The player controls a member of a youth gang, the Bomb Rush Crew, as they use inline skates, skateboards, and bicycles to traverse the fictional city of New Amsterdam, spraying graffiti, challenging rival gangs, and evading authorities to control all five boroughs of the city.
The cel-shaded art style, music, general gameplay, and aesthetic all draw heavy inspiration from the 2000 video game Jet Set Radio, published by SEGA for their Dreamcast console. The music for the game is composed by various indie artists, as well as notably including Hideki Naganuma, the composer for the Jet Set Radio series.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk received mixed-to-positive reviews, dividing critics on its similarity to Jet Set Radio. The game also received praise for its gameplay, visuals, and soundtrack, but some criticism for its combat and simple tricking mechanics.
The gameplay of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk involves the player traversing the fictional city of New Amsterdam on either a skateboard, inline skates, or BMX bike, and performing tricks. By increasing their REP, the player can challenge rival gangs to take control of each of the five boroughs of New Amsterdam.
The game took place in the fictional city of New Amsterdam, where human implant technology has advanced to the point where humans are capable of switching body parts, both organically and cybernetically, at will. The city is famous for its writers , who perform various vandalism acts in a race to become All City , opposed by the police force who uses all means necessary to apprehend them.
Before the start of the story, three of the best writers in New Amsterdam, known as the "Big 3", ruled over the city. They are DJ Cyber, the city's best DJ; Faux, who is infamous to having a clean criminal record despite his various vandalism acts; and Felix, who is famous for being the only writer who never used a boostpack. Among the three, Felix is known as the only person who has become All City, but shortly after, he's mysteriously killed, leaving a power vacuum and causing chaos in the city, as all five crews raced to become All City themselves.
The story revolves around the members of Bomb Rush Crew, a group of up-and-coming writers, as they aim to become All City.
Faux, who was caught by the police and placed in a cell, is awoken by a man breaking out of his cell. They make their way out, and while escaping sees a man in a robed costume and full-head mask fighting several police officers, who pulls out a vinyl record and throws it at Faux's neck, decapitating him.
Faux is awakened in Tryce's new gang's hideout, and is now fixed with a red cybernetic head. Bel suggests that Faux now be referred to as Red, as he is no longer the same person he was previously.
Tryce states that the man who decapitated Faux is known as DJ Cyber, and that he must still have Faux's head. Tryce told Red that Faux was a prominent gang member of New Amsterdam, and part of a group of the City's best writers known as the Big 3, along with DJ Cyber and another individual known as Felix.
