Rez HD – Xbox360
February 2, 2008
I already had Rez on the PS2 and loved this little gem. When I heard that is was going to be released on the Xbox360 in HD (720p) I was quite excited to see what they had made of it for this new iteration.
The graphics look wunderfull and the sound is great. The game has been converted very faithfully to the Xbox360, including the controller rumble which you have to enable the first time around.
Improvements to the original are mostly with it’s enhanced resolution although there are also a couple of minor details that seem to have been added including some extra effects (one spectacular glare effect that makes fighting the area 4 end boss quite taxing).
Overall the game seems a little bit more difficult than the PS2 version (having not played the DreamCast version I can’t really tell how faithful it is to the original).
I am not sure that it is worthy it’s 800 Microsoft Points pricetag having already bought the PS2 version (although it would have been terrible if it had been a full price game). It does have a limited long time playability with only 5 levels to unlock but it also has a uniquely fun gameplay that just works wonderfully on HDTV with a good surround sound setup.
For a rail-shooter remake this is very good (I don’t think we stand a chance of Starblade or Starblade: Operation Blue Planet getting released on any next-gen console) and if you haven’t had a chance to play this one before it is certainly a recommended buy. If, like me, you have the old version this still is nice to have, but just keep in mind that this is only a remake, not a second part.