Despite being a 14-year-old game retrofitted to work on the PlayStation VR, Rez Infinite feels like it was meant to be in virtual reality all along. Its pulsing geometric landscapes and buzzing electronic beats already felt as if they were somehow all around me, and now that they literally are, Rez has transformed into the absorptive experience it always aspired to be.
Whether you’re playing in VR or the old fashioned way, Rez’s hypnotic brand of rhythm-based rail shooting is visually striking, and surprisingly deep despite its relatively simple gameplay. Playing simply to survive requires you to learn enemy weak points to take them down quickly, and above all else, properly prioritizing targets to prevent problems before they happen.Interestingly, things flip around when you play for score. Rather than taking things out as soon as they come into view, you need to find opportunities to wait as long as possible so you can down enemies simultaneously in large groups. Played this way, Rez reveals a subtle science to how the seemingly straightforward enemy formations are laid out. Boss fights are the ultimate expression of this idea, inviting you to methodically dismantle them piece by piece, milking the clock as long as you can to build as many combos as possible before finishing them off.The head tracking is as far beyond a gamepad as a mouse and keyboard is.
In VR, using head tracking to aim is amazingly intuitive, to the point that it trumps the conventional controls in terms of speed and precision. The default VR setting abstracts things a bit for people who aren’t used to rapid movements in VR, but switch it to dynamic mode and the head tracking is as far beyond a gamepad as a mouse and keyboard is.“
Area X is the only all-new piece of content in Rez Infinite, as all the rest of the modes and unlocks were part of the HD re-release eight years ago. It’s a very different kind of experience, with the ability to fly freely throughout a 3D space. While beautiful on its own, VR elevates this experience dramatically, creating the sensation of flying through a vibrant fireworks display. With a nice pair of headphones on, the sumptuous soundtrack combines with the continuous onslaught of iridescent spectacle to entrance me, even after multiple playthroughs.