Rez: HD

Platform: Xbox 360 Live Arcade
Verdict: Welcome home Eden
Rating: 5/5
Ever wondered what it would be like to fly and fight through a super computer's network to the hypnotic pulse of syncopated techno while gorging on beat-matched visuals too pure for human eyes? No? Well, welcome to Rez: HD, where hacking can achieve heights of Zen and an AI doubts reality.
For those with a Tron fetish, Rez is a synesthetic wet-dream, inspired by Wassily Kandinsky and cooked up from the crystallised post-club sweat of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, famed creator of other music embracing games like Space Channel 5, Lumines and Every Extend Extra.
Originally experienced on the under appreciated Dreamcast, Rez was one of those games of legend that lit up the DC's line-up alongside more traditional titles. Also ported to the PS2, Rez has finally found a home worthy of its audio/visual prowess on the Hi-Def and surround sound capable, Xbox 360 via the Live Arcade.
Applying crisp, retro-style vector graphics to the traditional on-rails shooter template, Rez sees you hurtling through abstracted virtual landscapes, attempting to breach firewalls and eradicate viruses to get to Eden, an AI that needs rebooting before its soul searching has catastrophic consequences.
Synced to pulsating music (written by masters such as Ken Ishi, Cold Cut and Oval) every shot fired in Rez triggers a timely snare or bleep and each progression in the level kicks out a harder, faster beat.
With a lock on system that removes the traditional need for button bashing, Rez's sublime fusion of audio/visuals and gameplay allows for zoned out, meditative gaming, despite the fact that a giant humanoid made of squares may be chasing you. The inclusion of a chill-out mode that removes the need for shooting is further proof of its wide eyed intention.
For many, Rez's gameplay may be a little too old-school – point and shoot ideals from yesteryear, but they'd be missing the point if they disapproved. Rez is an experiment in fusing stimuli into one indistinct whole and in that it succeeds in spades, even if the trance isn't to your taste.
Finally seeing it in Hi-definition is a dream come true, and for a paltry 800ms points (£6.80!), it can turn your home into a kaleidoscopic collision of colours and sound. Trance vibrator support may even peak your girlfriend's interest too.

n+

Platform: Xbox 360 Live Arcade
Verdict: A touch of zen
Rating: 4/5
Ninjas, they get a tough deal in life. When most action heroes just wade through bad guys with an arsenal of guns, ninjas have to traverse complex, insurpassable terrain utilising inhuman feats of acrobatic derring-do. When they finally get to fight it's often lonesome ninja with sword vs giant robotic squirrel with lasers for eyes and a heart of doom. If I was a ninja i'd go on strike.
n+ features one such super assassin, tasked with merely surviving a series of over 300 rooms where death lies waiting like a snickering kid. Each room has an exit and a switch to open it, getting to them alive is your goal. In your way lies a multitude of robots, mines and death defying leaps, and you don't have a sword.
Fusing old school 2D platforming with modern rag doll physics and momentum based gameplay, n+ is a wonderful minimalist game that orders you to master the art of jumping and seat-of-the-pants acrobatics, or pay with your comedic ragdoll death.
Using momentum, n+ allows your ninja to pull off spectacular jumps with careful timing. With wall jumping, improvised platforming and a touch of panicked luck, n+ at your best is a graceful ballet between homing rockets, death lasers and a twisting ninja. At your worst it's an exercise in frustration that thanks to polished programming, is always your fault.
Littering each room is a series of yellow dots that increase your time limit (disguised as an ever decreasing health bar). It's not imperative to collect them all before finding the exit but the collect-em-up nature of score chasing can often turn the simplest level into the most difficult - a choose your own difficulty level if you will.
Oddly addictive yet simplistic, n+ is a polished experience with expansive features like online multiplayer, a map editor, the all important leader board and saved replays (for when you pull off that seamless, super human run).
Initially debuting on the PC and darling of the indie scen, n+ proves how worthwhile Xbox Live Arcade is by bringing such gems to the masses. A ninja achievement indeed.

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

Platform: Xbox 360. 800 MS points.
Verdict: Fight with your brain, not your fists.
Rating: 4½/5
Capcom have really outdone themselves this time – obviously pitching to get into the Guiness book of records for silliest video game title, this latest Puzzle Fighter iteration takes things to the extreme. Thankfully it’s a tongue in cheek, self-mocking nod to the 90’s and the million versions spawned of Street Fighter II.
While not strictly a new game, SPFIITHDR (to abbreviate) is a greatest hits, combining the latest arcade version with the last Dreamcast release, tarting it up with crisp HD visuals, redrawn character animations (by Udon Comics) and online play. Gameplay remains the same as it always has with varying modes offering different twists on the core mechanics.
For those not familiar with the addictive puzzler, on surface it’s an unlikely coupling of Columns and Street Fighter II but delve a little deeper and you’ll find a perfect mix of puzzling and competitive action. Based around the traditional concept of matching colours, randomly generated gems fall from the top of the screen allowing you to rotate them and decide where they land. Matching groups of colours together shatters them, preventing your screen from filling up towards crystal death.
Designed as a 2 player game (either against AI or a human opponent), Puzzle Fighter’s emphasis on competitive gameplay creates new twists on the genre. Shattering groups of gems sends Counter gems onto the opponents screen and the larger the group, the more gems get sent (complemented by animated attacks from your character). Counter gems don’t become smashable for five turns so they cause a whole lot of grief to whoever is on the receiving end of them.
Obviously building large groups of gems can be risky as they fill your screen, so perfect timing, quick thinking and a daredevil nature is essential to reap the rewards of the satisfying risk/reward gameplay and submit your opponent to another Shinkuu Hadouken laced defeat.
For the princely sum of £6.80 you can’t go wrong, unless you prefer games with punchier titles of course.