Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Genre: Sports (Xtreme) / Action-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

One of the trends it’s encouraging to see in the indie space is the spirit of “fine, if you won’t, then I will”, where indie creators who love games are frustrated by the lack of new sequels in beloved franchises, so they take it upon themselves to be the change they want to see and create the sort of game they always hoped the bigger studio would make, but never did. This sort of spirit is what brought us games like Stardew Valley, Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling, and Wargroove, and it has in turn led to the creation of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, a game that is clearly directly inspired by Sega’s classic Jet Set Radio franchise, which hasn’t received a new title since 2002’s Jet Set Radio Future.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, released in 2023 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, combines Extreme Sports-style gameplay with Action-RPG elements and wears its Sega-created inspiration on its sleeve, both in its gameplay, its attitude and spirit, and its presentation.

Like Jet Set Radio, one of the first games to use cel-shaded 3D visuals, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk makes use of simple 3D visuals that are nevertheless striking due to their highly-stylistic designs, colorful dystopian themes, and yes, ample use of cel-shading. On Nintendo Switch, these visuals are compromised by a fair amount of pop-in, but this doesn’t drastically affect the gameplay. These visuals are backed by an “electro-funk” soundtrack that even includes some works from Hideki Naganuma, Jet Set Radio’s composer. Some good examples include I Wanna Know, Condensed Milk, Get Enuf, and Refuse.

When it comes to the gameplay, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk feels a bit like if you took a game like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, reduced your move set, and then enabled cheats to never lose balance on things like grinds. There’s a feeling of freedom that comes from the potential for limitless combos as long as you can get yourself to a grind rail before your manual timer runs out, or even just jump up and double-back on a rail you’ve just grinded, and there are even cool moves here like a boost move and an air-dash.

However, at the same time, the gameplay here feels sloppier and more unpolished than what you’d find in a Tony Hawk game, and trying to make precision jumps seems a lot more difficult than it should be, with it being very difficult to control your angle. Plus, the limitation of only being able to wallride specific types of walls, and not being able to kick off walls when running straight into them, feels a bit jarring for someone used to Tony Hawk’s gameplay.

However, this isn’t just an “Xtreme” Sports game, and there’s a story here involving an oppressive police force, gangs competing by tagging turf with their graffiti, and a nasty rival gang leader who literally decapitates your character in the game’s intro, requiring a replacement robotic head. This sets in motion your goal of challenging other gangs and gaining the street cred you need to ultimately go toe to toe with the guy responsible for taking your noggin so you can get it back.

Much of this is done through competing with the other gangs using tricks, but there’s also confrontations involving combat, and this is one of the weaker elements of the game, often devolving into button-mashing, and at times with boss characters frustratingly hovering up in the air at the edge of your reach, forcing you to make an absurd jump in just to get a few hits on them.

I suspect fans of Jet Set Radio will be delighted to get another game in a similar vein in Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, but for the rest of us I can’t help but feel like this is a reminder why Sega hasn’t revisited the franchise in so long. This is pretty niche, and at least as far as Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is concerned, the mix of gameplay elements compromises the Xtreme Sports gameplay that is mostly great but could have used a bit more polish, while adding in other Action-RPG elements that just aren’t as successful. Because of this, I think this is a game that some players will find delightful, but many see as a bit lacking.

tl;dr – Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a mix of Xtreme Sports gameplay with Action-RPG elements that is clearly inspired by the Jet Set Radio series. Fans of that franchise will find a lot to like here, but players in general will likely be frustrated that the mostly-great Extreme Sports gameplay is unpolished and somewhat lacking, while the underbaked Action-RPG elements detract rather than add to the game. Overall, this is still a fairly unique game worth playing, but make no mistake, for everything done well here, it feels like you’ll find something else that’s flawed.

Grade: B-

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