Rez HD

Rez HD is a video game released for the Xbox 360 (arcade). An earlier version simply titled "Rez" was released in the U.S. in 2002, while Rez HD was released for the 360 arcade in 2008. I got this for the 360 arcade. The gameplay isn't exactly spectacular, but there is a mode where you can play it without any chance of losing --light-show, anyone?

Here is the wikipedia text:

Rez is a rail shooter in which the player takes control of an onscreen avatar traveling along a predetermined path through the computer network. The player cannot affect his or her movement in any way (except rotating). The player targets foes by holding a "lock-on" button while moving an aiming reticule over up to 8 enemies. Once the "lock-on" button is released, the avatar fires shots that home in on each target. Failure to hit an enemy or projectile in time may cause a collision, which reduces the player's current evolution level by one and changes the avatar's form. The game is over if the avatar is hit while at its lowest possible level. At higher evolution levels, the avatar appears as a humanoid figure, while it appears as a simple sphere at the lowest level.

Some enemies drop power-up items when destroyed. Two different items enhance the player's avatar by increasing his/her "evolution bar" by one and three points respectively. Another item enables the player to trigger an "Overdrive", which releases a continuous shower of shots at all enemies on the screen for a short period of time. In some game modes, score bonus items also appear periodically.

The game consists of five main areas. The first four are divided into ten sub-sections and conclude with a boss battle. The final area contains a larger number of sections and a boss rush, in which the player must fight variations of the bosses from the first four areas. The player then goes on to the network's core to restart Eden in a final boss battle.

The boss for each area features a variable difficulty scale, depending on the player's performance leading up to that point. According to Sega, this system was employed to make the game more accessible to casual players, while also making it more challenging for experienced players, thus potentially increasing its replay value.^[7] In addition, completing all five levels unlocks alternate gameplay modes, color schemes and secret areas.

Unlike most games, Rez contains almost no sound effects or spoken dialogue. Instead, the game is set to trance music, which plays in the background and gradually evolves as the player moves among sections. The music is enhanced by musical effects (such as trills and drums) generated by the player's actions, enemies and surroundings. Player actions are usually locked to the rhythm of the music, such that shots and hits against enemies occur exactly on each beat (as opposed to occurring in real time). Graphical elements such as the polygons that make up the player's avatar, as well as background elements, also "beat" in time with the music. In reference to these coordinated effects, Sega focused its marketing of Rez primarily on the game's qualities of "synesthesia", the association of different senses and stimuli with one another.