Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is an immensely conflicting outing that capitalizes on nostalgia by drawing water from the same punk-as-hell city tap as Jet Set Radio. Sometimes the cup runs over. Others, rusted pipes bleed into the water, poisoning the experience.
Jet Set Radio casts a low-poly shadow over any game about street culture or graffiti—cel-shaded or not—and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk deserves better than getting labeled as an imitator and getting hocked in some back alley tourist trap with knockoff Gucci bags and Rolex watches. But despite its effort to tag its own turf, Bomb Rush ends up retreading old ground and painting over tags left by the Dreamcast classic and reigning king of the microgenre.
For those unaware, Jet Set Radio is a cult classic from Sega’s ill-fated but fondly-remembered Dreamcast console, which launched in 1999. US-based readers may know it as Jet Grind Radio, though later versions (like the one found on Steam today) go by its original Japanese title. The cult classic has gone on to influence counterculture and gaming alike thanks to its distinct sense of style and singular understanding of Japanese street culture in the late '90s and early 2000s.
Its influence is so pervasive that even Nintendo took a few cues from its immutable style in creating Splatoon. Aside from PC, it's available to play on modern platforms only via the soon-to-close Xbox 360 marketplace, and it's never graced a Nintendo platform before (minus the GBA de-make), so the mere existence of a game like Bomb Rush on Switch is really exciting because, aside from a few minor differences, Jet Set Radio and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk share near-identical gameplay loops.
You’re part of a crew of graffiti artists (or writers) whose goal is to tag the city’s various boroughs with your crew’s graffiti and in doing so, become the ruler of the streets. Spraying your tag involves a series of directional prompts and successfully tagging something might alert the police to your presence. Dealing with the cops is tricky; they’re corrupt and trigger-happy. Eager to take down you and your crew of vandals, they will use lethal force, so you’ll need to outrun them.
Bomb Rush introduces a few innovations to the formula, though nothing that re-invents the urethane wheel. You’re no longer locked to skates; instead you’re given the choice between BMX bikes, skateboards, and classic skates. And, aside from a few story moments, you can play as any of the characters in the Bomb Rush Crew.
The other major innovation here is tagging; instead of following the game’s directional prompts, you’re able to decide from a few directions to press that will result in different images to throw up on the walls of New Amsterdam. Different combinations will result in different paintings, though instead of discovering them on your own, you’ll be tasked with unlocking them after defeating rival crew members in various types of competitions designed to show off your skills, street smarts, and speed.
In between tagging walls, you'll encounter a number of diversions throughout the game’s five sprawling levels. Mini-challenges that encourage you to high-five a set number of little statues around each level scatter New Amsterdam and provide you with opportunities to unlock secret songs and new outfits for the playable characters. That’s where another innovation comes in: when the cops get smart to your paint-spraying antics, you can head to a bathroom to change your outfit and lose the heat.
Levels are also absolutely packed with miles upon miles of rails to grind on, ensuring that even something as simple as going to the opposite side of a level to complete an objective becomes a game within itself as you get the chance to try and build up the biggest combo you possibly can by jumping from rail to rail, riding on billboards and pulling off manuals to extend your string of fancy moves. Pulling off a sick combo taps into an unbeatable sense of momentum that deserves praise, but combos rarely feel conclusive or meaningful unless you’re in the midst of competing against a CPU to get the most points. It’s absolutely baffling that the scoring system doesn’t track your points in individual sorties into Bomb Rush’s bustling boroughs. Even a rating after completing a level or chapter would be nice, but players are awarded no such thing on completing a level.
Just as difficult as it is to discuss Bomb Rush Cyberfunk without also mentioning Jet Set Radio, it’s impossible to bring up Bomb Rush without also paying respect to its absolutely stellar soundtrack. Hideki Naganuma, the notoriously Family Guy-obsessed composer whose work on Jet Set Radio played a major part in cementing its cult status makes his triumphant return to making lo-fi beats to skate to alongside a cypher of other newcomers, including 2 Mello and GRRL. It’s hard to communicate just how spectacular this soundtrack is, but suffice it to say, it’s easily one of the best of the year and a worthy contender for one of the best soundtracks of the Switch era. We’re sure to be listening to it for a while to come.
