I've been neglecting my blogs lately, but no more!  This time I'll be talking about Rez.

Unfortunately this will be a short blog because Rez is largely a shallow game at its heart.

It is a rail shooter at its core, but simply leaving it at that doesn't do the game justice.  It is such an ambient experience.  For example, the *combat* as you would call it is done by holding a button to lock onto enemies with your aiming reticle.  Hold the button down, sweep it over some enemies, and they are targeted, upon letting go of the button, if they are still within range, the character will automatically shoot them. 

Sounds simple, yes?  Not so much.  Each shot makes a particular noise, as well as letting go of the button.  So if you lock onto a whole bunch of enemies at once (8 max) their resulting deaths will play out a different tune than if you had locked onto 7, killed them and then individually killed the last one.  Or you could just mash the lock-on button, creating a *clapping* noise, and giving the game a faster beat.  You essentially alter the music, in a sense, depending on how you play.

I can't just leave it at that either though.  Just as much as it is an audial game, it is a visual game.  As far as I can tell, you are some sort of computer program/hack travelling through the mainframes of some sort of technology.  As such, the environment is constantly in flux, creating wireframe cities, turning the explosions from the enemies deaths into colorful blotches.  Put simply, the game has a VERY unique feel.  Words won't do it justice, so here is a vid of the first boss fight.

The game is extremely short, I believe there are only 4 levels (haven't played it in years) but often VERY hard to master.  Mastering includes killing every enemy and collecting every item.  Items are either *experience* or overdrive.  Experience is measured on the bottom left, and essentially acts as your health.  I call it experience because it is gotten from killing enemies and accumulating various amounts will *upgrade* your character, if you are hit, you downgrade to the previous form, there are 5 forms.  Overdrive is exactly as it sounds, your character goes into overdrive and shoots off a spectacular flash of death.  This tiny ball of light will fly off somewhere, normally offscreen and all you will see is a salvo of shots flying from every quadrant of the screen, decimating the opposition (in the video this happens at 1:33 and lasts for roughly 5 seconds)

The game is also pretty tough.  I consider msyelf fairly good at games, and I have a decent amount of trouble with some of the bosses.  That said, the game is nothing short of awesome, definitely one of the quirky *wtf is that game?!* games that you want to have.