The game is quite long for how limited the gameplay is. Combat had an interesting rhythm gimmick but it should have been a 5-6 hour, tight experience, not 10-12. It really outstayed its welcome for me given that the game is just combat arenas and cutscenes.
Apart from that combat could be broken by spamming companion abilities once you unlocked them all, it didn’t feel like there was any reason to use different combos than 2 or 3 that worked fine.
I end up with the feeling that the hype around the game comes mainly from the unfair closure of a studio that did something that wasn’t just following trends.
People hold the game up as an example of what’s wrong with the cash grabbing nature of big publishers in the industry, but I just don’t think it’s a good game at all.
I loved hi-fi rush. I loved the soundtrack, I loved how satisfying the combat system was while still being challenging to pull off consistently well. I always felt I was incentivised to vary my combos because of the DMC-like style meter. I loved the old-school 3d platformer feel as that was nostalgic for me. It was also just such a joyful game. Ok the story has down beats but overall it’s a really happy game. I absolutely loved my time with it.