Part-in-parcel with its audio design, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is an absolute treat to look at. Even on a day one, launch-edition Switch that’s seen scratches, falls, and dozens of moves, Bomb Rush’s environments and colors pop off the screen in handheld mode. From the red light district in Mataan to the bright yellow power plant, each environment boasts its own distinct style and vibe and set of environmental challenges. We spent hours in each level just trying to explore every nook and cranny in the game’s sprawling levels. It’s a shame it’s so hard to take screenshots while racking up a 90-trick combo. One standout aspect beyond the immaculate vibes seen in BRC's environments is its graffiti. Each individual piece oozes character with plenty of different styles on display. Artists are even credited individually for their work within the game, which is a rare, refreshing touch.
Of course, with such high biog, busy environments, and the ability to fly through the game's levels comes a few drawbacks and performance issues. For the most part, the game just drops a frame or two, but going from area to area prompts painfully long loading screens, even compared to the long load screens you might find in Tears of the Kingdom. Long load times are far from Bomb Rush's greatest tech issue, though. We encountered multiple full-on crashes that lost some progress and required us to re-open the game, which exacerbated the long load times.
Conclusion
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.
Comments 53
I was hoping for a 8 or 9 but still seems decent! Liked the first ones!!
rose tinted glasses and JSR/F was hot trash!! horrible controls, camera and NOT fun at all!!
A 7 out of 10 is still good. But I kinda wish SEGA would have made a new Jet Set Radio instead, so that Cyberfunk doesn't come off as a cheap rip-off. But, I guess, you have to be extreme lucky to get a new game at SEGA if you are not Sonic the Hedgehog. At least, Samba de Amigo gets a new entry.
Getting this because the developer is dutch and I really like dreamcast games.
Glad it’s getting reviewed well.
There's a lot of quality of life things they can improve on with updates. Some things felt like a damn chore.
Sale game 100%
This is the problem with nostalgic reimaginings - they're never as good as the titles they're influenced by. Times move on, and the title needed something new. A shame.
@Smug43 name checks out.
I'm enjoying this game immensely. Only place I feel could use improvement is combat. But with so few games of this style, I'm really grateful it exists and is so damn fun. I'd be surprised of even Sega could make a JS game this fun nowadays. Hopefully they'll prove me wrong someday.
.....Tears of the Kingdom has long loading? Are we talking about that 10-15 seconds when fast traveling?
I'm very much pro-nostalgic reimaginings. Sometimes the developer is just not going to continue that series you like, which can especially sting if said series has a unique style of gameplay like JSR. It makes me happy to see indie devs take their favorite series and genres, and make a distillation of everything they love about it.
So what you're saying is that if I haven't played Jet Set Radio, then it'll be new and fresh to me! Nice, okay I'm in.
I tried playing the original jsr on steam but the controls absolutely killed it for me though I loved everything else about it. I’ll probably try future and then this game
I’ve been playing this non-stop since it came out, I’ve unlocked pretty much everything now (my one criticism is it doesn’t make it easy to tell what is left to find) and I’ve had a real blast.
I’ve not noticed any “jank” in the gameplay, if anything I worry going back to Jet Set Radio will be very hard because of all the tweaks they’ve made to make things easier (double jump, boost, manuals to preserve combos, right stick for camera).
It’s quite funny how at the start of the game it’s tricky to rack up even a small combo but by the end it has taught you so many tricks (like holding R when jumping off a rail) that you can be chaining all sorts of different techniques together to easily rack up combo scores in the millions.
Unless Mario Wonder or Sonic is amazing I think this will be my GOTY.
I love JSR, so this was already on my radar, but learning that it was from the same peeps that made Lethal League was super reassuring. I’d say that delivered on the goal 200%, and every change felt like an amazing one. The style is perfectly captured, and all that original Jet Set stuff his still here, as well as a whole lot more that makes it stand out to me. The different… Vehicles (?) are cool, and the fact that you can actually just walk around is a super welcome touch. The on foot parkour is SO smooth and feels like the perfect addition, and having a boost that’s easy to understand and use is mega rad. I don’t know if it was in JSR, but doing manuals to keep combos going reminded me of Ollie Ollie word, and also fits in nicely. And of course, doing all the tricks and stuff to actually get something that’s not just points out of it (boost meter) made doing sick, long combos all the more exciting. The music’s great, the style is insane, the story is sick so far, and the movement is immaculate. The only thing holding it back at the moment is some annoying glitches, like some pausing and unpausing thing that kept making my screen go white, but even then, unlike with those old JSR games, can and will be patched over time.
