A giant shout out to indie video games which are successors to current video games in all however identify. It is gotta be considered one of my favorite traits. Fed up of ready for an enormous writer to revive a sequence that’s been mendacity dormant for many years? Merely do it your self as an alternative. 11 years after the discharge of Jet Set Radio Future, and with Sega seemingly unwilling to exhume their cult-favourite rollerblading sequence exterior of bizarre crossovers with Ubisoft’s Curler Champions of all issues, Crew Reptile have achieved precisely that.
Enter Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, as genuine a sequel to Jet Set Radio as you will get. Dripping with model and oozing cool, the workforce have crafted a fastidiously noticed love letter that each respects and advances the unique duology in significant methods, whereas taking a step again in others.
After being decapitated whereas escaping jail and having their head changed with a cybernetic substitute, Purple joins the Bomb Rush Crew, a pair of graffiti artists with aspirations of going “All Metropolis”. So as to regain your noggin’ and uncover who you really are, every metropolis district should be seized from its respective crew. Because of a longtime code held up by the enigmatic old-heads (a trio of hip-hop loving geriatrics who preserve order among the many crews), doing so is straightforward: graffiti over sufficient spots earlier than beating your opponents in a score-attack problem, kick-flipping and grinding your strategy to city-wide supremacy.
Bomb Rush encompasses a regular movement of fascinating narrative beats which are repeatedly brushed apart in favour of hanging out in a approach I discover completely fascinating. There are a number of twists, shock character reveals, a conspiracy that threatens the already fragile morality of town’s police pressure and a persistent thematic undercurrent concerning the bodily type and what makes us human. However all of this takes a again seat to breakdancing, doing a cool backflip on a half-pipe or tagging a billboard in a purchasing centre.
This isn’t a criticism! This virtually blasé angle to its personal stakes feeds right into a wider sense that Bomb Rush is just too cool to care, a distinctly early 00s perspective that the sport replicates completely. That is the longer term by the use of the iMac G3 and the Motorola Razr, with Y2K aesthetics. Big bomber jackets and flip cellphone selfies. Canine in bucket hats and file scratch sound results. The visible stylings of Jet Set Radio have been about greater than easy cell shading. It was the curves, the colors, the style. Bomb Rush replicates all of it superbly.
Oh, and the music! The hunt for the soundtrack of the yr is over. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk options an distinctive mixture of electro funk and hip-hop bangers, a wealthy choice that even options contributions by unique Jet Set Radio composer Hideki Naganuma. Few video games sound pretty much as good as this, and searching down new tracks to play in your in-game cellphone is a necessary process it’s best to prioritise above all else.
Nevertheless, whereas score-attack battles are an integral step in your quest to overcome town, Bomb Rush’s trick system lacks chew. Outdoors of a handful of fundamental grinds, air tips and combo linkers equivalent to manuals and sliding, there’s not a considerable quantity of depth to be discovered right here. Comparisons to Tony Hawk’s Professional Skater can be unfair, as Bomb Rush clearly has no need to duplicate that recreation’s method to tips and scoring, and I couldn’t assist however want there was extra to chew on as I repeatedly cycled by the identical meagre collection of strikes. A missed alternative, maybe, for a barely extra participating approach of interacting with this world and its constructions.
Actually, although, the beating coronary heart of Bomb Rush lies in its traversal system. If you’re introduced with a brand new district to say, every with their very own theme and color palette, there’s real pleasure in figuring out how this community of twisting rails and clusters of billboards join to 1 one other to type pathways to hard-to-reach graffiti spots. These areas are constructed for skating. And rollerblading. And BMXing. With motion this tight, and a way of movement this clear, Bomb Rush is extra of a platformer than you would possibly count on, as scattered throughout these plazas, malls and unimaginable industrial pyramids is graffiti, positioned there by your rivals and begging to be coated up with your individual designs.
Tagging in Bomb Rush sees you dragging the analogue stick throughout a circle, with totally different shapes similar to a selected piece of artwork you unlock by finishing challenges or selecting up inside the recreation’s ranges. With a stunning quantity of variation on provide, it’s simple to turn out to be hooked up to a specific set of tags, memorising their patterns to depart a definite mark on the world that appears like your individual. Methodically rinsing every district of its secrets and techniques whereas submerged in its soundtrack is without doubt one of the greatest experiences of the yr.
Or a minimum of, it could be. As is so typically the case, the police are right here to wreck a superb time for no justifiable motive. I get that cops have been an vital a part of Jet Set Radio, a militant pressure utilizing excessive strategies to counter a victimless crime. Combating again towards fascist forces decided to enact violence towards innocent and various teams is arguably a extra related and simply narrative beat in 2023 than it was in 2002. However on a mechanical stage, the police in Bomb Rush appear designed to interrupt your movement so successfully that it could make really taking part in the sport a depressing chore.
Graffiti sufficient spots and also you’ll begin to construct up a warmth metre, with every stage flooding the map with a unique sort of police officer. Customary officers are a nuisance that may be largely ignored, till the second half of the sport once they begin taking pictures at you. Big machines shoot chains that connect to your limbs and pull you off rails and different platforms. Snipers and armoured officers stand in your approach and take pot pictures at you from afar. All of those mechanics run counter to the sense of movement that makes Bomb Rush, you understand, enjoyable to play. Outdoors of a handful of boss battles that function an extension of the motion and graffiti system in a approach that’s dynamic and fascinating, the police are a irritating hindrance that sours the entire expertise. Don’t even get me began on the fight, as the sport pulls you into weightless fist fights which are genuinely horrible.
You may take away your warmth metre by swapping outfits in bogs, however what’s the purpose when dying is a faster and extra environment friendly approach of restoring peace? All of the problem you want is already right here, within the score-attack challenges, the hidden areas, these enjoyable traces you determine by mastery of the sport’s motion system. It’s a slipshod addition that leaves components of the sport feeling messy and undercooked.
At its core, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a wonderful movement-based exploration recreation with a deep admiration for the video games that impressed it. Up there with one of the best, even. Nevertheless it by no means fairly reaches the extent of greatness it might have simply achieved. I needed to like Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and in some methods I really do, but it surely in the end misses the mark a bit of bit greater than I anticipated. Nonetheless, to let it cross you by can be a criminal offense. That soundtrack! That stage design! That visible model! What a deal with, even when sure mouthfuls depart a bitter style.
