Rez

"Be it a shooter or music game, it's a different experience..."

Rez promotes ''synaesthesia.'' According to what resources say, it's the mixing of the senses. So is it true? Can you really see sounds and hear smells in this game?

Well, no. At least, not exactly. I think...

But the real thing that's been puzzling about this game is its genre. Some people classify it as a shooter. Some classify it as a music game. But which is it really?

Without any doubt, the gameplay does seem to root towards a shooting game. You are confronted by a strange assortment of enemies that you must shoot down. To do this you must move your locking cursor across the enemies and unleash your lasers to destroy them. The more enemies you lock on, the more points each one is worth (you can set up to eight locks). And at the end of each stage, you confront a complicated boss with several sub targets and only one main target.

But there's enough about this game that makes it qualify for a position in the music genre. While the main focus is to shoot your enemies, everything seems to be done in accordance to the rhythm of the background music. Your player pulses to the beat, and the assorted sound effects resemble assorted instruments, which almost always aligns with the rhythm. So basically, as you travel, you're not only busting some tailbone in the computer world, but you're making music while doing so. And the stages are set up with different ''layers,'' which seems to alter the background music as you go. What makes the possibility of its music genre position even more believable is that in the stage select screen, the title and artist of the music is listed.

But whatever the case, Rez is an experience that has to be played for you to really understand what this game really is. There are very few games that have the appearance that this one has. The background effects are often psychedelic to watch, but sooner or later it'll look like something identifiable, especially at the highest layers, where they represent some area of the world such as Egypt or the Orient. And you have to enjoy the final level, but you'll have to find out for yourself what it's like. As for your character, it's hard to tell exactly what you are, since you seem to be able to level up to ''higher forms.'' And though you start off looking like some kind of human form, you may wind up looking like something else...

The game is very challenging. It took me a few tries to get around some of the stages, and they're actually easier when compared to the versions that appear in the Score Attack mode. And that's still not all you have to confront. If you plan on unlocking everything, you either have to be extremely skilled or have a lot of time to kill.

There are a few bad things to Rez, too. The graphics really show nothing impressive, and on rare occasions, the framerate slows down. What's more, you really won't find any of the tunes either catchy or memorable. And this game may not be for everyone, which may be why there are so few copies of the game.

But I'm happy I got Rez. And I find to be challenging, interesting, and fun. I can't really say whether or not to buy the game (somehow), as many people have different tastes. But if you get the rare chance of even trying it out, do so. Either by experience, interest, or severe research of the game (which will probably be the only way for many), those are the only ways to really decide if the game's for them.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/07/03