Rez HD Comments by Simon Parkin

/suprised by lack of "kicking ARS" comment in review

Just checked - not on Live yet, but will be an immediate purchase! Loved the DC version!

I'll be downloading this as soon as I can, having missed all the previous versions.

Think this is a must have.

lol, a ten. Youll score a few hits from that EG. Well played.

I haven't bought many XBLA games but this will definitely be one of them.

I also already own this on the DC and PS2 but I don't care, the thought of playing this in HD and 5.1 surround sound is too good to pass up!

@Krelle

/shakes head

That review uses too many fancy words so early in the morning :/

This is up now.

Are SEGA involved in this at all? I mean, when Q was formed, did Tetsuya take the Rez IP with him? o_O

Edit: Nevermind, Wikipedia says he got a licence from SEGA, so I'll go with that.

The first half of that review is sheer nonsense.

"Likewise the sublime difficulty curve, calculated to within a notch of perfection, remains. The game heaves and builds through a pregnancy, the birth of its finale a transcendental moment in videogames as each previous boss re-emerges, augmented and awesome."

I DARE you to put something like this in a review of a shovelware DS game

So, better than Portal then?

Excellent - a 'must have' purchase.

Just played the first level... ^_^

Make sure to turn vibration on in the options!

Great stuff. Just in the week I don't have any internet connection. Fuckers should have switched this for Boogie Bunnies.

never 'got' it myself. move your cursor around and hold down the fire button until your shots are are locked on then let go. occasionally use a smart bomb when the screen is hectic. yes, the music and graphics are atmospheric but I always thought the gameplay was extremely limited.

Is it worth buying for someone who already has the PS2 version?

cant wait for this. i have it on Dreamcast but havent playd in ages.
the only problem being i'm waiting formy m$ points to come!

Cant wait to see the achievements for this. A must buy for sure. Short and sweet.

10!?

Bollocks.

A game that by your own admission is little more than Space Harrier and which any non-hamfisted gamer can complete in a day?

Looks like someone has read a few too many copies of Edge.

6... 7 tops.

"Rez is a... game"

stop right there young man...

"And the music. The music is important"

That Pope dude? Quite pious...

"a wireframe Panzer Dragoon"

oh behave

Utter utter bollocks. Really going off this site rapidly. :(

Fantastic review, really does the game justice. I can't wait to download this tonight... with any luck it might coincide with the arrival of something quite nice from Holland.

I'm going to take it that this is 10-worthy simply on the basis that it clearly did something to the reviewers brain... metaphor, much?

@defdaz

Just leave then, and stop threatening to.

The review is spot on in my mind.

"The orangey lines that delineate something from nothing, never too jagged or pixelly in the original, could now slice a cheese moon."
Good review!

Oh, you all poor people who don't "get it". I laugh tenderly behind your back.

People who don't like Rez have forgotten or don't know how good a proper game can be.

They will be crushed in the NWO.

Ten out of ten? You're saying this game is perfect?
Is this the same game I played on PS2, and felt like a poor on-rails shooter with one button and bad music?
I like shooters like Ikaruga.
I love games with great soundtracks like Wip3out.
I also love "arty" games like ICO and Shadow of the Collossus.
But a two-hour long *DUH DUH DUH DUH* fest of almost zero stimulation or difficulty is a pile of crap, to say the least.
I know this kind of thing is subjective, but the only people this game could appeal to are those that are stoned, or mentally handicapped.

defdaz...fuck off then :)

Cant wait to see the achievements for this.

They're really nicely judged. There's a good chunk that anyone can unlock by playing through the game, and then enough left over to keep the die hard players hammering the score attack mode.

And the game looks stunning.

beuaq...read the scoring policy. 10 is not perfect...read why they put 10.

/sigh

I for one have never played this, but once I finish the 7 games i've got going right now it'll be top of the list!

Ten out of ten? You're saying this game is perfect?

Ten out of ten doesn't mean a game is perfect. Never has done. There's even a link to the scoring policy right next to the score. Rez absolutely deserves top marks. It's a superb example of crafting something beautiful and rich out of the simplest ingredients.

> Lexx87 & DanWhitehead

I've re-read the marking thing, and it says:
It will leave the player in no doubt that they're playing something special right from the word go and will continue to inspire and amaze throughout.

