Hi-Fi Rush (PC/XSX|S/Cloud/Game Pass/PS5). Tango Gameworks Rhythm brawler. Out now on PS5, 91% on MC.

It's certainly "very very good", but I notice that I miss the 3rd light attack combo more often than I do with just TV speakers. I am willing to concede that I might have just been having an off day with the game though. The wireless performance is pretty staggering and it's reassuring to see just how good it is.

Not having the same issue as some of you with the rhythm, tend to get A rank usually.

But I also think it doesn't matter and tends to work as a bonus rather than an outright fail state if you miss it.

Not sure how long the game is but I just had Korsica join my crew before I switched off last night,

twitter.com/dachsjaeger/status/1620717752565780480

Not really enjoying this after about 4 hours. It just feels like I am having to memorise loads of combos for the sake of it (the rankings feel like the reason to play it, not the dreadful story), and so every time I get in to the flow of it I distract myself trying to remember whether it's light heavy heavy etc etc. I have exactly the same issue with Bayonetta and DMC - nothing feels instinctive to me and my brain. It's that Tony Hawks thing where you are just crossing off a list of combos to maximise score, not because the situation dictates it.

The final turd in the u-bend was when I was insta-killed 4 times in a row by closing in energised shields (?!?) because I could not work out where I had to jump (more Bayonetta flashbacks for me there). So that would instantly mean a "C" rank at the end of the chapter, despite me getting primarily A grades up to that point.

Thank goodness for Game Pass I guess - the way everyone is going on about this I thought it was going to be some sort of genre defining masterpiece.

This reminds me of no open roads or whatever it was called.

A game centred around music where the actual music kind of sucks.

Just finished it. Tempted to give it a 9.5 but I'll go with a 9/10. Loved it from start to finish. Animation was fantastic, boss fights enjoyable with a competent storyline with some lovely writing. Virtually bug free which is nice these days. Going to be tough to beat as my GOTY.

twitter.com/dark1x/status/1620718809329041409

Not really shocking that a game that actually has a visual style rather than just "as-good-as-we-can-get-to-realism-as-we-can-manage-right-now" gets plaudits for it's visuals. That's always been the case, and it really stands out. It's baffling that more of the big developers still haven't figured that bit out.

I think it's the level of polish on show here, the transition from animation to game play and back is not something I've seen done SO well.

Played the first level last night. It looks beautiful, but I'm not too sold on the gameplay yet (early days I know). I find the main character really annoying though so ill have to get past that (reminds me of a youtuber or something).

Really reminds me of an old dreamcast game or something, good stuff.

All the careful visual design in the world wouldn't give the game a proper hand-drawn look if Hi-Fi Rush looked like a jagged mess, and here the game impresses as well. Image quality is basically impeccable on Series X, with a super sharp, super clean 4K presentation throughout, while Series S looks softer but still excellent at a static 1440p. This is pretty much the best-case scenario for a console release, and it's reflected in stronger than usual image quality on both machines. There are a few subtle settings tweaks on Series S too, with lesser shadow quality at range and lower foliage density, but other visual settings appear closely matched.

Both consoles target 60fps and achieve this consistently, with no frame-rate dips at all on Series X and only an occasional 16.7ms frame drop on Series S that most players are unlikely to notice. Combined with the game's subtle but high-quality motion blur, it feels very smooth and responsive on both machines.

The game also runs brilliantly on PC, avoiding the shader compilation stutter epidemic that has infected many recent Unreal Engine 4 releases thanks to the use of a precompilation step on boot that seems to work well. We only spotted one potential piece of stutter in the first 30 minutes while running on a Core i9 12900K and RTX 4090 system, and this wasn't particularly severe at 50ms.

As far as I'm concerned, this is an early contender for game of the year and undoubtedly one of the most attractive games we'll see in 2023. Hi-Fi Rush is an absolute blast - and everyone should give it a shot.

https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundr ... sual-treat

Finished it tonight. The credits were wonderful.

