Rez HD - "Feel the vibraaaaation"

I have up 'til now resisted the lure of microsoft point purchases. Nothing on Live has particularly piqued my interest. At all. I have no desire to play Halo again. I do not particularly wish to pay good money for a weird version of street fighter II. And I positively refuse to pay money for "pictures" of all my favourite gamer heroes. Lameness. This is incidentally in quite a contrast to the virtual console on wii, which I think is fantastic and has pumped my wallet hard over the last year. But now Microsoft's turn has come it seems, with the arrival of Rez HD. I never played Rez on the dreamcast, or Ps2, and have only really heard about it in recent weeks, as the internet got all moist about it's re-emergence. I wasn't even that excited to try it, but the demo popped up in the recently added section on live, and so I shrugged and downloaded the little blighter. This is where the demo service really comes into it's own, take note nintendo.

That said, I've tried other demos, and yet this one unlike them made me get my wallet out to sign up for points right away. Right away meaning after playing it through about 16 times, with my eyes streaming, making it hard to see those credit card numbers and my ears still reverberating with the thumping goa trance. Man that is some toe tapping goodness. The full game though is quite an astonishing experience. The interaction of the visuals and music, the much touted synaesthesia, really is a spectacle, pushing this game to the level of video art, an amzingly creative acheivement. As much as I hate trance per se, I love this stuff, each of the 4 levels tracks building and building to tub thumping crescendos. And then the 5th area, wow, just wow, pure coolness, really very zen. If this is all sounding a bit cryptic, I really can't be bothered to explain what this game actually is - its impossible to convey without making it sound a bit poo, the video above will have to do.

Its not a big game, or a very difficult one, but with lots of unlockables left this is clearly going to have some legs. At £8 who can argue? Its also as addictive as crack coated peanuts. It kind of reminds me of that game that seduces the crew of the enterpise because it gives them all "pleasure". Silly Ryker.