Rez

From Sega Retro

n/a

Rez title.png

Rez
System(s): Sega Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Xbox Live Arcade
Publisher: Sega,
Sony PlayStation 2
Sony Computer Entertainment (EU),
Xbox 360
Microsoft Game Studios
Developer:
Peripherals supported:
Sega Dreamcast
Dreamcast VGA Box, Jump Pack,
Sony PlayStation 2
Trans Vibrator
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Dreamcast
JP
¥6,8006,800 HDR-0178
Sega Dreamcast
EU
MK-51192-50
Sony PlayStation 2
JP
¥6,800 (7,140)6,800 (7,140)[1] SLPM-62101
Sony PlayStation 2
JP
(Special Package)
¥8,8008,800[2] SLPM-62100
Sony PlayStation 2
JP
(The Best)
¥3,000 (3,150)3,000 (3,150)[3] SLPM-74006
Sony PlayStation 2
US
SLUS-20344
Sony PlayStation 2
EU
SCES-50501
Sony PlayStation 2
IT

Rez (レズ) is a rail shoot-'em-up video game developed by United Game Artists and initially released by Sega simultaneously for the Sega Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 in 2001. It was conceptualized and produced by Tetsuya Mizuguchi and built by many former members of the disbanded Team Andromeda, the Sega development team behind the Panzer Dragoon series. Mizuguchi's company, Q Entertainment, released a high definition version (Rez HD) to the Xbox Live Arcade service in 2008.

Story

The game is set in futuristic computer "super network" called the K-project where much of the data flow is controlled by an AI named Eden. Eden has become overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge gathered on the network after a virus infects her, causing her to doubt her existence and enter a shutdown sequence, which would create catastrophic problems everywhere should she be able to complete this. The player plays the protagonist virus, Swayzak (the same that infected Eden earlier), invading Eden's mainframe and battling the mainframe's defense systems to reveal the true being at Eden's core.

The K-Project name and much of the game's visual and synesthesia inspiration comes from the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, whose name is mentioned at the very end of the game credits, whereas the Rez name was inspired by the Underworld track of the same name.

Gameplay

Rez is a rail shooter in which the player takes control of an onscreen avatar traveling along a predetermined path through the computer network. The player cannot affect his or her movement in any way. The player targets foes by holding a "lock-on" button while moving an aiming reticule over up to 8 enemies. Once the "lock-on" button is released, Swayzak fires shots that home in on each target. Failure to hit an enemy or projectile in time may cause a collision, which reduces Swayzak's current evolution level by one and changes his avatar's form. The game is over if Swayzak is hit while at his lowest possible level. At higher evolution levels, the avatar appears as a humanoid figure, while it appears as a simple sphere at the lowest level.

Some enemies drop power-up items when destroyed. Two different items enhance Swayzak's avatar by increasing his "evolution bar" by one and three points respectively. Another item enables Swayzak to trigger an "Overdrive", which releases a continuous shower of shots at all enemies on the screen for a short period of time. In some game modes, score bonus items also appear periodically.

The game consists of five main areas. The first four are divided into ten sub-sections and conclude with a boss battle. The final area contains a larger number of sections and a boss rush, in which the player must fight variations of the bosses from the first four areas. Swayzak then goes on to the network's core to restart Eden in a final boss battle.

The final area features a variable difficulty scale, depending on the player's performance in the first four areas. According to Sega, this system was employed to make the game more accessible to casual players, while also making it more challenging for experienced players, thus potentially increasing its replay value. In addition, completing all five levels unlocks alternate gameplay modes, color schemes and secret areas.

Unlike most games, Rez contains almost no sound effects or spoken dialogue. Instead, the game is set to trance music, which plays in the background and gradually evolves as Swayzak moves among sections. The music is enhanced by musical effects (such as trills and drums) generated by the player's actions, enemies and surroundings. Player actions are usually locked to the rhythm of the music, such that shots and hits against enemies occur exactly on each beat (as opposed to occurring in real time). Graphical elements such as the polygons that make up Swayzak's avatar, as well as background elements, also "beat" in time with the music. In reference to these coordinated effects, Sega focused its marketing of Rez primarily on the game's qualities of "synesthesia", the association of different senses and stimuli with one another.

History

The game is notable for replacing the typical sound effects found in most rail shooter games with electronic music, with sounds and melodies created by the player as they target and destroy foes in the game, leading to a form of synesthesia, enhanced by an optional Trance Vibrator peripheral made by ASCII. Although Rez was critically acclaimed, it did not get much commercial attention, particularly in the United States where a Dreamcast port failed to surface. Working titles for the game were K-Project, Project Eden, and Vibes, and before it was given a proper name, The Sound Project[11].

