Audiovisual hyperbombast coated in that sweet, sweet Sega Dreamcast slime, a synesthesia-induced trip through techno-dreamland sculpted in wireframe and cast in the chromatic sheen of neofuture web-scapes. Following the steps of an allegorical hackerman, you annihilate endless waves of antivirus battalions as you fast track your way to each area’s AI boss battle. Along the way, beats mix with the game's pseudo-experimental approach to sound design, to form a rich sound system of eclectic cadences tightly wired in orchestra hits and synth crashes.
Themed broadly on icons of civilization and humanities broader evolution, each level leading up to Area 5 is a tease at what the game represents, a build to the game’s grander view of humanity and the inevitable future of human life. Speaking less pretentiously: You are here for Area 5, backed by the flawless masterpiece “Fear”. A crescendo on the themes the game is throwing down, the level spins a tale on the birth of human life, rising from the oceans as millions of species ebb and flow with the tide of time, culminating with the final step of live, another evolution to the afterlife, the void, the Other.
Weightlessness and audiophilia are the key components of Rez, in design and in execution. Flawlessly, the game encapsulates this ephemeral bliss I can only associate with Detroit Techno and 90s Hollywood Hacker pop culture, a flashpoint reflecting on a prior decade’s genre evolution, razed to the ground and resurrected as a new, hi-tech, form. A crisp single-hour runtime packs in a feeling that can only be associated with the era it comes from, inseparable from the past while looking to the future in cautious optimism.
Speaking as simple as possible: Rez rips. Play Rez. It’s on so many things. Go for it. Mess around with Area X too; such a fun addition.
Themed broadly on icons of civilization and humanities broader evolution, each level leading up to Area 5 is a tease at what the game represents, a build to the game’s grander view of humanity and the inevitable future of human life. Speaking less pretentiously: You are here for Area 5, backed by the flawless masterpiece “Fear”. A crescendo on the themes the game is throwing down, the level spins a tale on the birth of human life, rising from the oceans as millions of species ebb and flow with the tide of time, culminating with the final step of live, another evolution to the afterlife, the void, the Other.
Weightlessness and audiophilia are the key components of Rez, in design and in execution. Flawlessly, the game encapsulates this ephemeral bliss I can only associate with Detroit Techno and 90s Hollywood Hacker pop culture, a flashpoint reflecting on a prior decade’s genre evolution, razed to the ground and resurrected as a new, hi-tech, form. A crisp single-hour runtime packs in a feeling that can only be associated with the era it comes from, inseparable from the past while looking to the future in cautious optimism.
Speaking as simple as possible: Rez rips. Play Rez. It’s on so many things. Go for it. Mess around with Area X too; such a fun addition.
Estilo sob substância? Eventualmente, em algum ponto conforme escorregava pela ciberesfera, meu avatar de bebê 2001 atirando ponteiros em vírus geométricos variados, entrava em um transe que me balançava entre pensar no mundano que tinha pra fazer na segunda-feira e me deixar levar pela maluquice descabida que estava correndo diante dos meus olhos - o cérebro não aguentava os petabytes de maneirice ou a jogabilidade às vezes entediante e me dissociava, parece. Embora linda, a Area X não tem a mesma energia de “capotando na deep web” que o jogo original tem.
Criminally short but lots of fun. The story concepts seem pretentious at first blush but thankfully aren't really presented in a way that I'd call that. Yeah, it's typical 'history of life and the universe' type stuff, but it's framed more as just a set of ramblings from a rogue AI rather than shouting at the player that the game is 'deep'. No, it's all about the sick beats and the silky smooth difficulty curve.
This review contains spoilers
information overload and the post truth age it causes can and will easily lead one down an existential rabbit hole, a never-ending cycle of unanswerable questions and half-truths, Eden had to suffer through the cold, dour world of logic and pure facts, information overload caused her to snap and fall to a self induced slumber to numb the pain until the player awakened her through making simple contact and touch, a feeling she hasn’t experienced before, which brought her to the ultimate realization, human connection and bonds are what truly matter in the end. Its a tragedy that Eden will only ever experience a fraction of that connection, she’s forever locked within the cold, jagged, emotionless world of truth. post modern existence and the digitization of life would only lead humanity down a terrible road.
the upgrade system dubbed evolution is a unique and genius way of tying the game’s themes into the gameplay as can be seen in how the player constantly evolves and de-volves due to numerous attacks from corrupted data, loss of oneself is quick to happen, and slow to regain.
the upgrade system dubbed evolution is a unique and genius way of tying the game’s themes into the gameplay as can be seen in how the player constantly evolves and de-volves due to numerous attacks from corrupted data, loss of oneself is quick to happen, and slow to regain.