I know they don't mean the game is 100% perfect, and I realise the subjectivity of reviews and genres,
But I fail to see how this game, even based on the review's contents, could get anything over a 7.

I really must be missing something. I'm not trying to be sarcastic or anything, I would just like to understand what other people see in this game.

The game I played consisted of holding down a button until you lock on to a bunch of things, and then let go. You repeat this for about 2 hours to some average music and slightly unusual visuals. What else is there?

Quality is not increased by complexity.

benuaq, what exactly were you looking for in Rez? I mean, really? It's been out for years and has been hailed as a classic for... well, years by reviewers and public alike. I mean a real CLASSIC. Fine, you don't get it, point made! But fact is all you're doing is asking "why?" when you're talking about a matter of taste. I can't explain why Rez does it for me, it just does - it's simple, but it's also about timing and just feels RIGHT. As for the music, I'll just have to disagree with you. Rez succeeds because of a combination of simplicity and style, and if you don't like its style and hate simplicity then you'll never like it.

It doesn't suprise me that a lot of people don't 'get' Rez. The worlds of art and media are dominated by lowest common denominator material - the Sun sells more than the Guardian, Harry Potter sells more than The Unconsoled, Transformers: The Movie takes more at the box office than Lust: Caution...

Part of the problem is comparing it against other games - yes the 'gameplay' is simplistic, but the 'gameplay' is not really what makes Rez what it is. In fact, calling Rez a 'game' is a category mistake - this is certainly one of the worst reviews I've even seen on the site, since it doesn't remotely describe what I consider to be the best gaming 'experience' of the past 20 years. It has elements of classic score attack shooters, albeit incredibly easy ones, and the basic mechanic is superficially that of an on-rails shooter, but the review makes no referecne to the fundamental Rez experience which is synching your actions to the music, playing for style rather than points

Of course, if you're not musical (or missing part of a soul perhaps?) I doubt this approach would even occur, and even if it was spelt out to you I doubt it would make much sense. Simply play Rez like a 'game' and jot down the core mechanics, and it does little to distinguish itself from any comparable shooter, despite the seamless execution

Naturally the typical counter argument is that this is all highly pretentious twaddle. Step forward, Daily Mail readers

Well just because you feel it is average, then for you it is average. The score is based on the thoughts of ONE person, not everyone. Get the demo, see for yourself. The score doesn't really matter if you like/hate the demo does it?

Wooohooo!

Ten? :)

Yeah, I'd tend to agree. Cannot wait to get home and play this in HD and surround!

I played a game where you hold down a button until you lock on to a bunch of things, and then let go. You repeat this for about 2 hours to some average music and slightly unusual visuals. What else is there?

Sounds like a porn movie. And those sell.

It's a bit silly trying to explain to you why you should like it. Obviously a lot of people do, personally I haven't played it yet but I really look forward to playing the demo tonight, but nevertheless if it's not your game then noone will ever be able to explain it to you why they like it.

Interesting review.....a touch pretentious......moi? I hear?

I think the review is spot on. The fact that the game is short is a good thing, thats why i love xbla so much. The achievements give it a lot of replay value anyway.

Lol wut?

Absurd review.

"with any luck it might coincide with the arrival of something quite nice from Holland."

I think a French Camembert would fit this game better than Gouda cheese.

Games like Rez are the gaming equivalent of Kubrick's novel adaptations. Break them down to their basic parts and it's easy to write them off as hollow and generic exercises - man goes crazy in isolated hotel, computer tries to prevent spaceman reaching destination, naughty droog gets taught a lesson - but to do that is to ignore the aesthetics and the intent behind them. The experience is important. The mood is important. Without those, we're still playing Pong. And so even though, on one level, Rez is as simple as Pong it's also so much more. It's a distillation and evolution of a wonderfully self-contained concept.

If we really want people to take games seriously, we need to stop getting into a big silly flap every time someone takes a game seriously and treats it as something deserving of artistic dissection. Big words are nothing to be scared of.

Was the review written by that ginger chap who used to do the Broom Cupboard?

If so, can I get Ed the Ducks autograph? Thanks.

Oh, and 10. Woohoo.