It’s been over twenty years since the Jet Set Radio series has seen a new entry and supplied gaming with a style-filled, funky adrenaline rush. Thankfully, Team Reptile has been hard at work for years to create a spiritual successor that plays some of the hits of the past, but does its own thing as well in Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Since the moment it was first shown off in motion, it was clear that that the team was looking to take the best of what worked about Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future (which we covered in ourGraveyard) and improve upon it when possible, and it looks we’ve seeing that come to fruition here.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk features tagging and inline skating just like Sega’s classics, but also has free-roaming and the usage of other vehicles like skateboards and bikes. A richer trick system is implemented as well and those who wanted JSR-like fun, but don’t like the spray cans being a limited resource, will be glad to know that they’re a renewable resource here – so you’ll never find yourself in a situation where you run out during a big battle. Graphically, it looks to check all the boxes and the OST keeps the same funky-fresh vibe alive in 2023.
The game itself is $39.99 on the Switch eShop or on Steam, but does have additional deals available on PC. you may buy it with a 20% discount taking it to $31.99 via the Humble Store if you’re a Humble Choice member. That’s the lowest overall price for the game, but Fanatical also has 10% off and the game’s price of being over $12 entitles you to a free “overwhelmingly positive”-reviewed game on Steam that is randomly-chosen, so you could wind up ahead with that. Getting the game on Steam itself does have the advantage of letting you get all of the game’s current content in the form of the Base and Jay story DLC and OST for $59.97, while the DLC itself is $19.98.
The PlayStation and Xbox versions of the game will launch on September 1, and it’s unknown if the consoles will get the DLC that the PC version has. It’s odd that the Switch version doesn’t have the DLC listed yet, especially the Lethal League character DLC since that is story-based. Time will tell how that all shakes out, but for right now, the best value is getting it on PC as it’s Deck-Verified and also runs great on the ROG Ally – and the colors pop on its screen in portable mode.
