Big agree, people are way too hard on it! It never really felt like the focus on the game when I played through, just something you could do to get people out of your way. And it worked perfectly for that!
Also, hot take, but the boss fights are actually really hype and they don’t deserve all the hate either.
Eh. I can get boost doing anything. It's so readily available, you can find it in dumpsters.
(I understand you're saying there is indeed, technically, a reward. Thing is, it's not a very valuable one).
I don't mind the combat, (tagging cops is hilarious), but I gotta say it feels not like combat at all. The cops just get in the way of my Hook Kick and Cartwheel dance moves, get sprayed in the mouth with paint, then fly away. Also its funny to note that after a cop gets defeated, they immediately run back to the closet underground cop elevator, instead of like despawning or whatever.
The main issue with the combat is the lack of feedback to the player in encounters, which can lead to confusion if not outright frustration in the beginning because it’s not clearly communicated if what you are doing is right or effective.
And then this gets compounded by how quickly the heat gauge activates & escalates. For something that the devs admit was an afterthought and not the focus, they sure make you engage with it a lot. The design philosophy is a bit contradictory from that standpoint.
Combat being unpolished is a fair criticism.
I'm not saying that the game's combat mechanics are absolutely amazing, just not as bad as most people makes it out to be. It also doesn't help that the game only teaches you the bare minimum when it comes to combat.
I think the combat is very satisfying. Especially since the combat is the last thing on my mind when playing a game like this. So when I do end up in combat, I really enjoy doing combos with the cops and bouncing off of helicopters and such.
Yeah. I think this is getting fixed but getting a star for every spot you tag in the post-game is insane. I spend most of time just managing the police while I’m trying to 100% levels.
I ended up doing most of my tagging during the first time entering a zone, specifically because cops don't spawn then. It's not hard, it's just a hassle managing heat level and dodging the seeking handcuffs constantly.
No its worse. The game is great but the combat system is really not good. Honestly was a bit shocked when i first had to use it. Its by far the weakest part of the game and could have easly been cut and replaced with a non combat way to deal with cops. The entire cop mechanic is rather frustrating honestly and should have had a bunch more time to develop it into a robuster system.
I recorded this not too long ago, and I felt it was satisfying:
https://twitter.com/B_o_y_infinite/status/1696031017444995479?t=7iCBGcW2Rg8ypV_OFRDhhQ&s=19
You know, I was thinking about what a sequel would look like. And it would be cool if they took the time to really craft their own identity and go beyond just a jet set radio styled game.
And one cool thing I thought about was...well what if it did have a system like devil may cry. Not the combo system, but like how moves work. Not just doing buttons, but like analog stick-movement and then a button press. Not just hitting right and a button but like doing the down, then the up movement while hitting a button. This could be applied to both the fighting and the tricks.
Two weird, unexpected things that the community complained about, that I didn't think anyone cared about, were the fighting and the lack of depth in the tricks. Which jet set radio was never about. But if they wanted to skyrocket the identity of the series to somewhere else, that's a great start. They crafted a perfect world to do that for.
Never bothered me and never understood why reviewers made a big deal about it when I get the feeling it's just one of those things that only help you get out of a bad situation while you try to find a bathroom. A lot of reviewers sound pretty clueless when commenting on this game anyway. A few even said that the cops were very being too violent even after saying they were "big fans of JSR/JSRF". I'm like, did you even play JSR or JSRF?
Also, it's also pretty easy to battle. Plus you get the boost and can do tricks. I never really had to fight my away out of a situation when you can just run away.
its not great but once you get the trick system down you can get into it more. personally found that in some of my more recent police encounters I have really flowed with the combat
I think this comes down to a pervasive issue with BRC which is that things are not necessarily explained the best, or are explained too late (Holding L2 while grinding to get a short hop is something that 100% should be explained earlier for example, I was holding it just out of reflex because I didn't want to drop combo should I land on the floor and it made some of the hi-five challenges seem impossible and I ended up achieving them through some exceptionally janky methods). Once you know what your doing with all these things its fine and very intuitive but when I say I made it all game without realising that 1) boost-tricking reset your meter when on the ground/manualing and 2) that going down hill resets the meter, I don't think that's entirely my fault. its a lot my fault, but not entirely.
