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Rez HD (X360)

• Developer:
• Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
• Genre: Shooter
• Official Website: http://www.xbox.com
• Score: 5 of 5: Purchase

When Rez HD was announced for the Xbox Live Arcade as an early 2008 release, Microsoft was answering the prayers of thousands of gamers who had been enjoying the little-known game on the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 since late 2001. There were many outcries for a port on a current generation console, mostly for reasons involving a desire for an HD version of the game, as well as hearing the game in surround sound. Their cries were for good reason: the game looks great and sounds even better.

Rez is, at its core, a music game. At first glance, many would consider it an on-rails shooter similar to games like Panzer Dragoon or Star Fox. What separates Rez from those games is its fundamental relation to music. The game has its own soundtrack playing in the background, but every move you make and every enemy you kill makes a particular sound. The game literally makes it impossible for you to create a "bad" set of sounds, so no matter how you choose to kill enemies-by locking onto them in groups or targeting them individually-it all sounds good. So, in essence, you are creating the game's soundtrack as you move along through the level. It sounds interesting in concept, and turns out even better combined with the visuals of the game.

The game separates itself into four areas in the beginning of the game, with a fifth opening up after you complete certain requirements within the game's first four levels. The levels are each separated into ten sections, and the tenth always has with a boss waiting at the end. Like in a Star Fox or Panzer Dragoon game, you find the boss' pattern and work your way through it to complete the level.

Story isn't Rez's strong point, but it gives a satisfactory explanation for the game's visuals. You're inside a computer destroying viruses and firewalls in an attempt to destroy a mother computer. The game has a wireframe-like appearance and the backgrounds and enemies seem to appear and disappear at will. It's very Tron-esque in appearance, but the visuals and sound do a good job of pulling you into the game.

In the Xbox Live Arcade version of the game, there is rumble support. For every enemy you destroy on screen, the controller gives some kind of pulse feedback. The game supports "trance" controllers-that is, you can have up to three other controllers turned on and placed around, and each controller will provide different feedback for what's going on in the game. In the Dreamcast and PS2 versions, there was a "trance vibrator" which accomplished the same thing, and currently there are no plans to support the USB device for the 360.

One nice thing about Rez is that it's a 360 game that uses the Achievements system in a way that syncs with the method of unlocking content from the original game. In order to unlock Area 5 in the game, you have to hit all of the orbs which take you from level to level in each area in the four previous areas. In order to unlock score mode, you have to finish the game, including the fifth area. Each unlock brings a new challenge or twist to the original five levels, and you can tell exactly what the requirements are by looking at the Achievements list. It's a system that doesn't have impossible requirements and also lets you easily see what you've unlocked and what you need to unlock by looking at the list. None of the Achievements are impossibly hard to get and make sense within the context of the game, something that can't be said of a lot of XBLA games.

Rez is an overall faithful port of the Dreamcast and PS2 versions of the game. The game looks great in HD, sounds great in surround sound, and feels at home with the 360 controller. However, it's basically just that: an upgraded port. The game is designed almost exclusively around playing the same five areas under different conditions, so players who are looking to find something new with this edition of the game will be disappointed.

Mar 10, 2008 | 1 comments
Jeff Craven