PLANETDAMAGE

Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s REZ is usually regarded as one of the key points of cyberpunk gamemaking with its fusion of vivid colors, wireframe graphics, use of synaesthesia (or so they say) and the rhythm-based gameplay - not to forget the use of a nineties’ techno soundtrack (by Adam Freeland, Tsuyoshi Suzuki’s very own Joujouka, Ken Ishii and Coldcut, among others).Lost Levels (and also Kotaku and Siliconera) dug up a classic version of REZ on its original Dreamcast platform where it was called K-Project and youtubed it. Different VMU animations, different sound effects, different boss behaviour patterns and also - different music! Stage One (Earth) features Underworld’s Cow Girl and Born Slippy.

Now pretty much defunct DailyRadar had these videos on the alpha versions of K-Project (did you know that previously it was also running on names like Project Eden and Vibes?). If you have never been into the game business or unaware of how games look, feel and play like when they’ve just been pulled out from the developer’s assholes, you might want to take a peek. (Segment 1 above, segment 2 and segment 3 are located here.)

Synaesthete, the brainchild of four DigiPen students has often brought on par with Rez recently and that’s no small wonder - this new PC indie game is also a quasi-philosophical and hallucinogenic quest for existence in an abstract environment, synchronized to techno music. You control a creature named a Zaikman, controlling him with your left hand’s WASD while following portions of the soundtrack’s grooves (low, mid and high beats, they call it) with your right hand’s JKL. Your only weapon is your accuracy and reflexes, as the Zaikman automatically shoots when you try to hit a beat, the efficiency depends on how accurately did you follow the beat, it’s that easy. Tigsource writes more about the game, check that out.
(I’d opt for slicker graphics, more little details (like the trees that change their shapes to the beat) that would completely transform the game into a classic X-MIX techno movie and music from licensed artists. )

Watch this space for more Rez-related games in the near future.