Let me start this review off by saying that CNMN is the best character. How often does a banger drop right out of the blue and become an instant game of the year contender? Xbox Game Studios released this pleasant surprise and it's just a treat. It wears its middle-school age cartoon aesthetic proudly, along with its genuinely funny writing and endearing, well designed characters. The characters, feel so classic due to great designs and simple but genuine character arcs and themes. They even have some great arcs that are meaningful but don’t get in the way of the game. They took their archetypes and ran with them, and it works wonderfully. Along with this smile inducing presentation, beautifully simple and simply beautiful gameplay really takes the cake. A rhythm-based 3D action platformer sounds like a lot on paper, but Hi-Fi rush’s gameplay is simple and to the point. The combat is ‘Baby’s first God of War 2018’. Far more approachable and far less mindless because of the rhythmic mechanics. You’ve got to put in real effort to get into the music and tune your actions to the tempo, and doing so really pays off. When you get it, you really get it. Hitting things at the right time is really satisfying. You’re not good because you’re throwing out moves over and over… you’re good because you’re putting in the work and If you stay on beat, you can pull off insane moves just from the basic two buttons put together in the right way on the beat. And boy does it never EVER get old. The message of the game is teamwork, and using different abilities together to become unstoppable, and they show this really well with gameplay. Although switching and summoning each character really kills momentum sometimes, it’s a cool mechanic and makes the ending oh so satisfying. I seriously love these characters and how fun the whole experience was. What a GEM this game is.