In many ways, the launch of Guitar Hero in 2005 set the precedent for the intersection of the worlds of guitar and video games, and those worlds have continued to collide ever since.
And while Guitar Hero was a straight-up pick-up-a-guitar-shaped-controller-and-play-along type deal, guitar-centric video games have, naturally, evolved over the years. Take Hi-Fi Rush, for example, a new title developed by Tango Gameworks, which sees the player wield an arsenal of Epiphone electric guitars to bludgeon enemies to death. Yes, really.
The game, which arrived last month, published by Bethesda Softworks, tells the story of Chai, a 25-year-old aspiring rocker with a disabled right arm who undergoes experimental surgery to set him up with a cybernetic limb.
This, of course, goes wrong when, somehow, his beloved music player falls into his chest, fusing with him, and enabling him to feel a musical connection with his surroundings.
Chai, accompanied by a “ragtag team of allies”, proceed to take on a massive evil robotics enhancement mega-corporation by syncing up attacks with nonstop music, including tracks by Nine Inch Nails, The Black Keys, The Prodigy and The Joy Formidable.
These attacks include, but are not limited to, taking swings at NPCs using an array of Epiphone six-strings, including a Flying V, ES-335, Explorer and an SG.
“Labeled ‘defective’ after a shady corporate experiment mistakenly fuses a music player to his heart, Chai must now fight for his freedom in a slick animated world where everything – platforming puzzles, enemy attacks and even the colorful gags & banter – are synced to the beat,” Bethesda writes in the game’s description.
To be honest, we haven’t actually played Hi-Fi Rush yet, but based on the imaginative premise, we just might give it a go.
If you've ever wanted to break some skulls and smash some Epiphone guitars in the process, you can download it yourself on Steam for $29.99.
