Rez HD

"A Visual treat for all to enjoy."

Rez was a game originally made on the Dreamcast and Playstation 2 in 2001, and came out in American release in 2002. It was developed by Sega's United Game Artists division. It was produced by Tetsuya Mizuguchi who later went onto make games such as Lumines for the PSP, and Meteos for the DS. Around six years later Mizuguchi's company, named Q Entertainment, has brought REZ HD to the Xbox live arcade. Compared to the original Rez, which you can play, the HD version just makes you say "wow" in terms of looks. Everything flows smoothly and there is not a jagged edge or rough spot in sight during the entire play time.

The Story is rather simple. But it's not really why people play the game. Its set in a supercomputer called the K-project where all the data is controlled by Eden, who is the most advanced AI ever made and can even become somewhat self-conscious. Eden becomes overwhelmed with the knowledge gathered in the network which causes her to doubt her own existence and begins to shutdown. The player, a noble hacker, must enter into the K-project system and reboot Eden while at the same time getting past firewalls and destroying viruses.

Its, for the most part, 100% the same game as was found on the PS2 or Dreamcast. And that's really all that there is to be expected, you're paying 800 MS Points ($10) for a game that was a full retail price on the PS2 or Dreamcast, which I think it's fair considering they really did a good job redoing how it looks. Some people might say that because its short it's not worth the 800 MS points, but when one looks at the package as a whole its so much more. There are five main levels to play through. Then you have a mode called ‘beyond' that allows you to play through the 5 main areas again all at with different colors and effects. Now that sounds tedious, but when playing the entire game blazes by fast and the changed effects are amazing. There are also bonus stages like “lost area” among others, including a boss attack. When looked at as a whole its quite a lot of game for the money one pays.

Now, about playing it, it's basically a rail shooter. I'm not sure if it really does much to deviate from the normal, but this would be the first rail shooter that has ever really stuck out to me. You cannot affect how you move at all, and really the only effect you have on the game is you can move a target that allows you to lock-on to up to 8 enemies. You hold down the "A" button (Or B if you set it to that) and can "lock-on" to up to 8 enemies at once, or 1 enemy 8 times if it can take that many hits. Once you release the button what appears to be lasers fire out and hit the targeted enemies.

If you fail to hit some enemies you will collide with them. When you are hit you lose a evolution level, which is basically a life. Now there are items you can gather from enemies as well. Gather enough blue ones and you gain a evolution level, grab a red one and you get the ability to use overdrive. Overdrive releases a continuous shower of shots at all enemies on the screen for a very short period of time. Overall the controls feel good. The target moves at a decent speed but at sometimes you wish it could move just a little bit faster, and sometimes it feels like enemies are too far apart from each other to hit when passing by them. That's not too much of a problem but when going for 100% it can annoy slightly.

There are five main areas in the game. In the first four areas there are 10 sections and in the 10th is a boss battle. Though unless you perform "analyzation" which is done by shooting a glowing cube 8 times, it does not inform you that you have moved onto another section of the level. To access the fifth area you must have 100% analyzation in the first four areas. In the fifth area of the game has no real sections but still has analyzation, though it is worth around 7% compared to the normal 10%. Upon reaching the end of the fifth level you have to fight variations of all the bosses from the first four areas over again, followed by the final boss. Also if you're the type who enjoys the high score arcade type game where the sole purpose of playing is to beat your previous score, this game absolutely has that covered. You can spend hours memorizing enemy paths and how is the best way to position yourself in order to hit all of the oncoming enemies.

The sound of the game is spectacular. I know some people might not be able to get into the music the game has, but even I who doesn't like that type of music at all found that it fit extremely well and enhanced the experience the game had to offer. Every time you shoot or lock-on to a enemy it adds little sounds to the music that really make it sound more melodic. And although not sound, the entire game seems to "beat" to the sound of the music. Very cool looking indeed.

Graphics are probably the least important thing to this game, but the most important at the same time. They're very minimalist. Everything seems to be made just of polygons except for the enemies. Though that's just at first glance, afterwards you notice that the backgrounds are well detailed and the character changes. The enemies get more complex and the bosses look amazing. But what's amazing about them is how they pull one into the game. As the controller pulsates to the sound from the game so does everything on screen, which further pulls you into the game.

The last thing to talk about is, well, that would be the vibration. Now in the PS2 version there was something called the "Trance Vibrator" that vibrated along with the game, but Rez HD has incorporated something like this as well though slightly different.. Have 2 360 controllers? Have one set to trance vibrate. Have 3 or 4? Control with one and have 3 vibrate. Personally I set it on the back of my neck, weird idea at first, but it is rather amazing. Only downside is if you are using normal batteries instead of rechargeable this will eat through them.

So in order to wrap it up, this is an amazing game. For the little money you will spend on it the enjoyment one gets out of it is great. The enhancements from the PS2 and dreamcast version are amazing and the ability to use your extra controllers in place of the trance vibrator is genius. Only downside is it's somewhat on the short side, but that can easily be countered by the fact its replay value is so high.

Pros:
Fun game
Cheap compared to original
Great Sound effects
Amazing Visual Experience

Cons:
Its short.
Can be harsh on controllers battery.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/31/08, Updated 02/12/08

Game Release: Rez HD (US, 01/30/08)