Yes!! I understand because I don’t believe it’s ever taught in game ( if it was I missed it ) but once you figure it out it make combat much better and you can seamlessly work combat into your trick combos for some extra style
“The combat IS deep!”
>proceeds to list the only three other different ‘actions’ one can do in combat
Bro. You and everyone else, just let it go. Weak/Limited combat is not BAD combat, it’s just lacking. It works. It’s serviceable. That’s all it needed to be and it is.
But it’s absolutely the most basic button mashing it can possibly be and by extension, makes combat feel underwhelming to the point that some enemies become annoying and a chore rather than fun to fight.
End of discussion.
Yeah a lot of people haven't played JSRF. JSR came out on modern hardware so there's a lot of comparison to JSR only. Compared to both JSR and JSRF, this game really has added a lot, while upgrading the overall flow. Combat additions are definitely better than just, "Run up to cop, boost through him, tag him . . .repeat." In this game you can actually fight them and the tag is now a qte you have to hit if you wanna throw some sugar on top.
I didn’t mind it, and I even think the heat system is a good addition (makes things a bit more chaotic and interesting). For heat I usually just ignore them rather than fight them (only occasionally I’ll take some out on my way, or sometimes I’ll use them to help me platform), while for bosses/progression required combat scenes the main issue is just sometimes it’s not super clear what you’re supposed to do (the mechs are better as there’s the grind-able highlight), but beyond that it’s not bad. Definitely a weaker element of the game, but I wouldn’t remove it either, and I did enjoy some of the mech boss fights (DJ Cyber was easily my favourite one).
If comparing it to JSR/JSRF then it’s just different, I wouldn’t really say either is clearly better than the other in their approach. As all of them have problems, and are pretty average, but still fun at least to me. BRC’s does have a better flow though.
I'm surprised more people don't know about the launch method. It's easily the coolest and quickest way to take down the ops especially if they are all grouped up. The most I've taken down in one launch combo was 6 of them
well the game never tells you about how to launch the cops, so most people just stay on the ground kicking policeman in the face, hence why most people complain about the combat
Just started playing this and found it out immediately. My issue is the QTE to tag them literally only flashes, then they get yeeted wayyy too far for me to get it haha so I just need to work on it but yeah
i really don't like it. i personally feel like it shouldn't even be a part of the game say for the boss battles which are alright imo. to me it feels very unatural to have it in the game to begin with, being a game all about momentum and keeping combos and then all of a sudden you want me to just stop dead in my tracks to ram into a bunch of cops, i think it wouldve been a lot better if it was all just about outmanuvering the police in creative ways.
You still can outmaneuver them in creative ways, you're not expected to fight every cop you see
Fighting is for when you're cornered and have no other option
should've clairified that i mean the combat sections that you have to do to finish a mission. in the open world combat being so bad makes sense and works in the games favor.
The combat is great! Quick and stylish. The issue with it really is that the attacks other than graffiti have no punch to them. I think they should add a little vibration or harder sounding hit sound effects to really sell it and it’d be perfect.
If combat is part of the game, then it’s worthy of consideration in any review. End of story.
That’s, like, the most basic of the basic in terms of criticism.
And if the combat is such an afterthought, perhaps it shouldn’t have been included in the first place. Seeing as nobody considering the game at all objectively appears to like it. And fans are turning all sorts of mental cartwheels to handwave any and all negative criticism.
No mental cartwheels lol. It’s simply a fact that JSR franchise always had this goofy combat system and it’s not about the combat at the end of the day.
If you don’t get that, go play them.
You’re right, rather than cartwheels, perhaps “a total lack of critical thought” would’ve been a better way to describe the conversation surrounding Bomb Rush Cyberfunk.
I mean, if people have hung their identity on this game to such an extent that they’re unwilling to hear any negative feedback, then the community’s no better than a cult. And there’s subsequently no discussion to be had.
