie Daymond gets so much work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Daymond

This list makes no sense. He speaks as if so aware that he's in a booth, unable to let anything out naturally, certainly never really yelling.

All this game has is the fighting, which isn't even good. I'm sick of glue. I'll keep at it to be able to say I beat it and to see what's next, but I'm already thinking 2/5 like the only other game I beat this year, Soulstice (also glue). Feel like people are so desperate for unique studio games that they shower praise on games that, deep down, they know really aren't that good.

It's really fun.

Hifi Rush is basically a rhythm game, not a fighting game, so it falls flat if you compare it to Streets of Rage 2.

Then again, most games fall flat when compared to Streets of Rage 2. In those days, it was all gameplay and no gimmicks.

Hi-Fi Rush was very enjoyable. However with it being Tango I much prefer the Survival Horror The Evil Within games, they just do it more for me. While for Hi-Fi I just got my 3D Hn'S kicks from DMCV, it's welcome to see the genre be essentially revived with many new games, but I can't help but feel Hi-Fi Rush was more of a smaller experimental game.

It's fun

@RSM-HQ: Yeah I would have loved to see a 3rd game in that series.

Tango was only ever worth a damn with Shinji Mikami as director, as flawed as The Evil Within was. Did not care for the sequel.

Really enjoyed Hi-Fi Rush as well as The Evil Within 1 and 2. Would certainly be interested in sequels for both.

@warm_gun: Ah. I loved both EW games. The second one had some unique visuals that I appreciated, it had good style.

The gameplay felt better than the first IMO and it shone in the more open areas. It was fun hunting and taking out the enemies by using stealth. I don't like a lot of stealth but when it's done well and is optional like this, it's great.

I enjoyed the sequel more and note that as someone who's beaten OG Akumu seven times & also considers The Cruelest Intentions as one of the greatest sections in any Survival Horror game.

TEW2 just had different flaws from the first game. Also Mikami Shinji san didn't want to direct TEW, he was pressured into doing it. Still played a part in the sequel, he just wasn't active director.

For a game about music, the music is so lame. Why is he beating to it? I see that Hideki Naganuma of Jet Set Radio is still alive.

Feb 10:

Now that Corsica has joined the team, Hi-Fi Rush has the Devil May Cry 4 problem, where switching weapons (characters) with L2 is no longer a toggle, but a cycle, requiring more mental energy and attention paid to the HUD.

The Hi-Fi Rush concert boss. It's in checkpoints. After you die, you have full health, even though you didn't have full health before. I criticized Batman bosses for that in my long critique. They do this because the boss design is too weird and sets players up for failure. It feels like a cheat. No real progression in the fight. Just let yourself die intentionally for full health.

Him:

Or don't do that and get a stage rank better than D because you're not suffering death penalties, and also you get to learn the boss better because you've faced their attacks a greater number of times. And hell, maybe you even end up clearing the second phase on low health because it worked out to be something you could handle.

Point is, letting a boss kill you on purpose is stupid, in every case in every game that isn't strictly a supposed-to-lose fight. You'll get the health refill anyway; why not make the boss work for it?

Me:

Or make gameplay that's actually balanced to be progressive, and I'm not talking about upgrades. Playing either perfectly or having the game give you the win by providing full health that you didn't enter the checkpoint with is poor design. The removal of lives combined with checkpoints has made devs so creatively lazy.

To be fair, lives had to be removed because of how long games became. But it has still made too many devs look at game sections as isolated rather than as parts of a progressive battle.

The last boss reminds me again of why they have to give the win to you with these checkpoints that replenish you with full health that you didn't enter the checkpoint with. The weird design sets players up for failure. They did not design thoughtfully because they knew they had the checkpoints, just like with Arkham City's bosses. It also is simpler to stand still and wait for the counters, so there's little of the motion that makes actual fights and fights in movies so entertaining.

Thought through most of the game that it's strange for one about music, in this style, to have almost no songs. 90 percent instrumentals. The last two levels do have songs, and they suck. The one in level 11 doesn't even fit the action.

Finished the game. Story was just stupid anime bullshit. No attacks purchased, because I'm tired of that carrot on a stick crap, being locked out. Thought late in the game, "Maybe it is a 3/5, maybe I'm being unfair," but last two levels made me think again, "Why?"

2/5

I didn't care for it either.

Modern combat is trash. Wish developers forgot everything.

Good game. Somewhat repetitive. The rhythm schlick did get a bit tired.

I enjoyed it a lot. Fun writing, great art style and solid gameplay.

>hard to nail beat parry

egad imagine being devoid of rhythm.

You're obviously entitled to your opinion but I think this is just a case of "not my cup of tea" and not really deserving of your rant 😋

It's a pretty good game and was well-received by critics and consumers alike.

And you don't share that opinion.

'nuff said.