Topic: Rez HD, now on XBLA

[Cobra951]

I'm grabbing the trial version right now.  I anticipate paying the $10 too, after all the glowing comments I've seen.

[beo]

try messing about with the graphics filters. most of them are a bit gimmicky, but the bloom filter makes things look really sexy.

[iPPi]

Time to buy some MS Points.

[Cobra951]

Bloom?  Thanks.  I'll try it.

I cleared the 1st 2 areas.  I'm watching my replay from score attack on the 1st area now.  I'm rubbing my thumbs too.  Ouch.  I didn't understand about locking on until like the 3rd time I played.  Wicked little game.  I find myself shooting to the beat.  I wish I got a score or stats even when I don't clear an area.  3 got me.

[K-man]

Everyone with a 360 and connection to live should own this game.  No excuses.

[scottws]

What if you don't have and HDTV?  Kinda makes Rez HD moot.

[K-man]

Unless you own Rez on PS2 or dreamcast already you should *still* buy it.

[gpw11]

I can get behind that.  My DC is in storage, and the game runs great on NullDC in high res, but I think you'd probably be better off with the 360 version. 

[JacksRag(e)]

Well, when you buy it off XBLA and start it up, it gives you two options to play Rez.  There's a Rez HD option and original Rez.  Rez HD is, obviously, in high def and in widescreen.  I've been playing through the HD version so far and it's realllllly nice.  And even if you don't have an HDTV now, you will eventually, yes?  You should play it in its graphical and musical splendour at least once, too.  But still, you should still be able to play it at a decent resolution even if you have an SDTV through the components, right?

[K-man]

Ok, being a Rez "veteran" I feel qualified to speak about this release.

MY GOD.  Very rarely do I feel a remake does the original game justice.  Most of the time they're too 'clean' or just flat out lose what made the original title charming in the first place.  I am very very happy to report that is not the case here.  Everything is handled about as perfectly as it could be.  I just finished the game a few minutes ago, and nothing at all has disappointed me about this release.  There's even a "god mode" playthrough which was previously only available to you if you got 100% everything on all five levels. 

I forgot which review I read that said something along the lines of "this game came out before its time.  It needed to be released initially with 5.1 sound, HD graphics, and a 10 dollar price tag."

Being someone that has purchased the game multiple times, I agree with the last remark, but I certainly don't feel like I had been cheated at all.

Basically, this is one of those games that anyone who calls themselves a gamer should experience.  Hands down.  The last level of this game is one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.

[Quemaqua]

Fuck.  Stop making me wish my 360 had a hard disk.

[JacksRag(e)]

I think it's time, Que.  I think it's time.

[gpw11]

The last level of this game is one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.

I can get behind that for sure.  For me, the last level defines the game.  Sadly, my CD is in storage and it's also the only part of the game where I run into any errors emulating it (specifically at the very end of the last boss fight).  Whatever, it's still fantastic.

[K-man]

Fuck.  Stop making me wish my 360 had a hard disk.

I honestly don't know how you've survived thus-far without one.   I think your enjoyment of the 360 would increase tenfold if you bought one.

[Cobra951]

I honestly don't know how you've survived thus-far without one.   I think your enjoyment of the 360 would increase tenfold if you bought one.

I second that.  I started out with a core box, and it became something else entirely with the addition of the HDD.

I have too many games that I'm juggling right now.  I didn't get back to Rez yesterday.  I hope to get through that 3rd stage today.  I like the bloom filter, except that it can be distracting.  I'm going to try some of the others.

[Pugnate]

Fuck.  Stop making me wish my 360 had a hard disk.

Whenever you feel like an ungrateful bitch, just look at Pyro.

[Cobra951]

Oh, crap.  What a game.  I made it all the way through to the end.  It gets so intense, but never unfair.  Add the visuals and the thumping music, and it's quite an experience.  Very much like a classic shooter.  It reminds me of Super Aleste/Space Megaforce, but in 3D Tron visuals.  I turned bloom off after it made me lose at the end of Stage 4.  It yellows out the whole view on the boss part of it.  Sucks.  I still haven't tried the other filters.

