Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Reviews
With bumping tunes and Y2K inspirations, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk reminds us that, sometimes, looking back can be a way of moving forward.
Eerie and loving by turn, Bomb Rush Cyberpunk is a gloriously haunted video game.
This is a shame because there's a fun game here – it's just trapped in a hollow shell. Its final sin is having a miserable story hardly even worth bringing up. It's boring and bad; we can leave it at that. There's room for games that want to recapture some old glory – to remind you how cool games used to be – but to do that, you have to add something new to the conversation. Neon White is a great example of a game that did this right. Bomb Rush isn't interested in adding anything new. It just wants to have the same conversations we've been having for years. Jet Set Radio was cool. Go play that instead.
Complete with Sega-blue skies, a funk-filled soundtrack and visually distinct crews, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is the Jet Set Radio sequel you've been waiting for.
No matter how excellent its soundtrack or sense of momentum may be, there's no shaking the sense that Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is in a race against its own sense of nostalgia. The game rips, but more often than not it feels like that's because Jet Set Radio ran before it. That's not to say it's bad, but part of what makes Jet Set Radio so fun and unique is its raw originality. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk feels like a sequel in everything but name-for better and for worse. For every banger in its soundtrack, there's a moment of jank or a feeling that this game hasn't left 2000. Again, it's still a great time, but it's lacking that lightning-in-a-bottle feel that JSR had. That's totally fine, and for people who missed out on it, this will feel much fresher.
If you’re an old school Segahead, there are definitely a few holes in your heart in need of filling. Jet Set Radio, which hasn’t seen a new game since the Xbox, is one of the biggest. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk has appeared like a beacon of hope to fill that void, and it does so while bringing new stuff to the table. This game is like a long-lost Dreamcast game in so many different ways, and most of them are good. Clearly, the developers at Team Reptile understand the concept of love.
It captures the soul of Jet Set Radio perfectly but with only a limited attempt to evolve the formula for modern times this feels uncomfortably trapped in the early 2000s.
This spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio has the same stylish look and feel, though with better gameplay for the outlaw street gang
All the pieces come together in the end: the design, the story, and the gameplay. Despite brief hurdles with the combat sections this is one of my favorite games of 2023. I actually hope Team Reptile makes a sequel that fixes the combat and maybe changes up how bikes, boards, and skates play a bit because this game was so much fun to play. I went from having no interest in this game to being absolutely enveloped by it. I bought it for a friend. Forget Jet Set, go Bomb Rush.
Taking inspiration from Jet Set Radio, this game effortlessly carries on its legacy. With great gameplay mechanics, a deep story, and fantastic music Bomb Rush Cyberfunk raises the standard for indie games and making it one of the best indie games you'll play this year.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a modernised love letter to Jet Set Radio that combines fun and stylistic gameplay, with a kaleidoscope of updated Dreamcast-era visuals and sound to create a sequel in everything but name. We may never see Sega release another Jet Set Radio again, but this is the next best thing and an exciting foundation for the future.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is no doubt a worthy successor to Jet Set Radio. That’s not to say the game is perfect; there are some notable issues, such as falling through the floor on occasion, as well as the aforementioned poor combat sections. But those issues don’t detract from this still being one of the most fun games released this year.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is the perfect spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio. Not only does it capture the idea of cruising the streets, but the intuitive controls and simple mechanics allow anyone to pull off impressive-looking tricks. Unfortunately, the combat is weak, and segments where this is at the forefront hinder the overall quality of the product. However, when you hurdle this bump, you’ll fall in love with the banging beats and addictive gameplay loop.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a game that's clearly wearing its inspiration on its sleeve. With mechanics that are pretty easy to get into and a great soundtrack to boot, fans of Jet Set Radio and 3D platformer games in general should feel very pleased. While the game has some shortcomings that prevent it from being a masterpiece, it still delivers some memorable beats.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a delightful skating and hip-hop mash-up that builds its foundation on Sega's classic Jet Set Radio series, but contains enough narrative and gameplay freshness to stand on its own as an arcade-style action game.
But, even then, there’s this overwhelming sense that the tricks don’t really serve much purpose until the game tells you that points and graffiti tags matter, basically driving a wedge between the best thing about the game and the activities that actually progress the story. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is resuscitating what made Jet Set Radio so great back in the day, and it’s far from being a disgrace to the name. But it’s off-kilter in every way that the original games felt cohesive.
There’s no doubt that some Jet Set Radio fans hungry for more will enjoy Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. I’ve been waiting for this series’ return in spirit along with the rest of them, but in the end, it did little more than inspire nostalgia for the original, gorgeous though it may be.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk has a few problems, but so much soul you can't help but love it. The simple joy of movement alone is well worth writing all over New Amsterdam, but so are the music, visuals, and story. Sure, there are bumps in the road, but they won't stop you from going All City.