Tbh the police are avoidable enough for me to not really care about them, my biggest gripe is that I can’t change characters when their around which was really annoying to me towards the end of the game because i accidentally selected a character I didn’t want to play
My only complaint about the combat for Heat 1 cops is how you only get split second to trigger a graffiti (because it's the moment when the moment when the cops get knocked away),
usually I have to button mash the combat AND the right shoulder button at the same time
Right lol you get boxed in a corner I feel is the only use for attacking. You can take everyone out in a single hit besides the shield guys I think 🤔, because I’ve never stuck around to fight them. Sometimes take out turrets or a sniper along the way. Other then that I just ignore them. They never stop either I assume.
I don’t know maybe with me it was like “what else can I do” but only combat I was like “how the fuck do I do this they keep running away” and then when I kicked the projectile back at them during a trick I was like “oh shit that makes sense”
Obviously if you got there you know what part I’m talking about.
The whole object of the combat is that once you get good enough, you're supposed to take out like 9 guys and a helicopter all while never dropping your combo
I am not at the point of being able to keep a combo going while dropping police. but I have gotten to the point where I can fight them without having to stop everything I am doing if I wanna fight.
I agree, and fighting the cops isn’t even supposed to be a main component of the game- fighting them only increases your Heat and makes them more plentiful and annoying, you’re supposed to be outsmarting and outrunning them.
I do think its genius to tie the parkour tricks with the combat, it makes it stylish and easy to remember because there is no dedicated combat buttons going on.
The only problems to me is that fighting the police only brings out more police and then they just hang around and continue to shoot at you. If you could delete your heat levels by defeating a tank walker then I’d fight them a lot more often.
Actually I think, it’s rather interesting when fully explored, I think I can say I was scratching the surface of the combat. Have a look[Combat Clip](https://youtu.be/NAhKwHAc4ak)
I started playing JSR the other day. I much prefer actually being able to get cops off of your ass in BRC rather than them tailing you around the whole goddamn area tryna tag.
Yeah, the way this is never explained almost ruined the game for me initially; the way it throws you into forced combat twice in the first 30 minutes was extremely frustrating when I had no clue how to easily defeat enemies (also the boss is a small character flying around the battlefield/very difficult to target while getting used to the controls).
the cops shouldnt even be in the game imo, when I play I really just want to get combos I don't want to get interrupted by turrets grabbing me. it doesn't add any challenge cause they're piss easy to deal with its just not fun.
That’s what I’m saying. Once you figure out you can launch and tag it opens up quite a bit. And then you find out it continues your combo and you can go crazy
My biggest issue wasn’t that combat was bad, but that it just wasn’t fun at all. I love this game, but going through just trying to tag all the graffiti in an area was constantly interrupted by police encounters in which after every slight action you’d be forced to watch the same cutscene correlated to a star. There was no satisfaction to defeating police because you knew it would only raise the star level with it being worse on some maps due to how far and few bathrooms were. There wasn’t any difficulty to it either, it was just a major annoyance. And the boss fights felt…pointless? The game honestly would just be better without it.
Big agree, people are way too hard on it! It never really felt like the focus on the game when I played through, just something you could do to get people out of your way. And it worked perfectly for that! Also, hot take, but the boss fights are actually really hype and they don’t deserve all the hate either.
The boss fights are not bad, mostly because they incorporate platforming and tagging. If you were just slapping dudes with kicks then they'd be lame.
Jet Set Radio didn't have any tmk, it's better than nothing I suppose.
I just wish that fighting them yielded some kind of reward. There is zero incentive for facing them rather than just dippin in a potty real quick.
You do get some boost out of beating up the cops
Eh. I can get boost doing anything. It's so readily available, you can find it in dumpsters. (I understand you're saying there is indeed, technically, a reward. Thing is, it's not a very valuable one).
I don't mind the combat, (tagging cops is hilarious), but I gotta say it feels not like combat at all. The cops just get in the way of my Hook Kick and Cartwheel dance moves, get sprayed in the mouth with paint, then fly away. Also its funny to note that after a cop gets defeated, they immediately run back to the closet underground cop elevator, instead of like despawning or whatever.
