#rez infinite

[crimebird]

made a Rez flash sheet for fun and like 1 other person

come to Philly & get poked by me :>

[rinkasihutume]

Ken Ishii's "Creation, The State of Art <Parts 1-6>" is stuck in mind head like

state of art 🗣️ 🗣️ 🗣️

state of art 🗣️ 🗣️ 🗣️

state of art 🗣️ 🗣️ 🗣️

state 🗣️ 🗣️ 🗣️

state 🗣️ 🗣️ 🗣️

state 🗣️ 🗣️ 🗣️

creation 🔊 🔊 🔊

creation 🔊 🔊 🔊

creation 🔊 🔊 🔊 🔥🔥🔥

[encountersltd]

the climactic event in both of these stories is a battle with an antagonist that isn't evil at all but an overwhelmed benevolent deity that lashes out against the world and protagonist out of fear and/or anger, making it less of a fight to defeat her than it is to save her from the cause of her malcontentment and allow her to heal

[wormdramafever]

LauraKBuzz's 2023 Games of the Year

Best 2022 Game That I played in 2023 - Best Game that Appeared Out of Nowhere - Best Game Where My Eyes Shot Down Enemies - Best Use of VR to Make Me Cry - Best Game Me and My Wife Played Separately Toguether - Game That Made Me Feel Unexpectedly Competent - Best Cooking Centered Narrative - Best Game of 2023 I Haven't Finished Yet - Best Game of 2023 That Made Me Undergo Emotional Whiplash Between Horny and Trauma - Most Unexpectedly Hopeful Apocalypse Simulator - Best "It's a Dark Souls" - Best Game That I Was Left Surprised Was Good - Highest Creativity Per minute Ratio - Best Game That's Kind of a Mess, Like It's Protagonist - Game of the Year That Half of you Will Hate

[psx-euro-demo]

Hydelic - Singularity X (Area X tracks from Rez Infinite) Cover design by Cory Schmitz

[nintendocafe]

Would you like to see REZ Infinite on Nintendo Switch?

[miloscat]

[Review] Rez Infinite (PS4)

Style over substance.

Next on my rail-shooters list is this remaster of Sega's 2001 Dreamcast/PS2 cult classic. The updated rerelease brings the game into HD but also adds VR support (not applicable to me) and a substantial new level.

Part of the original development team on Rez had previously created Panzer Dragoon, and there's a similar lock-on mechanic in play here (the shifting camera angle is also familiar). Rez is stripped-back for a shooter though; the lock-on is your only input aside from a limited smart bomb, the health system is simple... you can't even move! It's more about the sensory experience than deep gameplay.

Everything about Rez's story and setting is abstract. Supposedly you're in cyberspace infiltrating an advanced AI or something, but it's not really important. The point is flying through a dazzling dreamscape surrounded by glowing, low-poly wireframes while trance music plays. It's like an interactive planetarium show. Part of the pitch is that your actions affect the audiovisual experience; for example, blowing up an enemy results in a beat that contributes to the soundscape. I found this didn't really work for me in creating a pleasing, cohesive aesthetic, though.

Worse, the game can become so visually busy that it affects the gameplay experience: I would sometimes be caught off guard by an attack that was lost in the noise. The health system corresponds to the "evolution" of your character from a sphere to a humanoid wireframe to a shiny person, but it's slow to build up between forms and one hit instantly reverts you. There is a mode that eliminates game overs though, which is nice.

With only five levels, the game is over quickly, but it's meant to be replayed for better scores or just to re-experience the light show. The extras menu has a boss rush and a couple of bonus levels, but I couldn't get a good enough score in the first to unlock the second... bummer. However, a headline feature of this release is Area X, a new level of similar size to the others which adds movement mechanics and a new visual style reminiscent of Tetris Effect (the remaster devs' next game) with myriad dancing particles, and new music that ends up landing on a nice techno-pop track.

Area X is an odd inclusion, as its new look feels very next-gen and shows the age of the original included game, technologically speaking. Adding in freedom of movement too felt like it really opened things up, and I enjoyed this a lot. The new doesn't sit comfortably with the old, making the package feel disjointed; maybe they could have let Monstars and Resonair just make a whole new full-length game in this style? Why limit this to just one level? To bring it back to the series that spawned Rez, maybe an expanded Area X should have been the main point of this release and the remaster a bonus, the way Panzer Dragoon Orta had OG PD as an extra.

So much for what might have been. As for what we have, it's a decent update of a landmark experimental game for its time, toying with rhythm-action dynamics and a nice abstract cyberspace feel. Rez does feel dated to me though since we now have games like Thumper and Sayonara Wild Hearts, and the gameplay isn't as crunchy as my favourite rail shooters. The aim was to create a sense of synaesthesia but it didn't really get there for me. Supposedly Area X takes some inspiration from Rez's sequel/successor Child of Eden, so I'll play that next and see how they upped their game.

[asleepinawell]

Games Played in 2021 - Part 2