Do you remember the time you saw your first video game? For us it was at a shopping center and we must have been around 8 or nine. On the way out we passed a brand spanking new Space Invaders machine. After a brief glance we were dragged away but it was too late, even without playing it we were hooked.

Fast forward several years and we are living in Australia’s premium holiday destination. Other than the miles of endless beach, there was not a lot going on… except for the ever expanding ‘arcades’. For a boy in his early teens this was nirvana, beach all day and then hang out playing video games at the arcade, or catch a few games on the walk back from school. Looking at it, this had to have an impact on me and where we ended up (that and a lust for science fiction). For 20 cents you could escape into a whole different place, Moon Patrol, Galaxian, Asteroids, Battle Zone, Galaga and on the list went. The variety was relentless.

We continued to play into my late teens when the games changed; remember the first dollar coin game? At this point they seemingly lost the plot. All of the games seemed more geared towards motion based platforms, impossible levels (that cost lost of money to master) and game play that was pretty damn average. The death of the game cabinet saw the end of the great video game in our mind as substance, no matter how basic was replaced with flash and physical motion.

When the PS2 hit the market, something was going to change. In the mid 90s we guessed that home based systems would take over but it was not until the release of the PS2 that that the future was finally here.

We all have numerous games, some not a lot but some key ones. The fave games that immerse, drag us in and transport us to somewhere else, much like the old days of the arcade games. The shoot ‘em up games like Doom don’t really do it (though we am trying to run Half-life 2 on the (now defunct) PC - when gets it back from a major meltdown loading the game! It’s supposed to rock). Car based games leave us cold, the controls for them just bite and take away from the whole thing and adventure games seem to have lost their grip.

Enter Rez.

Created by a Japanese Sega team back in 2001 Rez is a bit of a black collectors piece; maybe even a classic - certainly in Australia it’s hard to come by. Yes it is a very basic shoot ‘em up in it’s most fundamental essence, there is nothing more challenging than trying to get to the next level, but what Tetsuya Mizuguchi did in creating his game is to design something that pulls you in by the eyes, ears and hands. It is easily the most mystifying and beautiful game we have seen and played in a long time.

The Kandinsky inspired game uses seemingly basic but ultimately very rich and complex graphics, mixed in with a strong dance/trance inspired beat to pull you into the game. Turn off the lights and you really become entranced with the dancing images and thumping baselines. What makes the game all the more interesting is that as you shoot and blow things up you interact with the game, not only on a visual level but also on an audio one. Each shot and resulting explosion alters the base beat - you interact with every aspect of Rez.

The overall look of the game reminds one of the late 70’s film Tron - faceted, blocky forms melded with whispy wireframes (which is somewhat funny as in the game you are a character that is hacking into a CPU). It has been referred to as being reminiscent of the cyberpunk world dreamt up by William Gibson in his cult book Neuromancer. With the whole environment set on a black background, like most of the early arcade games, Rez has the ability to drown out what’s around it and suck you in as you focus on the screen and the dancing objects within it, not get lost in some overly complex backdrop. Close the blinds, switch off the lights and crank the sound and you literally end up in a very different head space. Add alcoholic beverage of your choice and it gets even better!

But there is more! As you advance through each level the beat intensifies and so does the throb coming from the DualShock controller. We now have all three senses working, sight, sound and touch. It’s mad. In Japan the game came packaged with a thing called a ‘Trance Vibrator’. We’ll be damned but the only real use for this gadget seems to have been discovered here (though not pornographic, the content has adult themes and ‘risqué’ images): www.gamegirladvance.com Damn! It seems just to forthright to be unintentional!!!

That Mizuguchi said he came up with the idea whilst being dazzled by light and sound at a night club is not at all surprising. Unfortunately though, it seems that Rez has fallen by the wayside, pushed aside by games that offer glossy, cheap and instant thrills that for the most part leave you feeling drained at the end of them. Like most things with a higher than normal level of sophistication, Rez was too complex in thought and concept for many out there, preventing it from becoming a big seller.

If you never have, try and check this game out. You might not click with it right away but when you do, and you will, it will all make sense.