I got Bomb Rush Cyberfunk in the latest Steam Sale! Ever since I've heard of it I wanted to try it, but with my ever overflowing library of games and enough games to play and projects to tackle, I like to wait for sales. I also still had to finish JSRF at that time.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a spiritual successor to the Jet Set Radio Series. A series that I quite like, if you have my previous posts about it. They even had Hideki Naganuma, the main composer of Jet Set Radio (and games like Sonic Rush, among other things, he is awesome), do tracks for it. So, I definitely had to try it. And, what can I say, after just getting my first few hours in?
It's cool. Super cool. Funky.
The shading, art and lighting style definitely give you the Jet Set Radio vibe from the get-go. Generally, I have the feeling it sound and feels more futuristic.
I don't have any sources for this but: If you go from the bottom, for me, it feels like JSR is a bit futuristic. I think a more proper term for it would be retrofuturistic, of course it is easy to say because we are in the future now, but as JSR was released in the year 2000, it had that Y2K feel, where they dreamt up how the future would be. It has nothing too extreme but you can feel the futuristic vibe. Jet Set Radio Future took this further, as the name suggests. It is most easily seen with the music, especially the remixes of the original songs, everything is more funky, faster, electronic. The character designs also got more futuristic, sporting antennas and cool gadgets (just compare Beat from JSR to Beat from JSRF)
And Bomb Rush Cyberfunk? It feels even more futuristic, the music, the theming, the cyberheads. I have the feeling the music has less harsh sounds, everything is very electronic and smooth. And just to clarify, that's not bad! I'm really feeling that new sound, and of course the game also feels more modern being more modern, but yes I feel the direction taken goes even further in the future than JSRF. Still close to JSRF, but further. Not close to JSR.
Something I really liked, that also felt retrofuturistic and made the game more immersive was that for most menus, you can use your ingame flipphone. Sort of like Easydrive in Burnout paradise, it just feels nice to use and adds to the aesthatic.
Enough talk! Check out some images, I got a cool lightbox thing to work! (click to enhance)
The phone! And the pause menu. You can see the art direction, I think it's very pleasant.
The graffiti system works differently in this game. You don't have to collect cans anymore, which is a good choice for this game. With the combo chains you will be doing, you don't want to wonder about where to get cans, and if you run out. For graffitis, you will get frozen in place, similiar to JSR, so you can paint your graffiti. You have a simple system of moving your analog stick onto the dots and connecting them to make different graffitis. This makes you able to choose between different graffitis by doing a different order of connecting the dots. The game will only let you do combinations you have unlocked. I think in game a character told me about doing different graffitis to get speed or the boost thing, I'm not sure, but I'm always trying to do different ones, but sometimes I don't remember the combos and sometimes I want to do specific graffiti cause I like how it looks.
The police! Enemy gangs! Story!
I won't be staying much about the story because I'm not far yet, but it seems promising and interesting. Sometimes I have the feeling in the writing they lead you a bit too much, like your enemies will tell you how do to moves, I get it's for the tutorial but I sometimes thought it was silly that my enemies showed me how to beat them. I guess in JSR it was like that sometimes too..
Spoilers for the first scene of the game: You escape from prison with the help of a guy called Tryce,
but your escape fails, as one of the gang leaders, DJ Cyber cuts off your head. Pretty brutal, huh?
Apparently your name was Faux, and you, DJ Cyber and a guy were Felix were the big 3, the best writers of the city
(I think writers is the equivalent to the rudies in JSR). Felix had gone "All City", which is the goal of all gangs, having your tags everywhere and your dominance established.
But he was killed and DJ Cyber took his mask and control, and well, now that Faux, is out of commission, he is on the way to be the next bigshot.
You didn't completly die though, apparently he preserved you head for experiments and reading your thoughts. Tryce rescued your body, and you were fitted with a cyberhead. Now you are in the Bomb Rush Crew, along with Tryce and Bel, and you try to go All City and get Faux's head back. Sometimes, in your dreams, you are in your head, in your thoughts and can see Faux, it's really trippy.
Red's Dream World, trippy. The art is gorgeous!
