I realize the title above is not entirely true, seeing that Rez HD started on the Dreamcast and migrated to the PS2 before making the virtual jump to XBLA. Unfortunately, I've never had the pleasure to experience this game in its previous iterations until now.
The game plays like your typical on-rails shooter, where you're on a fixed path taking out enemies as they fly past. You play a small program in a human-like shape, trying to infiltrate the main system. You have the simple abilities to lock on to targets to take down multiple enemies at once, and you can deploy bombs for a quick area kill.
What makes the game a greater thrill for me especially is the game's presentation. Similar to watching commands on a command prompt screen like linux or dos, your actions are listed like executed programs to the upper left corner of the screen, detailing all actions done. If you lock onto enemies, it says so. It also details when you fire, when you bomb, and when you take damage.
Leveling up your character is not only a nice visual upgrade, but it also increases the number of hits you take and the number of lock-ons you can perform. But the task to do so requires you to collect 8 health icons just to progress to the next level, yet it takes only one hit from an enemy to bump you down a notch.
The challenge factor of the game is a little unbalanced, with conditions fluctuating from fairly simple to extremely difficult, but the game's short enough for you to keep trying again and again. Plus, the programmer in me geeks over the "lines of code" that appear in the upper left.
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