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E3 2016: Rez Infinite (Hands-on)

by: Matt -
More On: PlayStation VR E3 2016 Rez Infinite

I'm one of those gamers that has been a Rez fan since its birth on the Dreamcast. To date I hold every version in my collection, and will more than likely be adding Rez Infinite to my collection later this year, especially after playing the demo during E3. I'm not 100% sold on the VR aspect of the game after a short, but I am always more than excited to get my hands on more Rez.

The demo took me through the first few stages of the first song of Rez, Buggie Running Beeps, and finished off with the boss from Rock is Sponge. Nothing has been changed from the content of those stages, and the controls remained the same, though using the PS VR, it was easier to lock on to some enemies, and to use the right analog stick to fine tune my aiming.

The visuals are what really sells Rez Infinite in a VR setting. This game has always been about infiltrating a computer system to save Eden, a computer system that humanity needs for its survival. This means there's plenty of abstract visuals as you fly through what looks like a mash-up of Tron, and every bad cyberspace sequence from popular cinema. There's plenty of parallax scrolling, and having the ability to look in a 360 degree view with the PS VR really helps sell the setting. Though I must say that the forced camera transitions without actually moving your own perspective makes things a little awkward, and was a little difficult to get used to, especially when the camera tilts behind your avatar.

The boss fight of the demo was a dizzying dive through twisting and turning caverns, but the fight is actually more manageable in VR, since you can turn yourself much more quickly than simply using the right stick to turn your point of view when he tries to dive bomb you. The demo was an all too short taste of what will hopefully be a much bigger experience, and since we don't have much insight as to what the new area of the game will be, I'm all the more excited to give this game a go when it launches later this year.