Well I’m a big fan of music in games, which is probably pretty clear if you look at some of my most listened to music. So to find out that SEGA put out a game which was an on-rails shooter with techno music…I was all for it. Like this sounded wayyy too good to be true!

Let’s just say I wasn’t disappointed

The game has a pretty simple structure, as you the protagonist have to traverse a whole computer system and destroy the viruses within to save the system. So yeah, not the most thrilling plot out there but still a decent one nonetheless!

Now for the gameplay…and oh man. I’ve never been really into on-rail shooters but oh man this one really stands out for me, and that’s clearly because of the music. I’m going to draw your attention to level 4…that is where it kicked in for me. In that level you fight a mini ufo which has used multiple small polygons? To make it look like a running man and whilst that sounds like an interesting boss fight, it’s the music that accompanies it that makes it’s for me. It sounds like one big tense ride to not only defeat it…but to escape it and it just works soooo well.

Wonderful music, gameplay is very easy to pick up and fun, some neat bonus stuff!

what a fucking game man

what a fucking game
if you like music that ken ishii/underworld/aphex twin would make you'll thoroughly enjoy this game

there's not much to it, and yet there's so much more to it than you realize. in summary, 1999-2001 cyberpunk rave visuals that you can play and it plays like an on-rails lock on shooter that influences the music you hear, selected for each level and orchestrated to it

see the rest for yourself! it's been ported to VR, consoles, and PC!

"It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances..." - Oscar Wilde

Rez is, in a word, cool. It's very cool. It looks cool. It sounds cool. Its music is cool. It's a playable screensaver; this is a compliment. Sit back. Relax. Vibe. Let this masterfully crafted psychedelic cyberpunk demo-disc wash over you. It is a beautiful game, but beauty is skin deep. A criticism that will likely be lobbed in the direction of Rez is that its gameplay lacks depth. And this is true. Mechanically, it's a bit shallow. And I would be lying if I said I didn't want a bit more going on in the gameplay department. Maybe some kind of rhythm component.

But to say that Rez is "pretty but shallow" is wrong. Rez does not lack depth in spite of its aesthetics; its aesthetics are its depth. It is visually and sonically a delight in every way. That's not shallowness. That's what beauty is.

Played this game for a bit and I have a lot of takeaways:
- This is the best thing to come out of the War on Terror
- This is the best mind control mechanism before or after the War on Terror
- Trillions of dollars of American taxpayer dollars should've been funneled to Rez 2 instead of the War on Terror
- Do not say "unspoken rez"

In my first review, i havent gave justice to this ovni of a video game, and i will try to do a better job of reviewing it

This game isnt really a game...but more like a visual and music spectacle, in which you control a program infiltrating a virus before killing his core...i know, it sound super simple, and thats because the gameplay is simple: its a railshooter where you hace two kind of weapon: your traditional laser, that will receive upgrade once you hit enough blue orb, and will need you to lock manually on a enemy to hit him, and a overdrive, that Can be activited only if you hit the red orb, and that will lock and shoot at all enemy automaticelly.

Yeah, the game, despite having rly great boss fight doesnt shine with the gameplay...but with the aesthetic ! You are just navigating in this virtual World, super simple and yet full of detail, and its just...mesmerising. couple with the very atmospheric and incredible music, it immerge you to this world like no other game

Because, despite being more a visual spectacle than a game, it wouldnt be the same if it was just a shortfilm, because the interactivity just add in the immersion and sense of wonder (also i love the fact that the lock on sound effect is a percussion one...its just so good for the atmosphere

Idk men, my review is a mess because...i dont have word to describe this...experience

I already really liked this game before...but now? Its just phenomenal

Btw, i kinda lie for the simple story....i will let you play area 5

This games is litteraly art

This is one of the only game that i can think of which i dont want to play with the simple, but effective gameplay, but just want to watch everything around, listen to the sound effect and bombastic music

I swear just looking at everything around is chilling as fuck... its like a loffy if you will

I can applaude the devs for the work here... because thats truly one helluva underrated gems

Reminded me of the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the sense of being an acid trip that features a fetus and also makes you contemplate life (also this game was released in 2001, what a coincidence!).

Nice music, cool aesthetics, creative bosses, it's a great game and a timeless audiovisual experience that, in a way, reminded me that video games are art. If I was more of a fan of rail shooters I would be digging this game a lot more, plus I feel that sometimes there was a little too much happening on screen so I got a little disoriented a few times but I still had fun and I appreciate its qualities a lot. Deserves to be considered a classic.

Surfing through petabytes of information, a storm of myriad colors clouds my vision, a harmony of sound and visual stimuli overclocking my senses. There's a rhythm to be found in the chaos, a flow to the motion, a song that's built upon a cacophony of sounds, bullets and explosions creating an orchestra in my mind.

Rez is less of a game and more of a transcendent audiovisual experience. The gameplay is hypnotic, putting you into that trance state as you take aim and shoot before your brain can process what you've done, but the real point of Rez is it's aesthetic, a style so thick and permeating it becomes the substance. Shots that fall in time with the music, the soundtrack that gradually builds and builds as you progress through the level, it feels less like a rail-shooter and more like an improv jam session: everyone's feeling out the tempo, the rhythm, the harmony, working out the kinks as you go along until it all falls into place and everything starts to harmonize, the song in your soul finally coming out in full force, an iridescent moment in time where the instruments sing and everything is perfect. Rez is a reminder: Take in the sounds, witness the lights, let it wash over you like the waves of the ocean lapping the coast. That's what it means to be alive.

Dance yourself clean

I feel like Rez is one of the most impactful experiences I've had playing videogames.
I say this because this thing isn't only a pretty well crafted rail shooter, neither because this is also one of the best integrations of music I've seen on a game ever. Rez is impactful because what you get from that experience can seriously be lifechanging.
Obviously I choose to read it as a metaphor for making up with a part of your inner self that you've been avoiding. Finally facing something that's been bothering about you for so long, with barriers you've built to keep it away that are now so strong that you can't just deal with it in one though.
You gotta go deep into yourself to finally face that thing, to see what you are and be who you want to be, who you really want to be.
In my mind, that's why the credits roll even if you fail. Yeah you could just let it be there, but you could keep going, you gotta keep going.
There are so many things that made my playthrough a really great run tho. For example, only by the end of the game I felt like I truly understood how to play it. As if it's asking you to go back at it.
It's not a hard game, but really getting it is kinda complicated. There's very little dialogue and explanations, but through try and error you'll turn yourself into a pretty good... uh... rezer??? It's no surprise this guy ended up making one of the best puzzle games ever (Lumines).
Another thing I felt Rez really does greatly is in how it could be beat in one long run. It encourages you to do it in one session even, when you try to log out. It feels as if it's asking you to solve this in one long steady flow of though, with electronic beats banging in your head, discovering yourself one step at a time. Fuck.