This HD remake of the PS2/DC classic Rez breathes some new life into a very old gem, however the update only harms its own image due to simple design mistakes and the enhancements that only highlight those mistakes further.
The PS2 controller made targeting slow and the game was intentionally timed to the slow pace at which you could target enemies. This meant the sound fx and visuals tied to targeting and shooting were all in sync with the music - that's at the core of the Rez experience. However the massively improved VR controls make targeting and shooting VERY fast. As a result all the sound effects and visuals play at once in a cacophony, the enemies die, and then you have a long 4 - 8 beat stretch of nothing as the backing track plods along, waiting for new enemies to spawn.
What makes this worse is that the graphic updates end up being largely absent. Enemies filled the middle ground of the scene, captured your attention, and were the source of many particles, effects, the music, and animation - but since they all die quickly you're often left staring at the sky box with nothing happening. Then looking around in VR during these wait periods you can see how empty and simple the levels are because the HD parts are in the effects not the environments.
This all becomes especially noticeable in Area 5 when you demolish a mini boss and you're left sitting for 2-3 minutes floating through a desolate low-poly void with half the song missing. It feels like the game is broken. They should either have put a limit on the speed at which you can lock-on to enemies (matching to the BPM of the track), added more enemies to match the faster pace of this version, or filled the spaces with stuff to interact with so you can trigger the SFX/VFX where the music and visual upgrades are hiding.
No new player is going to know that the game is -meant- to be synced to the music and even if they try it is entirely out of sync with itself. This aspect demolishes the intended audio/visual experience which is the point of the entire game. It's very sad to consider how stunning Child of Eden was when it took advantage of the expanded memory, gpu, and peripherals it had available, and it goes to show how much potential has been squandered here. This would have been obvious if it had been properly play tested.
To add salt to the wound, Area X (the new VR part of the game made for Infinite) failed to work on my Quest 2. I couldn't target anything so I just couldn't play that at all (I hear it's basically just 1 extra 15 min level anyway). Truly disappointing in every way.
The PS2 controller made targeting slow and the game was intentionally timed to the slow pace at which you could target enemies. This meant the sound fx and visuals tied to targeting and shooting were all in sync with the music - that's at the core of the Rez experience. However the massively improved VR controls make targeting and shooting VERY fast. As a result all the sound effects and visuals play at once in a cacophony, the enemies die, and then you have a long 4 - 8 beat stretch of nothing as the backing track plods along, waiting for new enemies to spawn.
What makes this worse is that the graphic updates end up being largely absent. Enemies filled the middle ground of the scene, captured your attention, and were the source of many particles, effects, the music, and animation - but since they all die quickly you're often left staring at the sky box with nothing happening. Then looking around in VR during these wait periods you can see how empty and simple the levels are because the HD parts are in the effects not the environments.
This all becomes especially noticeable in Area 5 when you demolish a mini boss and you're left sitting for 2-3 minutes floating through a desolate low-poly void with half the song missing. It feels like the game is broken. They should either have put a limit on the speed at which you can lock-on to enemies (matching to the BPM of the track), added more enemies to match the faster pace of this version, or filled the spaces with stuff to interact with so you can trigger the SFX/VFX where the music and visual upgrades are hiding.
No new player is going to know that the game is -meant- to be synced to the music and even if they try it is entirely out of sync with itself. This aspect demolishes the intended audio/visual experience which is the point of the entire game. It's very sad to consider how stunning Child of Eden was when it took advantage of the expanded memory, gpu, and peripherals it had available, and it goes to show how much potential has been squandered here. This would have been obvious if it had been properly play tested.
To add salt to the wound, Area X (the new VR part of the game made for Infinite) failed to work on my Quest 2. I couldn't target anything so I just couldn't play that at all (I hear it's basically just 1 extra 15 min level anyway). Truly disappointing in every way.