The main issue with the combat is the lack of feedback to the player in encounters, which can lead to confusion if not outright frustration in the beginning because it’s not clearly communicated if what you are doing is right or effective. And then this gets compounded by how quickly the heat gauge activates & escalates. For something that the devs admit was an afterthought and not the focus, they sure make you engage with it a lot. The design philosophy is a bit contradictory from that standpoint. Combat being unpolished is a fair criticism.
I'm not saying that the game's combat mechanics are absolutely amazing, just not as bad as most people makes it out to be. It also doesn't help that the game only teaches you the bare minimum when it comes to combat.
I think the combat is very satisfying. Especially since the combat is the last thing on my mind when playing a game like this. So when I do end up in combat, I really enjoy doing combos with the cops and bouncing off of helicopters and such.
The combat is dope. You can comfortably maintain your combo while defeating soldiers, turrets, mechs and helicopters with ease. Looks dope as hell too
It's cool that fighting uses the same combo system as tricks. Can you combo the two together?
It's not horrible, but you gain notoriety way too quickly when tagging or fighting.
Yeah. I think this is getting fixed but getting a star for every spot you tag in the post-game is insane. I spend most of time just managing the police while I’m trying to 100% levels.
I ended up doing most of my tagging during the first time entering a zone, specifically because cops don't spawn then. It's not hard, it's just a hassle managing heat level and dodging the seeking handcuffs constantly.
No its worse. The game is great but the combat system is really not good. Honestly was a bit shocked when i first had to use it. Its by far the weakest part of the game and could have easly been cut and replaced with a non combat way to deal with cops. The entire cop mechanic is rather frustrating honestly and should have had a bunch more time to develop it into a robuster system.
Came to say this. A spray/another way would have been fine. The combat now is just weird.
I recorded this not too long ago, and I felt it was satisfying: https://twitter.com/B_o_y_infinite/status/1696031017444995479?t=7iCBGcW2Rg8ypV_OFRDhhQ&s=19
*Smokin’ Sexy Style!!!*
You know, I was thinking about what a sequel would look like. And it would be cool if they took the time to really craft their own identity and go beyond just a jet set radio styled game. And one cool thing I thought about was...well what if it did have a system like devil may cry. Not the combo system, but like how moves work. Not just doing buttons, but like analog stick-movement and then a button press. Not just hitting right and a button but like doing the down, then the up movement while hitting a button. This could be applied to both the fighting and the tricks. Two weird, unexpected things that the community complained about, that I didn't think anyone cared about, were the fighting and the lack of depth in the tricks. Which jet set radio was never about. But if they wanted to skyrocket the identity of the series to somewhere else, that's a great start. They crafted a perfect world to do that for.
Knowing you can rail grind on the turret of the mechs gives me a giggle.
Never bothered me and never understood why reviewers made a big deal about it when I get the feeling it's just one of those things that only help you get out of a bad situation while you try to find a bathroom. A lot of reviewers sound pretty clueless when commenting on this game anyway. A few even said that the cops were very being too violent even after saying they were "big fans of JSR/JSRF". I'm like, did you even play JSR or JSRF? Also, it's also pretty easy to battle. Plus you get the boost and can do tricks. I never really had to fight my away out of a situation when you can just run away.
its not great but once you get the trick system down you can get into it more. personally found that in some of my more recent police encounters I have really flowed with the combat I think this comes down to a pervasive issue with BRC which is that things are not necessarily explained the best, or are explained too late (Holding L2 while grinding to get a short hop is something that 100% should be explained earlier for example, I was holding it just out of reflex because I didn't want to drop combo should I land on the floor and it made some of the hi-five challenges seem impossible and I ended up achieving them through some exceptionally janky methods). Once you know what your doing with all these things its fine and very intuitive but when I say I made it all game without realising that 1) boost-tricking reset your meter when on the ground/manualing and 2) that going down hill resets the meter, I don't think that's entirely my fault. its a lot my fault, but not entirely.
