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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