Y2K Game: Rez

The Most Y2K Game Ever

This may very well be the most Y2K game I've ever played. Everything about it could onlyhave come from that era. I'm talking about the visuals, the sounds, the music, the art, the style, the hacking, the cyberspace, and even the genre itself. I've been playing the Dreamcast a lot lately in my quest to play as many Y2K era games as possible. In many ways, the Dreamcast is the console to best represents this brief window in time. Naturally, its library is chock full of games that radiate Y2K energy. We've got Sonic Adventure, Metropolis Street Racer, Space Channel 5, Dead or Alive 2, Slave Zero, and, my absolute favorite, Jet Set Radio. Now we have a new contender. Rez may very well even surpass Jet Set Radio as the most Y2K game ever made. Rez isn't merely a game released during the Y2K era. It feels like the cultural imagination at the turn of the millennium, when many believed technology was ushering in an exciting new age. It helps that the game is super fun and even addicting to play.

Rail-Shooters

Rez is a fun rail-shooter, which is a genre that was born in the 80s, achieved peak popularity in the 90s, maintained mainstream recogniztion in the early 2000s, and then settled into niche soon after. Early arcade hits such as After Burner and Space Harrier established the formula. Interest in the genre rose to new heights on home consoles in the 90s with Starfox and Panzer Dragoon. The genre continued to thrive in the arcades with House of the Dead, Time Crisis, and Area 51. Then, by the early 2000s, we see a few beautiful games such as Panzer Dragoon Orta and Rez that essentially bookended the era of rail-shooters before fading from the mainstream. So, rail-shooters essentially peaked during the Y2K era.

Y2K Futurism Aesthetic

Not only did Rez’s genre peak during the Y2K era, but the visuals and the concepts guiding them could only have been envisioned during that time. Wireframe-style objects occupy the background while strange, mechanical yet digitized creatures attack. You yourself first appear as a wireframe avatar that can level up and evolve into a techno-minimalist entity, a cyber-chrome figure, then a digital meditator inside a disco sphere, and finally a human-data construct ascending through the network. The player character, the enemies, and the environments all tap into art styles that were popular at the time: metalheart, chromecore, and vectorheart. Not only do these Y2K futurism aesthetics perfectly fit the mood and themes of the game, I think they’re spectacular and take me directly back to my youth.

Near Future Story

The visual art design is guided by the simple story that, again, is totally representative of the era. You are a hacker entering a computer network called "Project-K". Project-K is a centralized global network designed to maintain order in a world once gripped by chaos in the streets. At the heart of the system is a central artificial intelligence called Eden. She has become not only sentient, but emotionally aware. After observing the fragmented world around her, she is overwhelmed in her fragile state and shuts down, putting the network and world at risk. You must fight your way to the center of Project-K, reawaken Eden and restore order. You must defeat the system's defenses which include digital viruses and corrupted programs represented by elaborate, multi-tier boss monsters.

A Story of the Millenium

It's a minimalist premise that manages to convey so many ideas with very few words and no cutscenes at all. Just reading this simple plot brought to mind so many films of that era. Eden's meltdown is similar to Leeloo's in the Fifth Element. Artificial intelligences becoming sentient and even emotional also appear in I, Robot and Ghost in the Shell. Mysterious virtual worlds are abundant in eXistenZ and The Thirteenth Floor. Networks and computer hacking are central to The Matrix and Swordfish. These are all films released in the late 90's and early 2000's. Even the backdrop of chaos spilling in the streets due to technology is directly tethered to the Y2K bug problem. We're not even done yet and we're already glowing with Y2K energy radiation. It's nuts.

Sounds of the Time

The final element that is equally as crucial to Rez as everything else is the music. I'm not exactly an electronic music expert, although I do love synthwave. I do remember when electronic artists like Moby, The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, and Aphex Twin were making waves on the radio, in music videos, and in movies, especially Mortal Kombat, Blade, and 8mm. In addition to electronica making a splash in the mainstream, rave culture was also gaining a strong following. I was way too young to participate in it at the time, but you can see its influence in movies such as Go and Romeo Must Die, especially in the night club scenes.

The music heard throughout Rez is very much the type of music that could have easily been featured in any one of the aforementioned movies or turned into a music video like the previously listed artists. I'd argue that it did one better: it was transformed into a visually captivating and addictive video game. The game even recommends you put on a good pair of headphones or play it through a solid loud speaker in order to fully experience the audiovisual synthesis the game has to offer. I strongly suggest you follow the game's advice.

Super Enhanced Gameplay

With all this talk about how great the visuals, audio, and story are, and how squarely the game fits into that Y2K-era aesthetic, I’ve yet to go into detail about the gameplay. As mentioned previously, this is a rail shooter. The mechanics are similar to those of Star Fox and Panzer Dragoon. You generally fly in one direction and can only control movement up and down, left and right, while drifting forward. Occasionally, the camera looks to the side or to the rear. Either way, you move the crosshair to target enemies and fire at them. Holding down the fire button enables target locking. You can lock on to up to eight targets, including the same target multiple times. It’s utterly simplistic, which is precisely why I went into such great detail about the visuals, the audio, the story, and the overall aesthetic. The gameplay loop is enhanced tremendously by all of these elements working together. Of particular note is how the visuals and music become more intense as you progress through each stage. Once you reach the boss, the experience builds to a state of euphoria that is then released by defeating the boss and completing the mission.

Final Thoughts

Rez is a feast for the eyes and ears. In the true spirit of the arcades, it contains gameplay that challenges you and invites perform even better. The only conceivable flaw is its short length. There's only five real levels. For a game like this, it's perfectly fine. It actually respects your time and is thoroughly engaging from the very first moments and is very difficult to put down. And you could always play it again, repeatedly until you have mastered it.

Epilogue

I am once again smiling and shaking my head at the Sega Dreamcast. It's the gift that keeps on giving. I only discovered this game because I am constantly searching for gems on that console. Once I discovered Rez, I just had to play it. I was lucky enough to encounter one in the wild at a gaming convention. It's definitely a part of my collection that I treasure. I also happen to possess "Qubed" for the Xbox 360, which is a compilation of games that includes Rez. Finally, there's Rez Infinite for the PC. I'm a Dreamcast fanboy, so I definitely enjoyed it on that console. Playing Rez Infinite does offer extra game modes and levels. I recommend just getting the PC version. I coughed up too much money for the Dreamcast copy. Although, Qubed and the PS2 version are also more affordable.

Despite playing it only recently, I get nostalgic every time I discuss and play it. It recalls that specific window of time at the turn of the millenium and its associated films, games, and music. It was a time when the previously mentioned games, music artists, and movies ruled. I can't recommend this game enough.