Bomb Rush Cyberfunk by Team Reptile

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk starts off, surprisingly, with a beheading: our protagonist, Red, has his head chopped off within the first 10 minutes of the game.

He’s then brought back to life and given a robot head by the Bomb Rush Crew street gang. Now Red must help take over areas of the city to get his head back. The narrative is involved and genuinely interesting with plenty of twists and turns. It did a good job of keeping me interested and curious to see what would happen next throughout.

Jet Reset Refresh

This game is clearly heavily inspired by the beloved Jet Set Radio series and has the same artistic feel. I’ll go so far as to say that Bomb Rush Cyberfunk feels like a sequel to that series, and in no way a knock-off.

A lot of love and care went into this game. It’s super polished and well-designed all around.

As mentioned, the goal of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is to take control of different areas of the city by jumping and grinding around to spray paint over other gangs’ graffiti.

Once this happens, the other gangs will show up and challenge you to missions, which range from score challenges to executing a specific line-up of tricks. Once missions in each area are completed, a story cut-scene will play, and the area becomes yours.

Missions are fairly straightforward. They don’t get very complex, and you will find the same mission structure in each area – rinse and repeat.

Don’t Rush; Enjoy the Sights

This would normally feel repetitive, but the game sidesteps this thanks to its fantastic world design. Each area feels unique. They’re big open, fun spaces to play around in and explore.

There are plenty of secrets like bonus skins, costumes, and graffiti designs to find and optional bonus areas to uncover, as well. I went back to earlier areas just to see what I could find and was happy to see how much the game rewarded my exploration.

That said, if you’re not a player who likes to explore, it can be a turn-off. If you expected more of a combo-driven, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater-style game from seeing the trailer, this game is not for you.

Pulling off specific tricks to get a high score is less of a focus. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a bit more basic and a bit more casual overall in this regard.

Controls feel great and responsive. One of the criticisms I have with the Jet Set Radio series is its controls: it has a more deliberate acceleration system, so it takes a bit to get moving, and jumping is a bit stiff, making lining up grinds a bit difficult.

These issues are virtually nonexistent in Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, thankfully. The game is more responsive in the air or on the ground. It feels a lot better overall. The abilities to stop easily and to walk do wonders in making traversal and exploration fun.

Police Brutality

There is one aspect that isn’t so enjoyable. The game has what are basically police, who will try and stop you by attacking and grabbing you.

Thankfully, you can fight back, but the game’s combat feels a bit too repetitive. Maybe it’s that there are only a few simple, basic attacks or that the police take a lot of attacks to defeat, but both combined make combat feel underwhelming. These sequences are the least enjoyable part of the game.

The game does mix things up with dream sequences in cool, trippy, abstract areas. These sections reminded me of Psychonauts, displaying the same amount of cleverness and creativity. They are always a lot of fun when they appear.

Fresh and Funky

Visually, the game incorporates a cool and superbly executed cel-shaded look. Its varied, whimsical color palette gives it an almost timeless feel.

Many locations feel distinct because of The color variety, environmental details like flashy billboards and bright evocative sky-boxes make each location feel distinct. The game gives off so much color and such cool vibes!

The music is a great mix of tracks that feels very much in sync with the game’s highly stylized feel, with lots of electronic-inspired tracks with cool vocals and plenty of synthwave sounds to make environments feel cool and cozy.

Overall, it’s a fantastic collection of artists on display, and I went out of my way to look them up after I finished playing.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a lot of fun, and I enjoyed my time with it immensely. As someone who grew up playing Jet Set Radio, this feels like a natural evolution, a spiritual successor that in many ways surpasses its influences.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is available via the Nintendo eShop, the Sony PlayStation Store, the Microsoft Store, and Steam.

Check out the official trailer for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk below: