I'll be frank, Rez is probably one of my favourite games, and that has nothing to do with things like an engaging story or a challenging last boss encounter. What makes this so special is the way it combines what you do with what's happening on screen, both visually and audibly. Essentially, Rez is a toned down Panzer Dragoon on drugs, and offers very little in the way of challenge, but as you play the game, as you experience it, you'll notice that the real effort is in how you shape the game, yourself. Shooting enemies results in sounds that, no matter how you time them, fit the music. In a way, what you do on screen becomes the music. After a while you realise that the more you care about how the game sounds--and once it's grabbed hold of you, you will--the more challenging it becomes. However, the clever thing is that nobody decides for you what sounds good, that's all up to you, since everything you do sounds right. Graphically Rez an absolute masterpiece. The way explosions light up what seems to be hidden layers of the background, and the way the backgrounds themselves are landscapes within landscapes that morph and change into different shapes as you fly by is an absolute wonder to behold. Creating a physical locale is relatively easy, because you're mostly dealing with one set of surfaces at a time. In this game, a breathtaking amount of effort and care is invested in the levels, and by the time you've beaten it, you've been on a visual and emotional journey that goes unmatched. Whether you like the music in this game or not, there's just no arguing that this is the soundtrack meant for it. Especially worthy of mention is how, as you begin a level, you're hovering in nothingness, and a subtle beat of drums sets the mood perfectly. Rez is an abstract game and thus, by nature, hard to define or explain, but it is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting stabs at interactive art this generation (or is it last generation now?) has brought us. It's unlikely that this will have an equal emotional impact on everyone who plays it, but the fact that this is available on a console that's still viable today is a rare opportunity that I think anyone remotely interested should grasp. By Simon Lundmark
Some of you may already know Rez. Does it have anything to do with a particular vibrating controller? Nevermind. You only need to know this: Rez is one of the finest example of how a game can rely almost totally on music... Read Full Review
Rez brings core gaming fundamentals and builds an incredible feast of gorgeousness for the eyes and ears. It's straight-forward fun with constant action. WHAT'S GOOD? The look. Nothing looks like it. It has a vector ... Read Full Review
