Have you ever missed a vital and blindingly obvious mechanic in a game? You know, something like going several hours not knowing why your weapons keep breaking in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Breath of The Wild? Not realising you can command your companions in battle in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Mass Effect? Spending half of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dead Space going for headshots? That sort of stuff. For me, the game was 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and for whatever reason - maybe it was the small text on my 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Steam Deck, maybe it was that I was listening to a podcast𒁏 - I didn’t realise you co🌜uld block…
Yes, in a character action game where the whole combat loop is centred around pushing forward into combat and blocking to stun enemies, I missed that you could do any of that. For the first five or so hours of the game, I felt that the game was just ridiculously unforgiving. I would kite groups of enemies until I could get a one-on-one, then I’d just spam attacks as fast as I could and hope a nano machine-powered merc (or one of their friends) didn’t hit me. Frankly, I thought it was a bit ridiculous that this beloved Platinum game was desig💦ned like this. I thought I would be the contrarian who hated this classic, especially considering the only way I could figure out how to dodge was by sprinting away and using Raiden’s slide-kick attack.
Eventually, about six hours in on the Monsoon fight, I gave up. I checked a walkthrough to see why I had died no less than 12 times, only to see that Raiden not only parrying attacks but reposting! Every enemy attack in Revegeance is actually an opportunity for you to dish back out damage to them tenfold. After implementing my newfound knowledge, su🌟ddenly I loved the game💝 and its unrelenting combat where you’re baying for enemies to swing at you, so you can stun them and cut them to ribbons.
All o🐻f this is to say, I’m a dumbass sometimes. I can deal with complicated mechanics and puzzles but sometimes my brain j🦩ust blanks out, and I massively overcomplicate things for myself. We all do it, right?
That’s why I identify so strongly with characters like Ryuji from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Persona 5. He’s the sort of harmless idiot who doesn’t have a bad bone in his body but is also just plain stupid sometimes. He might openly love his friends, but he’s also capable of showing the emotional sensitivity of a rock. He tries his best and often does quite well, but he༒ can also be completely inept when it comes to the simple stuff.
Chai from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Hi-Fi Rush is the same. There comes a point later in Hi-Fi where no one can think of a plan, except Chai. The problem is, that his plan is so painfully daft that it could never work, but as Peppermint acknowledges a few scenes earlier, why shouldn’t the team go with it? After all, Chai’s hair-brained schemes always seem to work out for the best anyw🃏ay. And as Macaron says about Chai’s Xenogear-esque plan, “he had so much heart… we just couldn’t say no.”
You can’t say no to guys like Chai and Ryuji. They follow their hearts to the end of the earth and will figure out a plan of what to do once they get there. That’s what makes them so endearing and easy to love: they are totally out of their depth but they know it's up to them to keep fighting. There are plenty of video game himbos out there - 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ichiban Kasuga, K꧒azama Kiryu, and Masharu Katio in the RGG games come to mind - but these twinks don’t even have the brawn to back up their brazenness. That makes them even easier to root for, they are true underdogs🎀 and I🦹 doubt they even realise that.
Remember when we were talking about Raiden back in Metal Gear Rising? He certainly ha♌d some of these characteristics, but I wouldn’t be the first to call the MGS2 protagonist a twink. The problem is, he’s too edgy. That’s hardly his fault, considering his background, but it got me thinking about all the ways that Rising laid the foundation for Hi-Fi, not only with its characters but its gameplay.
Once I figured out one of Revengeance’s most important mechanics, I subconsciously found myself blocking to the beat of the game’s soundtrack and not when the enemies' weapons flashed before attacking. On top of that, the needle-drop moments in Metal Gear Rising are some of the best in video games, especially each of the bosses’ unique themes.
Hi-Fi’s world existing on beat with its music feels like an extension of that game’s best sections. There is one moment lodged in my brain from Revengeance, during the game's first boss fight with a Metal Gear (a walking nuclear base that was treated as a world-destroying machine in previous games), Raiden grabs the mech’s sword right as the beat drops. Everything stops for a second, and we hear it. “RULES OF NATURE!” The soundtrack♎’s lyrics kick in and Raiden starts running up the sword and slashing the machine to pieces. It all works so well not just because of how explosive it is, but because the beats of the music land with each pounding fist of action to punctuate just how badass the moment is.
These moments in Rising hit hard, highlighting the game's most important moments. However, the great thing about Hi-Fi is it expands these moments out across the entire game. Everything from your attacks, to shot edits during cutscenes, to your running animation, is on beat. You are constantly drip-fed these satisfying exclamation points of synchronised action and sound.
While you might think this would lessen the effect over the course of a ten-hour game, Hi-Fi keeps things interesting. Some of it is thanks to the game’s sparse use of licensed tracks which fit so well with the onscreen action that it makes The ജProdigy seem cool in 2023. However, the other big factor is the characters, and Chai in particular, keeping things moving effortlessly. Despite the fact that none of ♈this should work out in the end, his heart and charisma don’t just carry the gang’s terrible plans to fruition, but they carry the whole game from moment to moment.
Chai is a loser, he can’t♌ even play guitar. He’s a total poser, yet he and his posse are so loveable that you can’t wait to get to the next story beat to see how it incorporates music, editing, and writing for another vignette that will endear you even more to these characters. Hi-Fi Rush learned an important lesson from Metal Gear Rising. Games are all about moments. In Revengeance, these moments are huge spectacles of rage and rock. In Hi-Fi, the really special moments are those spent with friends, the moments where everything just feels good.