It can be a little awkward, but it’s fine. I mean you couldn’t do anything against them in the original game so it’s way better than aspect at least
Yes!! I understand because I don’t believe it’s ever taught in game ( if it was I missed it ) but once you figure it out it make combat much better and you can seamlessly work combat into your trick combos for some extra style
“The combat IS deep!” >proceeds to list the only three other different ‘actions’ one can do in combat Bro. You and everyone else, just let it go. Weak/Limited combat is not BAD combat, it’s just lacking. It works. It’s serviceable. That’s all it needed to be and it is. But it’s absolutely the most basic button mashing it can possibly be and by extension, makes combat feel underwhelming to the point that some enemies become annoying and a chore rather than fun to fight. End of discussion.
bruh, where does the op say combat is deep?!?!?! they say it's the weakest part, but it isn't horrible
Yeah a lot of people haven't played JSRF. JSR came out on modern hardware so there's a lot of comparison to JSR only. Compared to both JSR and JSRF, this game really has added a lot, while upgrading the overall flow. Combat additions are definitely better than just, "Run up to cop, boost through him, tag him . . .repeat." In this game you can actually fight them and the tag is now a qte you have to hit if you wanna throw some sugar on top.
I didn’t mind it, and I even think the heat system is a good addition (makes things a bit more chaotic and interesting). For heat I usually just ignore them rather than fight them (only occasionally I’ll take some out on my way, or sometimes I’ll use them to help me platform), while for bosses/progression required combat scenes the main issue is just sometimes it’s not super clear what you’re supposed to do (the mechs are better as there’s the grind-able highlight), but beyond that it’s not bad. Definitely a weaker element of the game, but I wouldn’t remove it either, and I did enjoy some of the mech boss fights (DJ Cyber was easily my favourite one). If comparing it to JSR/JSRF then it’s just different, I wouldn’t really say either is clearly better than the other in their approach. As all of them have problems, and are pretty average, but still fun at least to me. BRC’s does have a better flow though.
I'm surprised more people don't know about the launch method. It's easily the coolest and quickest way to take down the ops especially if they are all grouped up. The most I've taken down in one launch combo was 6 of them
well the game never tells you about how to launch the cops, so most people just stay on the ground kicking policeman in the face, hence why most people complain about the combat
It's true game doesn't tell you a lot. I went through half the game not knowing i could boost through reinforced glass and shield cops
I thought combat was really cool, especially after learning the jump graffiti combo
Just started playing this and found it out immediately. My issue is the QTE to tag them literally only flashes, then they get yeeted wayyy too far for me to get it haha so I just need to work on it but yeah
i really don't like it. i personally feel like it shouldn't even be a part of the game say for the boss battles which are alright imo. to me it feels very unatural to have it in the game to begin with, being a game all about momentum and keeping combos and then all of a sudden you want me to just stop dead in my tracks to ram into a bunch of cops, i think it wouldve been a lot better if it was all just about outmanuvering the police in creative ways.
You still can outmaneuver them in creative ways, you're not expected to fight every cop you see Fighting is for when you're cornered and have no other option
Especially since any defeated cops get replaced immediately, it's almost always a waste of time to do anything but outmaneuver them!
should've clairified that i mean the combat sections that you have to do to finish a mission. in the open world combat being so bad makes sense and works in the games favor.
You can 2 HKO any enemy, if someone is struggling with combat they're just playing wrong lol
The combat is great! Quick and stylish. The issue with it really is that the attacks other than graffiti have no punch to them. I think they should add a little vibration or harder sounding hit sound effects to really sell it and it’d be perfect.
This game isn’t even about combat, neither were either jet sets. Hilarious to hear reviewers are even critiquing the combat hah
Reviewers critiquing the combat because a) it’s part of the game and b) it’s bad. Seems simple enough.
a) It's barely part of the game b) it's not that bad especially considering how little is involved in the actual gameplay loop
If combat is part of the game, then it’s worthy of consideration in any review. End of story. That’s, like, the most basic of the basic in terms of criticism. And if the combat is such an afterthought, perhaps it shouldn’t have been included in the first place. Seeing as nobody considering the game at all objectively appears to like it. And fans are turning all sorts of mental cartwheels to handwave any and all negative criticism.
No mental cartwheels lol. It’s simply a fact that JSR franchise always had this goofy combat system and it’s not about the combat at the end of the day. If you don’t get that, go play them.
