A Really Immersive Experience
My favourite type of games are the ones that completely immerse you. This isn’t limited strictly to role playing games, as most games feature an element of fantasy, but it is a key trait of gaming that keeps me coming back for more. Whatever gaming world I enter into next is almost irrelevant as the role I take on changes within each gaming dimension.
Some games are more than just an interactive world and compelling storytelling. Some games immerse you in a different way, where you feel physically apart of the universe, and in an odd kind of way, you are. Rez is one of my favourite games of all time because it immerses me in such a way that the rhythm of the music, the flow of world, the dynamics of the action, all merge with my own pulse. Quite literally too, if you use the trance vibration setting!
I lose myself to Rez, not just because of the beat that plays, the funky synesthesia that forms on screen, or the addiction that takes hold from chaining attacks and reaching a high score, but because all of these elements create a whole experience that not everyone understands or feels, but once they do, they feel assimilated into its world too.
Rez HD was released on the Xbox 360 Live Arcade in January of 2008 with updated visuals and clear sounds for new audiences to enjoy. It was originally released on the Dreamcast and Playstation within 2001 and was as critically acclaimed then as it is now. The original, standard version of Rez is available within Rez HD, along with the HD version and bonus achievements, as customary for Xbox games, as well as keeping all of its original bonus modes and unlockable secrets.
Rez could accurately be described as an on-rails shooter spread across five distinct levels, featuring typical action-shooting elements such as on screen enemies to shoot and power ups to collect, with a boss ready to battle at the end of each stage. Within that description, what you have is a fun casual shooter which can provide entertainment. Some would say that Rez fits within its own genre; a trance ‘em up, which is also accurate. Trance based music, created by a variety of musical club legends such as Adam Freeland, plays over the stage as you create sounds and manipulate the soundtrack by shooting down enemies as they appear on screen. Different chains and techniques create different sounds, collecting ‘lives’ evolve your on screen avatar, as it floats and dives throughout the different areas, each evolution also affecting the sounds and colours that flash upon the screen. The game you are left with is trippy, unique and unreal, as music and images dance before you, a gentle pulse throbbing within the universe of creative energy, tapping into your mind and pulling you in.
The original Rez came with trance vibration, a small vibrating pack that you could wear to immerse you further into the beat. The HD version allows you to set up to four control pads as trance vibrators, which you can then place next to you, say behind your back, which will generate that throbbing pulse into a real sensation.
When you begin to stare open mouthed at such a beautiful game, then you’ll know that you have become apart of Rez’s world. Lose yourself to Rez; you have nothing to lose and a fantastic experience to gain!