All in all, I’d say it’s definitely worth it for those who’ve played the originals and those who didn’t. Hell, I’d even say that it’s surpassed the original in many regards, and is easily on my GOTY list already.
@RareFan Wouldn't say it's a "cheap" knock-off, just a knock-off
@StrawberryTurtle Ive been playing the game for well over 8 hours. I havent run into an "bad performance issues". The only time I see hiccups is when you turn on "Unleash the beast" mode and there are tons of the energy capsules on the floor.
@Smug43 despite all the jank that comes with the genre, there are those of us here that find games like this "fun." "Fun" is subjective. Would YOU call it "fun" to sit there and draw a new tag in Jet Set Radio? Probably not, but that was a part of the game I'd spend HOURS doing. Kind of a shame they don't let you do that in this game.
@TheExile285 Ikr? SSDs have us all spoiled rotten! ToTK loads faster than a 3DS game, and 3DS games never exceeded 30 seconds load time for me.
@TheExile285 The load times in Tears of the Kingdom are very short, like barely over 5 seconds most of the time.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is my personal indie GOTY, and while I disagree and would give it a solid 8...
I can see how someone who is not a huge JSR fan would rate it lower, although It actually improves on much of the JSR gameplay mechanics and includes many NEW features and mechanics.
All said, it's still a great game and great buy @ $20-$30.
I'm impressed with the bmx character animation I saw in some clips. The way the character leans and handles the bike is pretty spot on.
@Smug43 I beat Jet Set Radio, having not ever played it before, on PC, with keyboard. I can't imagine a worse way to play it, especially considering my laptop's issues risked overheating playing longer than a half hour.
It's still better than a lot of things you like.
I would have been all over this at $20
@RareFan
*stares at Yakuza series backlog
Never owned a Dreamcast so I never got to play JSR but was thoroughly impressed by its style. It's probably what ignited my love for large over-ear headphones that persists to this day (thanks, Beat)!
That's one more for the wishlist. Ugh, I'd better get around to finishing Tears of the Kingdom.
@TheExile285 For real, I think this is the first time I’ve heard anyone say TotK has long load times. I always thought the load times for fast travel weren’t long at all especially considering how much is being loaded in
I got it. It's good, I wouldn't call it one of the best Switch games of all time, but still a lot of fun. The music is awesome and the sense of style is quite enduring. It stinks that Sega won't make modern versions of Crazy Taxi or Jet Set Radio, so we have to rely on other companies to make Taxi Chaos and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, but I appreciate it. Sega seems to only care about new Sonic games and sometimes Yakuza.
Im surprised there was no mention of the story here, because while minimal I've been very pleasantly surprised by it. Its genuinely interesting and adds a good reason for the characters designs.
Really feels like this was a mistake. Going back to the JSR games on DC or OG xBox (or alternatively on Steam Deck) feels like the best outcome here.
Rest assured: if you love JSR you will absolutely adore this game. Don’t let reviews turn you off!
There was something magical about that Dreamcast era. Felt like the last optimistic time before a lot of cynicism crept in.. and eventually exploded. Even catching a fleeting bit of that magic is quite powerful.
I'd love to know just what constitutes "painfully long" load times to this reviewer aa i am guessing he maybe young and never experienced a spectrum or c64 game loading. Debating whether to hang off till next week and see how the ps5 version fares.
Also im quite happy for this game to sit in JSR's shadow (this certainly isnt taxi chaos levels of bad) if Sega couldnt give 2 ***** about its classic franchises then im glad others do.
Too many games this summer. I can't keep up.
Yeah will definitely be picking this one on the bargain just like Taxi Chaos, another Sega Dreamcast knockoff.
@Bizzyb My indie GOTY is a tie between WrestleQuest and Sea of Stars. This one is way below those to me.
