Published by: Microsoft Game Studios
Developed by: Q? Entertainment
Score: 90

Could we go into a detailed discussion about Sega’s downfall and Sony raping and murdering them? Probably, but that’s not why I’m writing this, I’ll leave that to another pair who happen to specialize in blind and irrational love for Sega. In fact I like to think of myself as a gamer who is of the theory that competition amongst gaming companies benefits the gamers themselves. But I’m not here to talk about that, I’m here to talk about this game on Xbox Live Arcade that came out in January for 800MS points. The game? Rez HD.

Now like most gamers during the PS2-Dreamcast “war,” I never played Rez. At the time I didn’t really pay much attention. Of course it didn’t have a lot of publicity and seemed to be stuck between a dying console and a juggernaut eating up ports from the other. Rez wasn’t a major blockbuster but was able to become a cult favorite quickly. The style of the game and its unusual (and sexually confounding) peripheral, the transvibrator, became a favorite of those who liked the music and rhythm genre. If you’re looking for a story, then you better look elsewhere. The plot basically has you infiltrating an AI which has begun to become self-aware and scared or something like that. Honestly, I didn’t really catch all of it, and it’s hardly necessary to the experience. Of course you do get some metaphysical, abstract rambling in the final stage, as well as a pretty cool looking final fight.

Let’s not forget that this is primarily a shooter, it even has the good ol’ high scores and attack modes that are the usual staples of shooters. Basically you’re this construct in a computer program that starts shooting up the defense systems of the program’s AI. So how do you do this? Very easily, now stay with me on this. First you move the right thumbstick to aim at an enemy or object. Okay, now here’s where it gets complicated. You hold down A to target the enemies (up to 8) and release the button. Annnnnd that’s about it. Oh and there is also a bomb pickup which basically destroys everything on the screen that isn’t a boss. Don’t let my sarcasm fool you, it’s still loads of fun and provides a fair challange. There can be tons of objects on the screen you’ll be scrambling to hit, but probably won’t, but the frenzy only makes you want to give it another run and see how much better you can do. Aside from the bomb pickup, there are also the blue health pickups. These pickups add to your evolution meter which you’ll see in the bottom left corner of the screen. The evolution bar, as you fill it up, allows you to take more damage, but when you take damage, you’ll lose some of the evolution bar. In essence, the evolution bar is a dynamically changing health bar. When you do get enough to fill the bar, you start over and your digital avatar changes or rather…evolves…cool right? No? Well fuck you.

Boss battles in the game range from average to highly memorable. At the end of each area you’ll run into one of these guys and like any other boss battle in any other video game, the boss is basically a huge enemy that has some weak point that you have to work to hit. However, in Rez, not only do the bosses act as the enemy, in many cases they also act as the setting creating some very interesting boss battles. The favorite of most who have played the game is the 4th area’s boss which basically has you flying around and dodging the boss’ attacks as well as adjusting to the shape shifting of the boss.
The music is what primarily sucks you into the game. At the start of each area you’ll be starting with a fairly simple and flat beat. These may be only a few beats that you may not pay too much attention to at first. As you start shooting enemies and objects you start noticing that the cursor and the array of the enemies goes along with the beat. For example, a group of enemies will pass through lined up in 4 and after shooting them, you’ll notice that it sort of adds to the rhythm. Going deeper into the level adds more elements to the beat such as different rhythms and other inserts. The boss battles provide unique rhythms which sync up with your shooting and can sometimes even feel helpful when you may be trying to anticipate an attack or movement.

On the surface it looks like a typical shooter, and you’d be right for the most part, but really, it’s the way it’s presented more than anything that makes it memorable and worth the money. You can look for the PS2 version on ebay and be prepared to spend God knows how much. I don’t think it’s worth that much trouble, but I would say that for approximately $10 on XBLA, it’s worth it. I normally don’t say much about actual dollar price, but I really do think it’s a good deal. For those who have already played Rez, there isn’t a whole lot to add to the experience, but for those who haven’t I highly recommend it.