Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Critic Reviews

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a love letter that undoubtedly does more than enough to captivate Jet Set Radio veterans and those who have no idea what it is. Between the contextually stellar soundtrack, fantastic movement system, and intricate narrative, you’re bound to find yourself attached to some part of this experience that boasts its heart on its sleeve. Even though the combat scenarios can overstay their welcome, and the pacing can be a turn-off, looking past those faults provides a one-of-a-kind skating dream.

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.

With bumping tunes and Y2K inspirations, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk reminds us that, sometimes, looking back can be a way of moving forward.

It isn't hard to recommend a game like Bomb Rush Cyberfunk to fans of Jet Set Radio. But I still think that 3D platformer fans should give this game a shot, too, as the mechanics are pretty easy to get into, and there's a lot to do here that will scratch that itch. With the number of games that are bangers releasing this year, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk feels like a nice break.

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.

This spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio has the same stylish look and feel, though with better gameplay for the outlaw street gang.

All being said, I never believed I would live to see the day a worthy successor of Jet Set Radio materialized into existence, and yet, here we are. For better or worse, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk embodies the vibes and fun of the early 2000s era in video games and succeeds in delivering a great experience, whether you’re a fan of that era or not.

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.

The epitome of street-action romance, showcasing dazzling moves and graffiti as it races throughout the city. The stylish action perfected by intuitive controls is also complemented by outstanding scores. However, story without context, bothersome random enemies and not so intuitive UI tend to hinder the immersion.

Being hip is cool again. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk trades its graphical fidelity and pixel counts for excellent gameplay loop and incredible music - all wrapped up in a neat and true Jet Set Radio spiritual successor.

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.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a Jet Set Radio clone made by fans of that title. It takes what was great from Sega’s classic, but lacks its own style. While definitely a fun game to play and the best clone of Jet Set Radio available, it fails to become anything beyond that.

And while its camera and controls are a huge improvement over its predecessors, the odd hiccup still persists. But most of the time, with the soundtrack - a mix of laidback house, hip-hop, and funk - doing its thing in the background, and the world gradually opening up to you, it's easy to fall into a pleasant trance for long stretches.

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.

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.

At its core, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is an excellent movement-based exploration game with a deep admiration for the games that inspired it. Up there with the best, even. But it never quite reaches the level of greatness it could have easily achieved. I wanted to love Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and in some ways I truly do, but it ultimately misses the mark a little bit more than I expected. Still, to let it pass you by would be a crime. That soundtrack! That level design! That visual style! What a treat, even if certain mouthfuls leave a bitter taste.