Versions

On the Dreamcast, Rez runs at a full 640x480 resolution at 30FPS, while on the PlayStation 2, the game opts for an interlaced mode, doubling its frame rate at the expense of graphical fidelity.

Both versions have been superseded since the rights moved from Sega - the 2008 Xbox 360 release of Rez HD brought the game up to 720p with a 60FPS target, and the 2016 PlayStation 4 release of Rez Infinite brought the visuals to 4K with virtual reality headset support. A 2017 PC conversion of Infinite supports up to 16K resolutions at higher frame rates, among various other graphical options.

Production credits

Dreamcast version



  • Game Tuning Support: Sarugakucho Inc, Ryosuke Oishi, Koji Nojiri, Hiroshi Sato, Toru Hashimoto, Noboru Matsumoto, Rtsushi Miyake, Miyuki Sato
  • Technical Director: Osamu Hori
  • Technical Producer: Ryichi Hattori
  • Special Thanks: All UGA Members And Thier Families, Toru Mita, Takashi Okamura, Kojiu Kaifu, Shigeru Araki, Michio Yokomizo, Ryutaro Sugiyama, Yoshiyuki Okaitsu, Toshihide Ozeki, Takao Esaka
  • Producer's Special Thanks: Masatsuka Saki, Megumi Hosoya, Sei Ishii, Hisakazu Hirabayashi, Mitsuhiro Takemura, The Soul Of Kasumba Buore (1955-2001), Simon Jeffery, Jason Kuo
Sega Of America Inc.

Magazine articles

Main article: Rez/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Dreamcast version

PlayStation 2 version

Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in MAN!AC (DE) #2002-04: "04/2002" (2002-03-06)
Logo-pdf.svg

Physical scans

Dreamcast version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
90 №, p33[12]
Sega Dreamcast
90
Based on
1 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
100% Consoles (FR) PAL
40
[13]
576 Konzol (HU)
90
[14]
Bonus (YU)
93
[15]
Dreamcast Magazine (UK) PAL
82
[16]
Dorimaga (JP) NTSC-J
90
[12]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
77
[17]
PSX Extreme (PL) NTSC-U
87
[18]
Sega Dreamcast
80
Based on
7 reviews

Rez

Dreamcast, EU
Rez dc eu back cover.jpgRez dc eu front cover.jpg
Cover
Rez dc eu disc.jpg
Disc
Dreamcast, JP
Rez dc jp backcover.jpgNospine-small.pngRez dc jp frontcover.jpg
Cover
Rez DC JP Disc.jpg
Disc
Rez DC JP Manual.pdf
Manual

PlayStation 2 version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
88 №120, p108
90 №105, p74/75
73 №2002-01, p108-109[19]
70 №13, p55[20]
Sony PlayStation 2
80
Based on
4 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
100% Consoles (FR) PAL
40
[13]
Consoles + (FR)
88
[21]
Edge (UK)
90
[22]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
78
[23]
GamesMaster (UK) PAL
64
[24]
GMR (US) NTSC-U
80
[25]
Hyper (AU) PAL
80
[26]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
77
[27]
PlayStation 2 Official Magazine - UK (UK) PAL
90
[28]
Playbox (FR)
70
[20]
Play (DE)
73
[19]
Players (DE) PAL
81
[29]
Play (US) NTSC-U
80
[30]
PlayZone (DE) PAL
75
[31]
PSM2 (UK) PAL
66
[32]
Power Unlimited (NL)
85
[33]
Silicon Mag (US) NTSC-U
77
[34]
Xgen (CZ)
90
[35]
Sony PlayStation 2
77
Based on
18 reviews

Rez

PlayStation 2, US
Rez ps2 us cover.jpg
Cover
Rez PS2 US disc.jpg
Disc
PlayStation 2, EU
Rez ps2 eu cover.jpg
Cover
Rez PS2 EU Disc.jpg
Disc
PlayStation 2, JP
Rez PS2 JP Box.jpg
Cover
Rez PS2 Disc.jpg
Disc
PlayStation 2, JP (Trance Vibrator 同梱版/Special Package)
Rez PS2 JP Box Back SpecialPackage.jpgNospine.pngRez PS2 JP Box Front SpecialPackage.jpg
Cover
PlayStation 2, JP (PS2 the Best)
Rez PS2 JP Box PS2TheBest.jpg
Cover
Rez PS2 JP disc best.jpg
Disc
PlayStation 2, UK
Rez PS2 UK Box.jpg
Cover
Rez PS2 EU Disc.jpg
Disc
PlayStation 2, IT
Rez PS2 IT Box.jpg
Cover
Rez PS2 EU Disc.jpg
Disc

