Recent reviews by Mauritsio

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk sacrifices most of its substance in favour of style. It's not a challenging game by any stretch of the imagination, nor is it always as intuitive to play as it ought to be. But man, this game nails its style down so hard, you just can't help but turn a blind eye to those shortcomings. This is probably the most vibrant and expressive game you'll play in a while.

Character movement feels *just* right and the levels are well-crafted with plenty of secret (but not too secret) areas to find, though the means to reach those areas are more often than not repeated. The game also strikes a nice balance in exploration - after you clear an area's main story event, you'll unlock a map showing you the location of all remaining graffiti spot locations. It's an excellent quality of life feature that makes sure you won't pull your hair out trying to find the last graffiti spot without having to resort to a guide. Sadly though, the mechanic falls just short, since you are offered no help for any of the other collectibles. (EDIT: a recent update has added a collectible counter to the pause menu, which is greatly appreciated, although it does not discern between collectible types, nor does it include the secret penguins.)

Some of the game's design missteps are considerably more bothersome than others, though. For example, if you want to shake off the police going after you, you'll have to find a portable toilet. Said toilets double as a means to change your character's outfits, but become locked after you enter them... even when the police isn't even after you. It's hardly intuitive if you just want to see what your several appearances look like in action.

The in-game phone's MP3 player is also a little light on features. Finding the music track you want takes a few seconds of scrolling, and there's no means to assemble your own playlist or even put a song on repeat (EDIT: added in a recent update). But hey, at least it's got a cute little game on it!

Finally, I have to mention the game's soundtrack, which is the main selling point for many. Lots of fun tunes from fun genres: acid jazz, plenty of funk and even a hint of lo-fi. My personal favourites are "I Wanna Kno", "Morning Glow", "GET ENUF", "DA PEOPLE", "Next to Me", "Funk Express" and "Light Switch".

While it's tempting to compare the game's music to that of its inspiration, Jet Set Radio, BRC's offering is excellent in its own way. In fact, you could say the same of the game as a whole - most reviews I've read try to compare this game to its spiritual predecessor. I've only played the PC port of Jet Set Radio, so I'm not exactly qualified to speak on that front. But I think Bomb Rush Cyberfunk manages to stand out on its own just fine.

UPDATE: I'm rewriting this review a little in response to the recent negative reviews complaining that the new Party Pass DLC is too expensive.

While I'm obviously a little biased, I fully believe that the price of the Party Pass is actually far too low for what it offers. 10 dollars for every cosmetic combination you can possibly think of, the ability to freely play with your friends and lots of smaller bonuses is - you have to admit it - immense value. Especially when you consider most AAA games use microtransactions to ask 18 dollars for a single cosmetic (which you can't even see most of the time) and provide no options whatsoever to host a game for just your friends.

This is the "fair monetisation model" most of the hardcore gaming community has wanted for years, but it's sad to see that people don't seem to realise it. Seriously, give this game a chance. Don't just quit the moment it asks you to pay for something.

This is my very first Steam review. Up until now, I didn't think anyone cared about what I have to say.
But when your best friends release their own game after 2.5 years of hard work - well, who wouldn't change their mind, right?

The game is very fast-paced, yet I find myself more often drawn to slow-paced or even turn-based ones. I usually prefer singleplayer games, yet this game is decidely social. I prefer games with a beginning and an end, but this game never ends - in a positive sense.

Bias? Probably. But this labour of love is fighting an uphill battle in the modern gaming market - no MTX to adorn your character with, no battle pass, no live service or seasonal content - just a Workshop editor, a game that you play for fun instead of as a job and updates that arrive exactly when they need to. Just like the good old days.

I implore you to try the game for these reasons alone. Unless your reaction time and/or reading speed's just not what it used to be, then it may not be your cup of tea - but man, is it fun either way. You have my word on that.