@StrawberryTurtle I think it's Switch exclusive. Steam deck, any modern laptop or PC, and the upcoming Xbox and ps5 versions all are likely locked at 60fps. Footage I've seen on YouTube show steam deck locking this at 60. Switch defaults to 30fps, but has an "unleash the beast" mode in the options that let's the game target 60fps. It looks incredible on my OLED Switch when it's hitting 60, but many areas drop frames.
It's so fun to control and play and listen to this game that I'd recommend it to almost anyone. I love this game. I'll get it on steam eventually, but don't want to pay full price on both Switch and steam.
@Smiffy01 I think I counted to over 30 seconds on one average, regular load time. They suck, but the game is freaking rad. Also, some load times are shorter between areas.
@120frames-please cool cheers for the info bud 👍
Hmmm ps5 next week or switch now, arghh im crap at decisions lol
@Smug43 Absolutely. There's a reason Microsoft had to give away JSRF on the Xbox ....
.... and yes I know that probably feels harsh. I'm not decrying anyone who loves it but I remember thinking it was yet another Edge's new clothes type game. I found it confusing, wanted to like it but meh. Judging from the sales of JSRF I wasntbthe only one. Then what do I know - I loved Headhunter
One thing we can all agree on though - Dreamcast. Yum.
Missed Jet Set Radio so I'll eventually give this a try instead (definitely getting it on sale) as while I'm not sure it's for me it does look pretty cool, although it would be cool if we got Dreamcast games on Switch and/or its successor at some point, too!
@TheExile285 @BTB20 @larryisaman @Smiffy01 I was also really baffled when I read "long loading screens" associated to Tears of the Kingdom thinking of 3DS ones as @Aiodensghost also mentioned and especially Wii U ones just to mention relatively recent Nintendo consoles!
And thank you @120frames-please for telling us how long the loading times actually are instead of that nonsensical comparison!
@Serpenterror Sea of Stars looks like it's going to be great but seeing as it's not out yet not sure how it can be called GOTY just yet. Never heard of WrestleQuest, I'll have to check that one out ✌️
I really hope people don't just assume this is a "shadow" of anything through a single review and look at more opinions themselves. Take off those nostalgia glasses because JSR had terrible controls. As what someone said above, do not let this review turn you off. It's really fun and has a interesting characters and music. Unlocking stuff feels good too because it's stuff that you WANT to get
I almost got this game on sale but I didn't and boy I did not regret it. I enjoyed my time with it and this could probably be my favorite indie game this year so far
Just watched a video with the loading screens, now thats loading from the turn of the millenium for authenticity, think ill wait and put the ps5's ssd to use instead.
Noticed NL also gave Hover (a similar game in concept) a 7/10.
Differing opinions withstanding, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a much, much...Much better game than Hover. Just a friendly PSA.
@Smug43 this reads like a Trump tweet
I agree with the descriptions of load times being too long in TOTK and BRC. Fast loading is wonderful in games. It also makes me more likely to play a game, just straight into the action like Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Kingdom New Lands, Fast RMX, and many others on Switch.
This game has only one flaw. His icon is HORRIBLE!
@calbeau if you still got a PS3/Vita it's on those, too.
@Aiodensghost Never owned a Sony console past the PS2 and PSP, unfortunately. Too few games that appealed to my taste to justify a purchase.
@calbeau that's purely you, and I get that (I'm the same way about Xbox, except whatever I'd want on Xbox also hits PC)
@WalterHW If you liked the first one, then the score probably is more of an 8 or a 9 for you, as it seems like they stupidly took a point or so off just for lack of originality (or maybe they didn't). Really, aside from expected presentation and usability updates on more modern hardware (and adding online play for most multiplayer games), if a game is just as good as a prequel or spiritual predecessor, it should score just as well.
@RareFan A remake is coming!
But, I'd also like to say that SEGA makes other games, specifically in their arcade market. They are really active with the development AND publication of their three arcade rhythm games, Chunithim, Maimai, and Onigeki, along with other franchises, such as Persona, Sangokushi Taisen, and Phantasy Star. Most games made in the Dreamcast era were made with younger teams, and quoting a gamespot interview with Hosokawa Kazuki (The designer of JSR), the team that made the games are "too old and experienced" to have the same passion to make the games. (Link:https://www.gamespot.com/articles/jet-set-radio-designer-explains-why-a-sequel-hasnt/1100-6479121/)
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