From that point out, it's classic JSR gameplay. Beat gangs, put your turf up to rise up. They added police that will chase you during a level, they are mostly just a little hassle, and you can escape them by using a bathroom. In there, you can change outfits too which I really like. The gang fights also got better, the back spraying was sometimes annoying in the old games, now you do combos and tricks! You can hold combos by doing a manual and you can also get multipliers from stuff like wall runs or cornering. Honestly, I should keep this shorter, it's getting quite long already. You best see for yourself, but I really enjoy it! There is also three types of movement, they feel similiar but its cool visually: You can use a bike, rollerskates or a skateboard.
I looked it up, they are all the same despite having special abilities like being able to break glass roofs or something. But! You can also go on foot, which is useful sometimes, you need it to slide under doors.
The most fun I had so far when I tried stuff on my own, like getting to specific graffitis, or a new thing they added: The robo post! You have to slap statues that are across the map all in one combo to unlock an outfit, music or a new graffiti! I especially had fun in the mall area, getting all the stuff, trying stuff out. I think thats the best thing in a game, when you realise how to make the fun yourself and you can just do it! And reach your own little goals :D
I was sometimes annoyed while I did that, because I sprayed like two graffitis and got interrupted with a short cutscene that a guy from a rival gang has spawned, or that the police were coming or getting more reinforcements. That was the only gripe I had so far.
The different characters! I really like Bel and her different outfits, Red is cool as fuck with his cyberhead and Tryce is stylish, old school cool. I also liked the design of Mr Dumpster Guy here, Solace. He helps you find a gang .. somewhat. On the topic of characters, there is also a fun gang called the Oldheads, which are, well old people, that settle gang disputes. I think they look funny with their jukeboxes.
I hope I didn't forget anything, but I really love this game so far. Give it a try! As said, best thing was getting completed immersed with the music and art, just going with the flow and the feel. That brings me to the second topic, immersiveness. As I don't get much time to game sometimes, I wanted to make it count. Set my phone on quiet, turn off my second monitor.. everything that could distract me. It really helped me get immersed more and enjoy this. I'm looking forward to where Red's Story goes! I had a cutscene with police too already, they are planning some sinister plot. After getting aprehanded in a cutscene, the cops eyes turn red, and they say lethal force engaged. Of course, like the Jet Set Games, the message of the game is anti-authoritian. Wouldn't be a game like that if nobody tried to KILL us. I still miss Onishimas screaming though .. I feel like the police here doesn't feel like much of a threat, rather an annoyance.
Oh well, this is still really good! I'm only four hours in, I might not even have unlocked everything! So try it if you like JSR and JSRF, and have fun :D
I'm glad games like this still get made and get love and attention, with the availability problems of the Jet Set Radio games. And from what I've seen its moddable too, I really gotta take a look at some point!
EDIT: After I uploaded this, I realised I had some things left to say, something I just noticed now: I miss Professor K! There is not really an announcer for the radio and everything. It's cool that you get messages from characters though, I think I'm in the process of unlocking somebody called Shine, I found them and talked and had some dance outs. Yeah, you can just dance in the game! It's cool and looks really good.
With all this, it really REALLY pains me to say this. And it probably sounds harsher than I mean it, but: thinking of this, I think the game could maybe use a bit more personality? I have the feeling I don't know that much about these characters, granted that wasn't the case in the JSRs either, but still. I feel like something is missing. No Prof. K, no frantic policemen ... I really really love the game, and of course it's is a whole nother game, but I feel like I'm still waiting for that one quotable moment. Coolest shit ever when DJ Prof. K said at the end: "Welcome to the new Jet Set Radio ... I'm gonna call it Jet Set Radio FUTURE!!!". The game has personality, but it's different. The Gameplay has improved a lot too though, especially compared to the original JSR, definitely also more accessible. The tricks aren't as hard to pull off as in JSRF, I really had to get a feeling there how to properly time the airs, so it felt really rewarding pulling it off, here is is pretty easy to make combos. But again, I love this, just thinks I notice after. I will still play this game and ENJOY it a lot, so I don't want to talk bad about it anyfurther, but I think it's important to give a good picture, be honest. It came to mind, so I said it. Still, the positives outweigh the negatives by soooo much, so play it!! Cool game :D 20€ in Steam Sale, I think its fair. If you like JSR, you will like this!