I am a massive fan of the Jet Set Radio duology, and when i first heard about Bomb Rush Cyberfunk back in 2020, it quickly became my most anticipated game. The aesthetic, music, and gameplay was like something straight from the JSR franchise, with Team Reptile putting their own style on things to make it their own. I had the biggest smile on my face while playing BRCF for the first time and am still really enjoying my time with the game, but with it being such a strong spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio Future in particular, its hard not to look back at what that game did that i feel is lacking from BRCF.

In terms of gameplay, BRCF is pretty simple. You have a score multiplayer that you can increase by doing various things such as wall riding billboards, taking hard corners on rails, and using a few ramps scattered here and there. You can increase your score by doing a few different tricks assigned to 3 different buttons, or by utilizing manuals and both a ground and air boost trick. It's fine for what it is but can start to feel a little stale if your trying to hit a huge score. I will say its a bit better than what JSRF did which was you needed to press a single button in a rhythm to keep your trick combo going. The graffiti system is really cool. Depending on the size of the piece, you have to connect a certain number of dots in a pattern to put something up. What you put up depends on the patterns and you can unlock more pieces as you play. It's pretty satisfying but as you start to unlock more and more artwork it can be a bit confusing to determine which pattern leads to what. JSRF just had you run along a few spray points and hold R2, so i'd call this an improvement. My biggest gripe however is the lack of variation between the riding styles in BRCF. You can choose between a skateboard, BMX bike, or skates and all it really does is swap out the animations. Weirdly, the bike has an additional feature where it can unlock some random doors that lead to collectibles which none of the other styles have. It would have been nice to see that expanded upon in some way that gives each style its own identity.

In terms of style, BRCF is awesome. The artstyle, music, and animations are all really fun and really carry the experience. The dancing animations are all really fun and the character designs are really imaginative. The level design is great, but i do feel that overall the levels are a bit to big. not in the overall size of the level but the amount of space some areas have. Millenium wall is one example where the courtyard is huge but doesnt have a lot in it. I do wish that the soundtrack had as much variation as JSRF did. JSRF had not only electronic, dance, and hip-hop, but it also had punk music, Rock, etc. Don't get me wrong, the BRCF soundtrack is amazing and I've been listening to it a lot both in and outside the game, but having stuff like "Birthday Cake by Cibo Matto", "Aisle 10 - Scapegoat wax", or "I'm not a Model - Russel Simins" is what really made the JSRF OST one of my favorites of all time.

One thing I am curious about is why BRCF doesn't include some way to upload custom artwork or create artwork in game. JSRF had a super simple MSPaint style graffiti studio and i loved just messing around with that. It's minor, but as someone who likes that ability to customize the artwork or even put in some graffiti art of my own, it's a bit of a bummer. Hopefully this option comes in a future update since the current way to add custom artwork involves messing with the games textures.

Overall, I love BRCF. $40 is a lot for something like this, but JSR fans have been so starved for a solid JSR-like that it's barely a barrier to entry. It's cleat that the devs were huge fans of the JSR franchise and wanted to make their own take on the formula, and i'd say that they did a great job. It's a very fun and unique experience in today's gaming landscape. Buy it, play it, then download and emulator and play Jet Set Radio Future and see why a game like BRCF exists today.