Johnny Ryall wrote:Finished it tonight. The credits were wonderful.

Hoping to do so tomorrow, what score would you give it?

Photek wrote:

Johnny Ryall wrote:Finished it tonight. The credits were wonderful.

Hoping to do so tomorrow, what score would you give it?

I dunno, good? I don’t attach scores to things

Wow, this is a great game.

Really polished and beautiful to look at. I don't mind the characters yet, but only an hour in so that might change.

Feels really satisfying when you nail a combo with perfect timing.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:Not really enjoying this after about 4 hours. It just feels like I am having to memorise loads of combos for the sake of it (the rankings feel like the reason to play it, not the dreadful story), and so every time I get in to the flow of it I distract myself trying to remember whether it's light heavy heavy etc etc. I have exactly the same issue with Bayonetta and DMC - nothing feels instinctive to me and my brain. It's that Tony Hawks thing where you are just crossing off a list of combos to maximise score, not because the situation dictates it.

The final turd in the u-bend was when I was insta-killed 4 times in a row by closing in energised shields (?!?) because I could not work out where I had to jump (more Bayonetta flashbacks for me there). So that would instantly mean a "C" rank at the end of the chapter, despite me getting primarily A grades up to that point.

Thank goodness for Game Pass I guess - the way everyone is going on about this I thought it was going to be some sort of genre defining masterpiece.

Maybe you're not a fan of this genre? Totally get that. I just try to not get too caught up with the whole grading angle.

Johnny Ryall wrote:

Photek wrote:

Johnny Ryall wrote:Finished it tonight. The credits were wonderful.

Hoping to do so tomorrow, what score would you give it?

I dunno, good? I don’t attach scores to things

You didn’t really give an opinion on it is all.

Albear wrote:Wow, this is a great game.

Really polished and beautiful to look at. I don't mind the characters yet, but only an hour in so that might change.

Feels really satisfying when you nail a combo with perfect timing.

kazanova_Frankenstein wrote:Not really enjoying this after about 4 hours. It just feels like I am having to memorise loads of combos for the sake of it (the rankings feel like the reason to play it, not the dreadful story), and so every time I get in to the flow of it I distract myself trying to remember whether it's light heavy heavy etc etc. I have exactly the same issue with Bayonetta and DMC - nothing feels instinctive to me and my brain. It's that Tony Hawks thing where you are just crossing off a list of combos to maximise score, not because the situation dictates it.

The final turd in the u-bend was when I was insta-killed 4 times in a row by closing in energised shields (?!?) because I could not work out where I had to jump (more Bayonetta flashbacks for me there). So that would instantly mean a "C" rank at the end of the chapter, despite me getting primarily A grades up to that point.

Thank goodness for Game Pass I guess - the way everyone is going on about this I thought it was going to be some sort of genre defining masterpiece.

Maybe you're not a fan of this genre? Totally get that. I just try to not get too caught up with the whole grading angle.

I guess you’re right. I love rhythm games, but I feel like the requirement to do mental gymnastics to cycle through a list of arbitrary combos and companion swaps is completely at odds with the innate feeling of rhythm. I would just rather play Streets of Rage 4 / Sunset Overdrive or Beat Saber depending on what day of the week it was.

I know I’m in the minority in this one, and that’s fine, I'm not suggesting everyone else is wrong. It just surprises me that I am on my own with this feeling.

For folk who’ve completed this, how long has it taken to see the credits? Thinking this may be the shorter game to play next out of this and Hades.

Robbo-92 wrote:For folk who’ve completed this, how long has it taken to see the credits? Thinking this may be the shorter game to play next out of this and Hades.

I finished it in 12 hours, Hades is a lot longer than that.

Monkey Man wrote:

Robbo-92 wrote:For folk who’ve completed this, how long has it taken to see the credits? Thinking this may be the shorter game to play next out of this and Hades.

I finished it in 12 hours, Hades is a lot longer than that.

I thought that’d probably be the case, I’ll definitely make a start on this over the next couple of days then.