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REZ is a video game released by
SEGA in
2002 for the
Sony
Playstation 2. It was very critically acclaimed, but did not get much
commercial attention in the
United States, partly due to its very esoteric gameplay experience.
The game is set in a vast computer network where a female
AI
program named Eden is lost, and must be found by the player by navigating
through a series of levels, but the plot is really not the focus of this
game.
The gameplay is most strongly related to the
shooter genre, with the player being portrayed as a figure moving
fairly linearly ("on rails," so to speak) through levels of enemies. The
controls are very simple, with the analog pad controlling a target that
must be moved over the enemies while holding down the fire button.
Releasing the button launches projectiles at the enemies and destroys
them, and there are two
power-ups; one that fires at all nearby enemies when triggered, and
one that accumulates to transform your character into more powerful forms.
There are bosses at the end of every level, which provide more of a
challenge, and upon completion of the full "storyline" there are many
bonus features that can be unlocked by the player by performing certain
tasks.
Marketing information for the game at the time of its release focused
on its qualities of "synaesthesia,"
the association of different senses and stimuli with each other, which is
a sensation experienced naturally by some people, and reported by many
users of
LSD and other
hallucinogens. While playing REZ, your character soars over
psychedelic futuristic vistas to the hypnotic beat of
Japanese underground
techno music. The game is indeed very integrated with sight and sound:
a thumping vibration in the
Dual Shock 2 controller keeps time with the music, every time the
player releases the fire button sounds are made that synchronize exactly
with the beat of the song, and as the player progresses further into a
level, the songs become more layered and intense.
REZ should not be played by anyone suffering from
epilepsy, as it contains many flashing lights and images, and could
trigger a seizure.
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