Videogames related, of course!
First off is a great interview with the legendary Yuzo Koshiro. Koshiro managed to make 16 bit machines sing. His titles include the Streets of Rage series on the Sega Megadrive and also the Actraiser games on the SNES. He’s still a busy guy today but clearly keeps a lower profile.
Secondly I’d like to point you to another video located on video.google.com. The game is Rez, the video is of the final stage being played to perfection. You can see it here. I think Rez is a stunning piece of work and more of an experience than just a game. Admittedly, the gaming side of things is fairly simple but the overal sensory package of incredibly realised visuals, thumping sonics and a vibrating controller working overtime to such a degree that it makes your hands ache is simply unrivalled. This game was way ahead of it’s time and is well worth picking up if you can find it. I’ve lots to say on Rez – none of which is going to change your mind if you don’t like it of course. But, hey, that’s your loss.
I heard of Rez but thats the first time i have seen it in motion. It looks like a corker actually, although i’d recommend anyone watching that to at least see 5 mins of it before judging it.
I will confess to not knowing too much of whats going. I saw the character targetting the enemies Panzer Dragoon Orta stylee, but wasn’t too sure if the idea was to destroy them or make shapes out of them by linking them.
It had a lovely pace to it though and the bass coming out of the speakers was sublime.
This game is very appealing in prob the same way that my most played games on the 360 are Smash TV, Robotron and especially Geometry Wars2.
Hope its a game reason though, rather than the fact i’m an old bugger.
The gameplay in Rez is definitely in the same vein as the Panzer Dragoon games. There’s more of an accent on audio in Rez, however, as your targetting and shooting yield rhythmic tones over the main soundtrack. It can sometimes seem a little random but I felt it certainly adds to the sense of connection in this game’s style of play and presentation.
Hey Koff,
Reading this reminded me, I thought you might want to check this out:
http://www.sirlin.net/Features/feature_difficulty.htm
It’s written by David Sirlin, former Street Fighter champ turned games developer. It’s got some nice comments about the difficulty of God Of War, Resident Evil 4 and Rez in there and gives Devil May Cry 3 and Ninja Gaiden a bit of a kicking.
It does quite a nice job of summing up the appeal of Rez – “If you are a fiend for Rez, there is plenty of challenge if you’re looking for it, and very little challenge if you aren’t.”
Can you edit comments on this? Bah.
I just wanted to say on the above link, click through to the ‘Discuss in forum’ link at the bottom and there’s a few inside comments from one of the God Of War developers in there.
Again, interesting reading, if that’s your cup of tea.
What consoles/computers do you still own Koff? Have you let many go?
I have a PS2, Gamecube and Xbox. I’ve also got a GBA. I’ve owned plenty of other systems in the past – my biggest regrets are letting my Neo Geo CD and Turbo Due (PC Engine CD) go. Dracula X on PCE is just an awesome achievement. I have access to all my old systems via the wonder of emulation on my Half-Life 2 killing PC.
I’ll be blagging a DS sooner or later – if I play my cards right I’ll be getting one for free!
I tend not to worry about next gen. I’m not fussed about launch purchases and would rather wait a year or so for prices to settle and greater choice of games to appear (I didn’t get a PS2 until after Devil May Cry came out on it). I’m certainly not in short supply of games – I have far more than I have time to play.
I’d not encountered that Sirlin site before. I found that article a really good read (perhaps because I agreed with it). Thanks for the tip off – it’s now added to my bookmarks. 🙂