If you don't love Rez HD, then you are incapable of happiness.
At first, Rez plays a bit like the bastard child of Tron and Panzer Dragoon. Your mission is to blast your way through endless waves of vaguely robotic enemies with the aim of destroying a gigantic boss lurking at the end of each stage. But this is no ordinary shooter. In Rez, every shot from your weapon becomes a beat in the soundtrack. Enemies explode as hi-hats, snare hits and synth chords. The environment pulses and ripples in unison as you play. Rather than playing with music in the background, you create your own soundtrack as you play through the stages, accompanied by trippy visuals and controller vibrations.
This would all be trivial if Rez wasn't fun to play, but it certainly is. A perfect difficulty curve eliminates any potential frustration throughout the varied environs of the game. But the stages themselves are mere filler compared to the end of stage bosses: each an audio-visual assault filled with incredible set pieces. How the developers managed to make a fight with a man made out of Lego take place without the player raising an eyebrow only serves to further highlight the sheer genius of Rez's design. It's rare that a game- especially one which seems so simple at first- can completely absorb the player into its world and elicit such feelings of wonder. Anyone who I've had the pleasure of introducing to Rez has been transfixed to the screen like a kid looking in the window of a sweet shop. It really is that good.
Rez HD is nothing more than Rez, in downloadable form, with a very shiny coat of paint. The graphics, which were impressive on the Dreamcast, are now so wonderful they will melt your face. Additional Xbox 360 controllers can be used as replacements for the infamous PS2 "Trance Vibrator" and they actually add a great deal of immersion to the Rez experience. There's no additional content beyond the Dreamcast original, but Rez already offers a large amount of extra stages and unlockable extras.
If ever there was a game to put a nail in the (already well-sealed) coffin of the "Are Games Art?" debate, then Rez HD is surely it. At £30 it was gaming Ferrero Rocher, but at £6.80 it's simply essential. Without spending the rest of this review spewing endless superlatives: play Rez HD and remind yourself why you bother to play games in the first place.