Let’s get the elephant out of the room immediately. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a brand new Jet Set Radio sport. Within the grand custom of indie studios creating non secular successors to dormant franchises, none have been so blatant of their lifting of supply materials. All the pieces about its gameplay and elegance is almost equivalent to the SEGA traditional, from the extent development, artwork course, city industrial areas, character proportions, and breakdancing animations, right down to the eclectic soundtrack that includes tracks from composer Hideki Naganuma. Staff Reptile has made it obvious the one factor preserving Bomb Rush from being Jet Set is pesky copyright legislation. And that’s not a slight; it’s excessive reward.
Jet Set Radio is the last word vibe sport. The sort of sport that stands out not with mechanics however by way of sheer drive of creative id; capturing the rebellious optimism of hip-hop tradition within the Y2K period with pioneering cel-shaded graphics, funky contemporary beats, and memorable characters. It is a fashion that’s of its time and but hasn’t aged a day. The identical can’t be mentioned for the controls. The Dreamcast unique suffered the woes of many early 3D video games of its time, with stiff unwieldy controls that betray the promise of being a nimble punk on skates hitting methods, doing crime, and leaving the 5-0 in your mud. Jet Set Radio Future on XBOX improved the formulation by modernizing the management scheme, however that didn’t imply it was polished. There was all the time a chasm in high quality between the fashion and setting of Jet Set Radio and its minute-to-minute gameplay. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk lastly closes that hole.
You play as Crimson and the remainder of the Bomb Rush Crew rising up the ranks in New Amsterdam attempting to earn sufficient rep to tackle rival gangs throughout the 5 boroughs and turn into All Metropolis. Graffiti is the way you earn rep, and portray items over these of your rivals is the way in which to get their consideration. It’s as much as you to search out the spots to color, and extra importantly, learn to attain them. At its core, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a 3D platformer on wheels. Whether or not it is skateboards, BMX bikes, or in-line skates, you’re utilizing these alongside together with your boostpack to discover the semi-open world, uncover secrets and techniques, and attain the locations you’ll tag. When you’ve earned sufficient rep, you possibly can problem your rivals in a head-to-head competitors to earn probably the most factors inside 2 minutes.
Factors are earned by constructing combos with methods. These methods will be carried out at any time by urgent A, Y, or X, however you have to be within the air, grinding a rail, or doing a handbook to maintain up the combo streak. Multipliers will be gained by taking laborious corners on rails or by using partitions. However don’t suppose you possibly can grind the identical rails and trip the identical partitions; each must be new to rely. Equally, spamming the identical trick will turn into stale, so your methods must be combined as much as web probably the most factors.
It sounds technical on paper, however in observe, it is completely electrical. There’s nothing fairly like constructing pace, chaining a sequence of rail grinds, manuals, wall rides, jumps, mid-air dashes, and boosts to run up the quantity as excessive as you possibly can take it, solely to bail and eagerly do it once more. It’s the mark of an awesome motion system while you catch your self not progressing in any respect within the story or facet targets, however as an alternative jamming out to the stellar soundtrack and hitting methods for minutes on finish for no different cause than the satisfaction of pulling off one other killer combo. It’s the sensation I all the time hoped to expertise with Jet Set Radio however by no means bought to because of the everpresent jank. Staff Reptile delivers what SEGA and Smilebit couldn’t by honing a motion system that lowers the ability ground for newcomers by creating one thing that’s polished and approachable whereas elevating the ability ceiling with extra nuances to grasp.