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sony PlayStation 2
 ?
CRC32 a8d2e814
MD5 ca4217f3fa0aaf1ce1fa858df4b8c3f2
SHA-1 9cb874374363bfb54c5338c995575e46dd9d6d39
230,785,296 CD-ROM (EU) SCES-50501 (V1.03)
Sony PlayStation 2
CRC32 d9684381
MD5 e12971a834314ea440c8723c6bec7aa3
SHA-1 d2998963c25c6a6b723f9385604f53df3ea017fc
230,773,536 CD-ROM (JP) SLPM-62101 (V1.01)
Sony PlayStation 2
 ?
CRC32 0ba84ce3
MD5 847cabd84fb8230e4578472de356e935
SHA-1 328f0db861b39b7c56b793818032a9dd850edb63
230,773,536 CD-ROM (JP) SLPM-74006 (V1.01)
Sony PlayStation 2
 ?
CRC32 76b51326
MD5 d0f7adbe1245c5d0ec6f68b4d785d845
SHA-1 f6ac65761e9d8c8c9eb9d3377ff53719557ae346
230,785,296 CD-ROM (US) SLUS-20344 (V1.01)

External links

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 http://www.jp.playstation.com/software/title/slpm62101.html (Wayback Machine: 2007-05-14 11:16)
  2. 2.0 2.1 http://sega.jp/ps2/rez/ (Wayback Machine: 2001-12-13 22:57)
  3. 3.0 3.1 http://www.jp.playstation.com/software/title/slpm74006.html (Wayback Machine: 2006-07-02 02:43)
  4. File:Play DE 2001-12.pdf, page 53
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Xbox LIVE Marketplace (en-US; Rez-HD/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802584108b3) (Wayback Machine: 2010-11-13 11:52)
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Xbox LIVE Marketplace (en-GB; Rez-HD/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802584108b3) (Wayback Machine: 2011-11-10 06:45)
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Xbox LIVE Marketplace (fr-FR; Rez-HD/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802584108b3) (Wayback Machine: 2011-08-10 18:28)
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Xbox LIVE Marketplace (ja-JP; Rez-HD/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802584108b3) (Wayback Machine: 2011-06-27 08:16)
  9. 9.0 9.1 Xbox LIVE Marketplace (en-au; Rez-HD/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802584108b3) (Wayback Machine: 2015-02-24 05:14)
  10. 10.0 10.1 Xbox LIVE Marketplace (ko-KR; Rez-HD/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802584108b3) (Wayback Machine: 2016-04-12 06:49)
  11. File:NextGeneration US 81.pdf, page 37
  12. 12.0 12.1 File:Dorimaga JP 20021011 2002-18.pdf, page 33 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Dorimaga JP 20021011 2002-18.pdf_p33" defined multiple times with different content
  13. 13.0 13.1 100% Consoles, "Février 2002" (FR; 200x-xx-xx), page 86
  14. 576 Konzol, "Január 2002" (HU; 2002-xx-xx), page 59
  15. Bonus, "1/2002" (YU; 2002-01-25), page 58
  16. Dreamcast Magazine, "No. 31" (UK; 2002-01-31), page 20
  17. MAN!AC, "01/2002" (DE; 2001-12-05), page 71
  18. PSX Extreme, "02/2002" (PL; 2002-0x-xx), page 41
  19. 19.0 19.1 File:Play DE 2002-01.pdf, page 108 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Play DE 2002-01.pdf_p108" defined multiple times with different content
  20. 20.0 20.1 File:Playbox FR 13.pdf, page 55 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Playbox FR 13.pdf_p55" defined multiple times with different content
  21. Consoles +, "Janvier 2002" (FR; 200x-xx-xx), page 108
  22. Edge, "Christmas 2001" (UK; 2001-11-29), page 74
  23. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "February 2002" (US; 2002-01-08), page 156
  24. GamesMaster, "January 2002" (UK; 2001-12-20), page 91
  25. GMR, "February 2003" (US; 2003-01-07), page 93
  26. Hyper, "February 2002" (AU; 2002-01-02), page 75
  27. MAN!AC, "02/2002" (DE; 2002-01-02), page 62
  28. PlayStation 2 Official Magazine - UK, "January 2002" (UK; 2001-12-29), page 98
  29. Players, "2/2002" (DE; 2002-01-02), page 64
  30. Play, "February 2002" (US; 2002-xx-xx), page 59
  31. PlayZone, "02/2002" (DE; 2002-01-02), page 106
  32. PSM2, "January 2002" (UK; 200x-xx-xx), page 65
  33. Power Unlimited, "Jaargang 10, Nummer 3, Maart 2002" (NL; 2002-0x-xx), page 46
  34. Silicon Mag, "February 2002" (US; 2002-0x-xx), page 24
  35. Xgen, "Únor 2002" (CZ; 2002-0x-xx), page 30


Rez

Rez title.png

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Sega Dreamcast
Prototypes: 2001-06-01 | 07-30

Sony PlayStation 2
Prototypes: 2001-09-30