I picked up Rez yesterday. I think the easiest way to describe it would be if you were able to actually play a visualization from Winamp or Sonique 😉

You can download a movie(wma) of it here which I suggest you do to check it out or if you have a slow connection you can check out the screenshots. Imagine the end of 2001, Johnny Mnemonic, Lawnmower Man and Tron all rolled into one game.

It's basically a 3D shooter. Think Einhander or Raystorm except that this one is way more abstract and when you lock on and when your shots hit the enemies it's timed to the techno music so most of the time it sounds like you are actually playing part of the music while you play the game.

It's clearly a game for the rave generation. I would suspect my rave friends would enjoy it quite a bit. There's even been a view rave events featuring it and a few more coming up like this one.

The only downside is it's short. In fact as far as I can tell there are only 5 levels. I fininshed in under 2hrs. There are a few more secrets to unlock and I'm not sure what I need to do to unlock them but they appear to be things like special modes like for example playing the game with infinite hitpoints so basically you can just set the stick down and watch the game.

The other gimick which I mentioned before it there is an optional shock pack or Trance Vibrator as they call it. My friend Jake who worked on the game tried to convince them that was a bad name. He thought they should call it the Rezinator. Certainly better than calling it a Vibrator. But anyway, it plugs into the USB port of the PS2 and vibrates to the music. It's about the size of a computer mouse and comes with a fuzzy pouch to put it in. You put it where ever you want. I was watching Gamewave, one of the TV programs here about video games, and the host sat on it as he played. 😃