Rez

When you've played as many games as I have over the years, it becomes harder and harder to distinguish one game from another. Within genres, there seems to be a sad consistency which tends to make most games, sometimes even games of outstanding quality, fade into the background.

This is not a problem Rez has. Part rhythm game, part shoot-em-up, Rez shines in a way that few games ever manage.

In Rez, you take the part of a net-diving hacker set on breaking into a network built to house Eden, the self-aware program tasked with controlling data-flow on an overwhelmed world-wide network. Beset by viruses, Eden has shut down, and you have decided to jack in and risk your mind in an attempt to break the firewalls surrounding her and restore her to functionality.

Rez is a delight for the senses. Some of the best trance music I've ever heard makes up the game's soundtrack, and the player's shots (themed to the background track) add to that soundtrack very nicely. The visuals are gorgeous, and even now stand out as some of the most beautiful graphics I've yet seen.

The game interface is simple; move the targeting cursor around the screen while holding down the fire button to lock onto up to a maximum of eight targets, release the fire button to fire at said targets. Targets include enemies, incoming missile attacks, support items dropped by destroyed enemies (Blue to evolve your avatar through the six available forms, red to power your overdrive attacks, and green to raise your score), and network firewalls.

Rez features a difficulty feedback system, which tailors the boss encounters found at the end of each area to player performance in that area. Mega, Giga, or Tera versions of the end bosses are encountred based on the percentage of enemies shot down during the course of the level.

Upon completion of the game, extra modes are unlocked. Score attack mode allows players to attempt high-scores on remixes of the original levels which feature new and much more numerous enemies. Direct Assault is a classic Sh'mup remix of the original game, setting the player to the task of playing all the levels consecutively. Lost area is a bossless area with high difficulty. High performance in extra modes unlock a number of other options as well, allowing you to pick your avatar's starting form, choose color schemes for levels, and even modify your avatar's lasers.

Rez is available for the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, and now, in a super-pretty HD version, as a download for XBox Live Arcade.