At its core, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk desires to remind you ways cool different video games have been. Specifically, Jet Set Radio, Jet Set Radio Future, and a tiny little bit of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. The downside is, by selecting nostalgia as its sole focus, Bomb Rush lacks an id of its personal – it solely jogs my memory of why I’d moderately play these different video games as a substitute.
Bomb Rush makes an attempt to proper certainly one of Sega’s nice crimes: the 21 years we have gone with out a new Jet Set Radio recreation. For the uninitiated, Jet Set was an motion sports activities sequence that put you in command of a gang of rollerbladers terrorizing the streets of Tokyo-to, tagging each floor flat sufficient to carry paint. You fought different gangs and the police for dominance over the town. Its hanging cel-shaded graphics, unimaginable digital soundtrack, and common finger on the heartbeat of late ’90s and early aughts Japanese road tradition nonetheless make it a standout of Sega’s catalog – up there with the greats of the time, equivalent to Rez, Seaman, and Space Channel 5.
Understanding this affect means understanding Bomb Rush. It can also be an motion sports activities recreation that places you in command of a gang of rollerbladers (and skate boarders and BMX riders) terrorizing the streets of, on this case, New Amsterdam, tagging each floor flat sufficient to carry paint. In reality, you’ll be able to simply copy and paste all the above, and it immediately applies to Bomb Rush. It’s both an extremely earnest homage or a blatant copycat with few new concepts of its personal. I are likely to lean in the direction of the latter.
This is not to say there aren’t areas the place the sport shines. Mainly, it is enjoyable if totally senseless. Action sports activities video games are about momentum, and tricking by way of New Amsterdam’s quite a few ranges racking up million-plus-level combos feels fluid and pure. The tagging mechanic, which stops the movement for a brief drawing-based mostly minigame, provides a little bit of flare. And I favored swapping between completely different gang members to experiment with the skateboard and BMX methods.
On the opposite hand, it by no means pushes the participant. The lack of a steadiness meter is obvious (which, to be truthful, additionally wasn’t in Jet Set Radio, however nonetheless), which means you’ll be able to grind or guide with none talent. Tricking round is enjoyable, however after eight hours of taking part in, I not often needed to truly take into consideration what I used to be doing on-display by the tip. This is exacerbated by the very fact each stage has kind of the identical mission construction – tag an space, beat a rival gang in a combo contest, keep away from cops or struggle them with dangerous fight, rinse, and repeat. It’s monotonous after a bit. But that is modified up in finish-stage ranges that function dream sequences that push the participant’s talents, that are a few of the greatest elements of the sport.
By copying Jet Set’s entire aesthetic, which, because of cel-shading, has aged fantastically, Bomb Rush pops off the display. Its soundtrack is nice, too, although its small playlist means you may be listening to even your favourite tracks totally an excessive amount of. Hideki Naganuma – of Jet Set fame – additionally has a number of songs right here; unsurprisingly, they’re rad.
But my largest challenge with Bomb Rush is simply this: as of this sentence, I’ve used the phrases “Bomb Rush” and “Jet Set” an equal variety of occasions. That’s as a result of you’ll be able to’t speak about Bomb Rush with out speaking about its inspirations.
It appears Bomb Rush’s grandest aspiration is making the participant say, “Hey, wasn’t Jet Set Radio cool?” And yeah, that recreation was cool. I like Jet Set Radio. I want I had spent my time replaying that as a substitute.
I feel it is a common downside with the development of nostalgia-targeted media; by being so obsessive about wanting you to recollect how nice one thing else was, it lacks an precise id of its personal. Bomb Rush would not really feel like one thing new, distinctive, and earnest like Jet Set did when it got here out 20 years in the past. It looks like another person’s higher concepts have been recycled right into a by-product and unimaginative product. Bomb Rush would not add something new to the dialog. It would not wish to make new recollections – it is the man in your good friend group who’s nonetheless obsessive about speaking about highschool. Every so usually, I nonetheless boot up Jet Set Radio. I am unable to think about I’ll do the identical for Bomb Rush.
This is a disgrace as a result of there is a enjoyable recreation right here – it is simply trapped in a hole shell. Its ultimate sin is having a depressing story hardly even price citing. It’s boring and dangerous; we will depart it at that. There’s room for video games that wish to recapture some outdated glory – to remind you ways cool video games was – however to do this, you need to add one thing new to the dialog. Neon White is a good instance of a recreation that did this proper. Bomb Rush is not all in favour of including something new. It simply desires to have the identical conversations we have been having for years. Jet Set Radio was cool. Go play that as a substitute.
Discussion about this post