Rez

"Prefect Example of Style Over Substance"

Coming into Rez, a game that has praised by numerous critical sources, I was expecting alot more then what I got. I find if fascinating how a game with so little substance and so little replay value could possibly have gotten the acclaim that it's received. It's different, I'll give it that... but style and originality isn't the main reason why I play games. I play games to have fun. Rez was not fun. It gave me a headache. Headaches are never fun.

Graphics "8/10": The game has a fantastic visual style. It brings to mind many of the old Atari classics that we've come to know and love.. actually a better comparison would be to the film Tron. Beautifully done. However, the graphics themselves aren't too terribly detailed or outstanding. It's the art direction which makes it a pleasing viewing experience, since the game really doesn't push the hardware to any new frontiers.

Music and Sound "6/10": Many a gamer is going to hate me for this, but Rez sounds obnoxious. If you're into really annoying techno music I guess this would be your thing, but I personally felt like muting the volume after playing for only five minutes. The sound effects are quite nice though! Every time you hit an enemy, it explodes in a "musical beat". So when you hit multiple enemies in a row (or at the same time), it syncs with the music of the game. An interesting idea, but it doesn't make the game play any more rich. If the music was a little more varied and more to my liking, this probably would have been lifted up to an eight, but I hate techno.

Gameplay "4/10": I loved the graphics, I thought the idea is kind of nifty... but the developers really didn't pull off the game play. It's boring, repetitive, and overall very irritating. It's basically an on-the-rails shooter with a few dashes of "music game" for flavor, but instead of a finely mixed drink everything turns out to be a giant mess. I felt like I was playing the same level over and over and over again. There is very little variation in Rez outside of the boss battles, which are challenging and help to spice up the variety a tad bit. Yet, even within the heat of an epic "sphere vs. cube" battle, I felt the temptation of sleep growing ever stronger. If it wasn't for the headache inducing music, I probably would have. Worse still is that you have to start a level all the way from the beginning if you die. So when you die during a boss battle, you have to play through the entire level all over again! This wouldn't be a problem if the game was, as I've said before, fun to play. Instead, I feel like I'm being put through some kind of weird "torture at the disco". Why do people like this again?

Replay Value "2/10": Four levels and a lame score system. Yipee! It'll take a seasoned gamer one entire hour to complete the game, and if you're anything like me, it won't be an hour that you want to relive. Even if you love the game, chances are it'll be sitting on the shelf collecting dust after a couple weeks.

Conclusion: Rent the game. If it happens to be your thing, you'll enjoy everything the game has to offer within one or two sittings. It is one of the more unique games around, but whether it's actually good is a different beast entirely. Rent it and see for yourself. I on the other hand will be popping a couple aspirins (darn techno music) while gently sliding the disc back into its cover, to be shipped away to Gamefly so I can play something more to my liking.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/08

Game Release: Rez (US, 01/07/02)