Cleril
05-05-2010, 06:45 PM
I recently bought Quebed, which was a game box which had 3 xbox live arcade games for 20 bucks. the three games were, Every Extra Extend Extreme, Lumines Live, and Rez HD. I'll only be talking of Rez HD obviously because of the topic title. Rez HD is what I could consider all music games should aspire to (besides Frequency). Why is this? Rez HD doesn't use any peripherals and yet it lets the player really feel in tune with the music while letting them making the music their own in at least some respects. While reading I urge you to listen to my favorite song in the game, note that in-game the song doesn't sound like this but it uses the track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqoUDGJ4g2A
Rez HD has a pretty interpretive story that really doesn't need to be discussed. It's interesting but is secondary to everything else the game offers. In terms of graphics the Rez HD is beautiful. There are perhaps some jaw dropping scenes but the design is crisp, computerized, unique, and interesting to you look at. The music is of course, as you now know, one of the highlights of Rez HD. There are 5 areas, in each area there is a boss (area 5, bosses) that you will eventually get to.
It's a third personal rail shooter, using the A button to lock on to enemies, releasing it to fire, and using the left stick to aim. The game is however full 3D and sometimes you'll have to look around fully to find and eliminate enemies. As you defeat enemies you'll gain support items such as experience (to level up, add to your health) and overdrives, which essentially auto targets and fires at all enemies around you for a short time. As you level up your character becomes more unique, I won't spoil it as it's something you just have to discover yourself to really appreciate. The real beauty of the game is that as you target and shoot enemies you make music with the song that is playing, essentially remixing the song as you play.
The enemies are unique to each area, and each has it's own attack pattern that you have to counter. What's even more of a special treat are the bosses, which each have their own amazing AI. Granted each boss is scripted but the way that they are provides for very satisfying bosses. My favorite boss would be Area 4's boss, which has a saucer like enemy that creates a multiple of "bodies" for itself using hundreds of blocks. These blocks are used to take up your targeting abilities (you can only have 8 targets locked on at a time). While you fight this enemy the level twists and turns as you and the enemy travel through a never ending hall. It's fast, exciting, and most of all, fun.
http://www.siliconera.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/rezhd.jpg
There are 5 areas in the main game, plus a few bonus areas which you'll unlock as you go through the game. After beating area 5 you'll unlock beyond, which allows you to do special modes such as bonus areas (with new songs), direct assault (all areas in order, no stopping), boss rush (all the bosses), and so on. These add great replay value to an already addicting game.
There are a few issues with Rez HD however. Firstly your thumb will hurt after an hour of straight playing. You will be pressing A a lot, many times, on numerous occasions, this may lead to even a bruise. Another issue is that when you first start you may find the difficult too much so Rez HD requires a bit of practices to actually beat the game. On the plus, there is a traveling mode which you will never die in, allowing you to just chill.
For the 20 bucks that I payed for the three games, I'd say Rez HD was at least worth 10 bucks (which you can get it for on the marketplace). I'd say I've had more fun with Rez HD than I have with Rockband or Guitar Hero. Read my Frequency review if you want to know about another really great unknown music game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqoUDGJ4g2A
Rez HD has a pretty interpretive story that really doesn't need to be discussed. It's interesting but is secondary to everything else the game offers. In terms of graphics the Rez HD is beautiful. There are perhaps some jaw dropping scenes but the design is crisp, computerized, unique, and interesting to you look at. The music is of course, as you now know, one of the highlights of Rez HD. There are 5 areas, in each area there is a boss (area 5, bosses) that you will eventually get to.
It's a third personal rail shooter, using the A button to lock on to enemies, releasing it to fire, and using the left stick to aim. The game is however full 3D and sometimes you'll have to look around fully to find and eliminate enemies. As you defeat enemies you'll gain support items such as experience (to level up, add to your health) and overdrives, which essentially auto targets and fires at all enemies around you for a short time. As you level up your character becomes more unique, I won't spoil it as it's something you just have to discover yourself to really appreciate. The real beauty of the game is that as you target and shoot enemies you make music with the song that is playing, essentially remixing the song as you play.
The enemies are unique to each area, and each has it's own attack pattern that you have to counter. What's even more of a special treat are the bosses, which each have their own amazing AI. Granted each boss is scripted but the way that they are provides for very satisfying bosses. My favorite boss would be Area 4's boss, which has a saucer like enemy that creates a multiple of "bodies" for itself using hundreds of blocks. These blocks are used to take up your targeting abilities (you can only have 8 targets locked on at a time). While you fight this enemy the level twists and turns as you and the enemy travel through a never ending hall. It's fast, exciting, and most of all, fun.
http://www.siliconera.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/rezhd.jpg
There are 5 areas in the main game, plus a few bonus areas which you'll unlock as you go through the game. After beating area 5 you'll unlock beyond, which allows you to do special modes such as bonus areas (with new songs), direct assault (all areas in order, no stopping), boss rush (all the bosses), and so on. These add great replay value to an already addicting game.
There are a few issues with Rez HD however. Firstly your thumb will hurt after an hour of straight playing. You will be pressing A a lot, many times, on numerous occasions, this may lead to even a bruise. Another issue is that when you first start you may find the difficult too much so Rez HD requires a bit of practices to actually beat the game. On the plus, there is a traveling mode which you will never die in, allowing you to just chill.
For the 20 bucks that I payed for the three games, I'd say Rez HD was at least worth 10 bucks (which you can get it for on the marketplace). I'd say I've had more fun with Rez HD than I have with Rockband or Guitar Hero. Read my Frequency review if you want to know about another really great unknown music game.