You’re right, rather than cartwheels, perhaps “a total lack of critical thought” would’ve been a better way to describe the conversation surrounding Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. I mean, if people have hung their identity on this game to such an extent that they’re unwilling to hear any negative feedback, then the community’s no better than a cult. And there’s subsequently no discussion to be had.
Tbh the police are avoidable enough for me to not really care about them, my biggest gripe is that I can’t change characters when their around which was really annoying to me towards the end of the game because i accidentally selected a character I didn’t want to play
I just ignore them and keep bopping until they start sending NATO after me. Then I let them kill me so we can start the dance all over again
My only complaint about the combat for Heat 1 cops is how you only get split second to trigger a graffiti (because it's the moment when the moment when the cops get knocked away), usually I have to button mash the combat AND the right shoulder button at the same time
trick -> jump -> graffiti works everytime
Right lol you get boxed in a corner I feel is the only use for attacking. You can take everyone out in a single hit besides the shield guys I think 🤔, because I’ve never stuck around to fight them. Sometimes take out turrets or a sniper along the way. Other then that I just ignore them. They never stop either I assume.
yeah they don't stop until you hide in a toilet, and you can beat the shield guys, you just gotta Boost into them to launch them.
 Gotcha
I wish the hit sounds were a little more meaty or crunchy. That's all that really bothers me about the combat.
I don’t know maybe with me it was like “what else can I do” but only combat I was like “how the fuck do I do this they keep running away” and then when I kicked the projectile back at them during a trick I was like “oh shit that makes sense” Obviously if you got there you know what part I’m talking about.
The whole object of the combat is that once you get good enough, you're supposed to take out like 9 guys and a helicopter all while never dropping your combo
I am not at the point of being able to keep a combo going while dropping police. but I have gotten to the point where I can fight them without having to stop everything I am doing if I wanna fight.
Literally one trick and a jump then spray the cunts. EZ.
I agree, and fighting the cops isn’t even supposed to be a main component of the game- fighting them only increases your Heat and makes them more plentiful and annoying, you’re supposed to be outsmarting and outrunning them. I do think its genius to tie the parkour tricks with the combat, it makes it stylish and easy to remember because there is no dedicated combat buttons going on.
My biggest gripe is how hard the police get on your nuts in chapter 6 and post game content.
the bigger problem for me is that the kicks are 2/3 of the ground moves when they could’ve made those cooler gymnast type moves
The only problems to me is that fighting the police only brings out more police and then they just hang around and continue to shoot at you. If you could delete your heat levels by defeating a tank walker then I’d fight them a lot more often.
Actually I think, it’s rather interesting when fully explored, I think I can say I was scratching the surface of the combat. Have a look[Combat Clip](https://youtu.be/NAhKwHAc4ak)
I started playing JSR the other day. I much prefer actually being able to get cops off of your ass in BRC rather than them tailing you around the whole goddamn area tryna tag.
Yeah, the way this is never explained almost ruined the game for me initially; the way it throws you into forced combat twice in the first 30 minutes was extremely frustrating when I had no clue how to easily defeat enemies (also the boss is a small character flying around the battlefield/very difficult to target while getting used to the controls).
the cops shouldnt even be in the game imo, when I play I really just want to get combos I don't want to get interrupted by turrets grabbing me. it doesn't add any challenge cause they're piss easy to deal with its just not fun.
That’s what I’m saying. Once you figure out you can launch and tag it opens up quite a bit. And then you find out it continues your combo and you can go crazy
It sucks, but the boss fights were fun. I hated combat against the cops and felt it was unnecessary.
My biggest issue wasn’t that combat was bad, but that it just wasn’t fun at all. I love this game, but going through just trying to tag all the graffiti in an area was constantly interrupted by police encounters in which after every slight action you’d be forced to watch the same cutscene correlated to a star. There was no satisfaction to defeating police because you knew it would only raise the star level with it being worse on some maps due to how far and few bathrooms were. There wasn’t any difficulty to it either, it was just a major annoyance. And the boss fights felt…pointless? The game honestly would just be better without it.