The extent design enhances the motion superbly. These city playgrounds comprise collectibles in secret areas to reward exploration and on the finish of obstacles to satiate these hungry for a problem. Incomes extra rep than required to progress the story will unlock further parts of the map with their very own set of secrets and techniques and challenges, and it is all the time a good suggestion to scour the maps after finishing the story to do distinctive quest strains for unlocking characters. These zones are actually dense, which is as a lot a blessing as it’s a curse. You’re offered a map through your flip telephone and the pause display, however it’s not all that useful till after you could have claimed the borough to your crew. Solely then will you be capable of return and discover the map knowledge. This mechanic incentivizes being attentive to the considerate stage design and making notice of routes alongside the partitions and rails of every zone. However when nothing is marked in your map and you’ll’t discover your approach by way of the twists and turns of zones like Pyramid Island otherwise you occur to overlook a spot to slip below, it may possibly result in frustration.
The police will be equally irritating. Upon getting thrown up sufficient items round city, the cops are alerted to your location, chasing you down with weapons, turrets, snipers, and extra. They’re straightforward to disregard at first, however as soon as you might be at max warmth you’ll have a military in your tail, making ahead progress depressing. It is in these situations that you just’ll wish to find an outhouse to lose the fuzz—and perhaps change your match when you’re at it. You may struggle again by boosting and doing methods into the police should you’d like, however this isn’t an actual fight part of gameplay. If something, it is simply a possibility to interrupt dance into your haters and humiliate them into the air together with your sick artwork for additional factors.
Staff Reptile understands the vibe it is going for and commits to it fully, and that goes past the thrill of tagging lawmen only for kicks. Your flip telephone isn’t simply the way in which your crew communicates info; it is also your map, your music, and your digital camera. You alter characters and hail taxis not by deciding on choices on a display however by busting strikes in particular areas. It could be easier to relegate these choices to a menu however clear effort was put into making these particulars a cohesive a part of the world even at the price of participant comfort. And I like Bomb Rush Cyberfunk all of the extra for it.
This brings us to the story, which oozes as a lot persona as every little thing else—even when the premise isn’t as contemporary. Your journey as a cyberhead attempting to get his flesh head again and perceive his previous is the amnesiac trope we’ve seen one million instances however with additional steps. Nevertheless, the execution is what stored me engaged with enjoyable character interactions, putting cutscene course, and distinctive gameplay integration. All through his journey of self-discovery, Crimson might be sucked into his unconscious. On this dream state, you because the participant must platform your approach by way of an impediment course constructed out of fragmented reminiscences and surreal structure. They don’t final lengthy however these bite-sized sections are a number of the most memorable. Bosses are much less so, although. The few that you just encounter are superb moments to punctuate the story however exterior of a pair exceptions they don’t ship the identical awe or pleasure.
We’ve already finished a tech evaluation and comparability throughout Swap, PC, and Steam Deck so I gained’t reiterate the small print. The cliff notes model is that Swap efficiency is ample however not wonderful. The sport runs at steady resolutions and a constant 30fps with an choice to uncap the framerate if you want. And you’ll anticipate pop-in points and longer loading instances. The couple of issues I didn’t catch in my earlier testing had been the handful of crashes I skilled late within the sport. These had been alarming at first however the beneficiant auto-save threw me proper again into the motion with out lacking a beat. I’d additionally like so as to add that the pop-in throughout some later in-engine cutscenes was way more pronounced than in my preliminary checks. If you will get Bomb Rush elsewhere, then I’d advocate a model on higher {hardware} however don’t really feel like you might be shortchanged by choosing it up on Swap if it’s a must to.
It’s straightforward to look at Bomb Rush Cyberfunk and see an affordable imitation. A piece whose worth is present in what it takes somewhat than what it creates. However Staff Reptile has confirmed that spinoff artwork can surpass its inspirations. I can recall practically half a dozen situations of me beginning Jet Set Radio with the hope that it might lastly click on, that I might lastly take pleasure in shifting in that world as a lot as I loved being in it, solely to by no means make it previous the second stage. In a 12 months chock filled with landmark releases, I’m booting up Bomb Rush Cyberfunk once more to make up for all of the misplaced time, to play the sport that I all the time hoped existed. Now that I’ve it, I merely simply can’t get sufficient.