Hi-Fi Rush: PS5 Review 

Developed by Tango Gameworks
Published by Bethesda Softworks
Platform: PS5

Most rhythm games exist as a means to an end.

From Parappa the Rapper to the likes of Beat Saber, the pounding of buttons is more for fun and progression than for narrative necessity.

Not so with Tango Gameworks action game - here, the integration of the beat and the story is eternally intertwined and is all the better for it. Centring on hero Chai, a 25 year old who wants to be a rockstar and who volunteers to get a cybernetic arm. But after an accident changes his future forever, Chai is soon the beating heart of an adventure about breaking out and following your dreams.

HiFi Rush, with its cartoony graphics and humour, feels like an updated version of Scott Pilgrim vs The World, given how integrated the beat and the bashing of baddies is meshed together.

Reminiscent of pop art and a mix of 2D and 3D scrollers, the game's commitment to choral chaos is mightily involving and highly entertaining.

Pulling together combos as you zip around the stylish world, Chai comes alive as a character, and with comic-book panel interlays for dialogue and scene-setting, the whole thing feels like a wonderfully alive comic book.

As the screen fills with hordes of robots to bash and combos to meet, not once does the system slow or struggle with the overload of colours, rhythms and chaos - it's mightily impressive stuff from Tango Gameworks.

But more importantly than that, this is just a game that's fun - one that rewards you from the moment you pick up the controller and let the music wash over you.