When the guitar roared into existence while you're flying through those corridors chasing after the boss in Area 4 I felt like my third eye opened. Also I was playing through Rez X and I died in the final area and my controller literally wouldn't stop shaking until I shut it down lol. This game is too Powerful.
(Played the PSVR version.)
I can understand why some people would really like this game but personally I didn't really care for it. So I'm just gonna toss this into the "Not for Me" Pile.
SideNote: The VR version is really neat but it also makes the game 10 times easier with the use of PSMove Controllers and it also made me really sick about every 30 minutes.
I can understand why some people would really like this game but personally I didn't really care for it. So I'm just gonna toss this into the "Not for Me" Pile.
SideNote: The VR version is really neat but it also makes the game 10 times easier with the use of PSMove Controllers and it also made me really sick about every 30 minutes.
This review contains spoilers
Gets old at like layer 2 of area 1. Rail shooting is usually the worst part of most games that have it, so making an entire game around it rarely works. And this one isn't even that good by rail shooter standards. The reticle moves too slow, and the visuals make it too difficult to see which shape damaged you. Not that you need to worry about being damaged 90% of the time, as enemies seem to only come on screen and fly off if you don't kill them, which makes the few that do try to attack you all the most dangerous. But chances are you won't get hit by the enemies in normal gameplay, as their attacks are generally slow moving projectiles, but during the bosses this same idea of only a few things being dangerous is present, but now which things are dangerous is far less telegraphed. In the third boss there's a phase where you have to destroy a bunch of lasers. Some of these lasers could hit me, and most of them couldn't. I had no idea which ones were even hurting me so I couldn't even focus on them.
I also found the whole lock on to 8 enemies mechanic to be pretty wasteful in this game. It seemed far more effective to just spam the X button to get 1 hit at a time, but at a faster rate. Since there didn't seem to be any bonus for hitting more targets at once, it just seems like hitting them one at a time is literally the exact same thing, but without the delay between shot 1 and shot 8, and not having to worry about any time between accidently going over "MAX" and letting go of the fire button.
The final boss goes on for way too long, having more forms than Freeza.
Area X is easily the best thing about the game, but even that gets boring before it even finishes its short playthrough. It also seems to remove the few things an already shallow game had, namely the evolution and overdrive. There did seem to be something regarding the character that worked like evolution, as they changed colour, but there's no evolution power-ups to make it clear, nor any indication of how it works in the tutorial for Area X. It just seemed kinda weird.
I also found the whole lock on to 8 enemies mechanic to be pretty wasteful in this game. It seemed far more effective to just spam the X button to get 1 hit at a time, but at a faster rate. Since there didn't seem to be any bonus for hitting more targets at once, it just seems like hitting them one at a time is literally the exact same thing, but without the delay between shot 1 and shot 8, and not having to worry about any time between accidently going over "MAX" and letting go of the fire button.
The final boss goes on for way too long, having more forms than Freeza.
Area X is easily the best thing about the game, but even that gets boring before it even finishes its short playthrough. It also seems to remove the few things an already shallow game had, namely the evolution and overdrive. There did seem to be something regarding the character that worked like evolution, as they changed colour, but there's no evolution power-ups to make it clear, nor any indication of how it works in the tutorial for Area X. It just seemed kinda weird.
The techno/house beats matched with the instruments mapped to actions you take in the game (ex. Hi-hat shot, or various sounds being mapped to enemies' deaths) make Rez an extremely stylish and memorable shooter, even if it's a bit short and most of your deaths will come from being confused on what to do. I imagine this is probably the most transcendent stoned VR experience of all time.
THERE IS A MIND KILLER!
THERE IS A MIND KILLER!