After you beat the game, you get this Beyond option to open up.  It lets you play the game for score all in one shot (across the stages, rather than one stage at a time).  That was the last thing I tried, and I almost made it.  Got very far into Stage 5, then got creamed.  I'm not sure, but it seems harder too.  I have the replay of that going now.  (The whole 50 minutes I played got saved.  Nice feature.)

What system is this from again?  It must have made quite a splash in its day.  It's awesome even now.  The normal Rez, which you can play here too (and I did try it) feels just as good.  The music is the only thing that seems to lack.

Edit:  That's wrong.  The music is exactly the same, in 2-channel stereo anyway.  I think when I first played the standard game, I chose a stage where the music starts out very slow and sparse.  Maybe that's why I got the wrong impression.

Oh, and all the tacked-on visual filters suck, some more than others.  I'm done with them altogether.

[JacksRag(e)]

Rez was originally on the Dreamcast.  It was ported over to the PS2, also.  It's become something of a gem to people on those systems.

[sirean_syan]

Yeah, I gushed over the game completely when it was released (for the PS2), even wrote a gushing review for AOG back in the day which, according to rumor, was one of the reasons Que started paying attention to the site... my history may be wrong on that though.

In either case, it's easily one of my favorites and way up there. I still play it every now and again. As far as I can tell, I had pretty much everything in the PS2 version unlocked with 100% on each level and pulled that regularly in the mode where you play through the whole game in a single shot. God mode never appealed much to me, but I dug all the color modes.

I said it when it was announced, but this is the closest I've ever come to wanting a 360, but I don't have the HDTV for it. Of course, that just makes me want an HDTV. That's pretty much out of the question right now and most likely will be for a few years.

[Quemaqua]

Actually, your Rez review was the very reason I found the site in the first place.  I was looking for Rez reviews and saw yours.  If it hadn't been for that, I may never have known any of you guys.

That's weird to think about.

[sirean_syan]

And all the more reason to thank the gods for Rez's existence... or curse them.

[Cobra951]

A caveat for prospective buyers without HDTV:  the standard 4:3 def was borked.  What they did was inscribe the 4:3 display area into the 16:9 aspect, meaning that on a standard 4:3 set, you're going to get black bars top and bottom AND left and right, if you play the standard game that fills the screen on the DC and PS2 versions.  Small rectangle inside a big black box.  Very stupid.  Your only real choice is to play the HD version, even on a standard TV.

[Quemaqua]

Wow, that's totally fucked.

[Cobra951]

Repeat of last night.  I wanted to play a level or 2, and I ended up spending the whole evening on the game.  I played through the full-game mode, beat it this time, which unlocked an "ambient" option for it.  So I played through that too, beat it again, and I'm now sitting here eating some late dinner and watching the replay.  I seem to be stuck at around 585,000 points for the full game.  Both times that and some change is what I got.  That puts me at around #6 on the offline scoreboard.  I don't know how I could possibly shoot down a lot more stuff.

[K-man]

You'll increase your score by chaining things together.

[Cobra951]

Yes, I figured that out.  Turning on the scoring onscreen helped to figure out where the big points come in.  My top score for Direct Assault is now 727,000+. 

[Cobra951]

The Eurogamer review is one of the most literate game reviews I've ever read, as well as a good Rez review.

I got Rez thinking it would be a good casual diversion, like PacMan CE, from the big games.  It has ended up consuming more time and energy than the full-blown disc games.  Once I start, I can't seem to stop.  Then I spend just as much time in between taking in the replays, which are mind-blowing by themselves.  I can see and listen to so much more of the entire experience when I'm not fighting for points, and my life.

[iPPi]

I tried the demo and liked it... it's definitely on my list of games to get, but I just bought Mass Effect and am currently preoccupied with that (and Mario Galaxy, Bioshock, and Twilight Princess)