Special Mention: Rez – PS2 and Ikaruga - GCN

Both of these games deserve a spot on the list, as I’ll soon discuss, but I had difficulty justifying their position on a list of the best games of the previous generation. While released in the US only for the PS2 and Gamecube, both Rez and Ikaruga were released in Japan for the Dreamcast, only later being ported to then-current gen systems. This brings up a whole other debate about what generation the Dreamcast belonged to; personally, I feel it kind of sits in its own little universe, not fitting with the PSX/N64 era or the PS2/XBOX/GCN era. Faced with such a conundrum, I decided to cheat, noting both as important releases from the last generation, while denying them official positions on the list.

Rez

Rez is maybe the only game I can think of where getting through the game, completing the game or getting a high score or some other definitive objective, is almost completely irrelevant. Rez is about the immediate sensation of playing Rez, achieving “synaesthesia”, providing a physical and emotional reaction to the experience beyond that of simple entertainment.

As a game itself, there actually isn’t much to write about. A rail shooter, in the vein of something like Panzer Dragoon, your objective is to shoot down enemy flyers, pick up power-ups, and defeat end-level bosses. The entire game can be played, start to finish, in about an hour. Unlike other modern shooters, the game is rather easy, and noticeably absent is that feeling of wanting to play again to “do better.”

But Rez is a game that demands replays, if only because there isn’t anything else like it, video game or otherwise. The intensity of the game experience, the way the music, the visuals, even the pulsing of the controller work together to create a heightened sense of awareness and focus that is almost scary in its foreignness. The music, the enemies, even the look of the level itself respond to the actions of the player, making every playthrough something unique.

If that review sounded trippy, then I have accurately reflected the experience of playing Rez.

Ikaruga

Ikaruga is a vertical, “hummingbird” shooter, and for my money, the best game in its class. No shooter, at least those familiar to western audiences, offers a more visceral and intense experience. In contrast to Rez, it seeks not to carve out a new experience, but take a very old genre, pull it out by the roots, and perfect it.

The philosophy behind Ikaruga is to present players with a ridiculously impossible challenge, then follow it up with a challenge that makes the previous one look like a walk in the park. During one’s initial playthrough of the game, it is not uncommon to audibly laugh in disbelief at the number of enemies on the screen. It is this aspect of the game that makes it so rewarding. This is for the hardest of core, those who thrive on repeatedly playing through the same levels of a game, learning and taking advantage of the smallest nuances, just to rise up into an elite class of individuals worthy enough to say “Yes, I have beaten Ikaruga (and it only took me 7 continues).”

Few games in recent memory capture the spirit of old arcade games. Gameplay in Ikaruga hinges on a simple mechanic – color. All enemies in the game are white or black, firing white or black bullets, respectively. You control a ship that, with the push of a button, changes from white to black and vice versa. While white, you are impervious to white bullets, die from a single black bullet, and deal far greater damage to black enemies. The reverse is true when you are black. A simple idea that, when put into practice, offers play that is remarkably complex and punishes imprecision with failure.


Both of these are gamer’s games – you can’t sit down with a big Smash Bros/Halo crowd and make an evening out of Rez. These are intense, personal experiences that are unlike anything else out there. They’re the type of games that should be appreciated even more in a growing market of sequels and clones.