Child of Eden Catch-All

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Tetsuya Mizuguchi's spiritual successor to Rez is finally here!

For anyone who hasn't played Rez, it's sort of a shooter rhythm game that gives your brain an orgasm. Both games can be considered experiments in synesthesia with their combination of color, music, vibration and sound. And it looks like Child of Eden may be the first illmatic Kinect game.

It is also one of the most remarkable video games I've ever played. Not only does it represent the most complete realization of what the Kinect has to offer, it possesses the (perhaps childish) distinction of being, for lack of a better term, a "crying game." It will almost certainly conjure tears from its hardest players -- not because it is particularly sad or melancholic, but because it is stirring.

- Griffin McElroy, Joystiq
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/14/child-of-eden-review/

As you surf through Earth's collated memories, including images contributed to Mizuguchi by fans, there's a sense of poignancy that much of our communication these days is virtual, the yearning for that physical connection oddly exemplified by the Kinect controls. It's a rare game that can make you think quite so deeply about the human condition and it speaks volumes for how affecting this genuinely transcendental game can be if you surrender to its otherworldly brilliance.

- Chris Schilling, http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/14/child-of-eden-game-review

Man, I just picked this up at lunch and can't wait to go home and play it!

Mine is being delivered from Amazon tonight. I am pumped for it. The reviews are pretty glowing.

Gonna be picking mine up on the way home (or at lunch) Been waiting for this since it was first shown last year.

Looks like you can reverse the cover:

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Pre-ordered this a while ago and it shipped yesterday so I'm hoping it's waiting for me at home. There's no way I'm buying a Kinect for it but I'm sure it's going to be amazing either way.

Waiting on you guys to say how it controls with a pad!

Also this reminds me how I still have never made it past the third boss in Rez.

Gravey wrote:

Waiting on you guys to say how it controls with a pad!

Also this reminds me how I still have never made it past the third boss in Rez.

:O Rez Stage 5 is incredible man, get on that! And I'll be playing this with a pad as I don't have a Kinect and the vibration was a pretty big deal in Rez. I mean, remember that addon they released?

Funny enough, despite loving Rez to death, I found it pretty easy. I beat the whole game on my second time through it back on the PS2. And I have at best, average game playing skills. Maybe I was just lucky. Even if this is similarly easy, I'm sure I'll play it many times over as I did with Rez.

Wow, I just checked TrueAchievements and about 80% of them are secret in this game. That'll be interesting.

I only ever played the demo of Rez back when I had a 360. With one extra controller. Was very cool, this looks great.

I didn't even realize this was a DVD release. For some reason I thought it was announced as a downloadable title. Did it change along the way or have I just been wrong the whole time?

Jasonofindy wrote:

I didn't even realize this was a DVD release. For some reason I thought it was announced as a downloadable title. Did it change along the way or have I just been wrong the whole time?

I had just assumed that too. We must have read it somewhere?

I'm trying to decide if I should play this now or wait until I can play it with Kinect. Looking forward to hearing impressions with both methods.

Gravey wrote:
Jasonofindy wrote:

I didn't even realize this was a DVD release. For some reason I thought it was announced as a downloadable title. Did it change along the way or have I just been wrong the whole time?

I had just assumed that too. We must have read it somewhere?

Perhaps you guys were just making reasonable assumptions? I've only ever seen it marketed as a full retail release.

Dyni wrote:

Perhaps you guys were just making reasonable assumptions? I've only ever seen it marketed as a full retail release.

I've never seen any marketing for it at all. The only times I even remember hearing about it were on podcasts, but in each case-E3 2010 (announced), TGS 2010 (impressions-kinect doesn't work), and PAX 2011 (new impressions-Kinect now works fine)- it was always talked about with a bunch of other games. My guess is that I just made a faulty assumption.

tag for kinect-less impressions.

Just played the first stage with Kinect and yeah: it's Rez 2. Which is completely fine by me (more than fine, actually), since Rez is in my top 5 games of all time. It controls very well with the Kinect, but of course learning the enemy patterns and stages will take some getting used to. Still, more Rez is awesome.

I've been looking for a copy of Rez for ages, it's tough to find here in Oz apparently. I might have to grab this for the 360 since we got a kinected 360 free with our telly.

Redwing wrote:

I've been looking for a copy of Rez for ages, it's tough to find here in Oz apparently. I might have to grab this for the 360 since we got a kinected 360 free with our telly.

Assume you know Rez HD is available on XBLA?

MannishBoy wrote:
Redwing wrote:

I've been looking for a copy of Rez for ages, it's tough to find here in Oz apparently. I might have to grab this for the 360 since we got a kinected 360 free with our telly.

Assume you know Rez HD is available on XBLA?

Does that sort of thing require gold live membership? I have access to a 360, but being attached to my mum's TV as it is, I don't really have fulltime access to it so gold membership is a bit of a waste, but if I can pick it up anyway I might look into that!

Redwing wrote:

Does that sort of thing require gold live membership?

They are quite happy to sell you games on XBLA even if you don't have a Gold membership. However, you will have to sign up for a silver/free account if you don't already have one so that your purchases have an account to be associated with.

I played the hell out of Rez on the Dreamcast and Rez HD on Live (such a good game). If there's anything that can sell me a Kinect, it's Child of Eden. The only problem is that you don't NEED a Kinect to play it. It's really up to how much better it is with Kinect.

BNice wrote:

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*drool*

I hope they do this for the eventual Ps3 version, too. If I must amass boxes, then the least they can do is be pretty.

Pretendbeard wrote:

I hope they do this for the eventual Ps3 version, too. If I must amass boxes, then the least they can do is be pretty.

Is there word on when the PS3 version comes? That trailer last year made me understand why I'd want Kinect, but I have to go with what I got.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:

Is there word on when the PS3 version comes? That trailer last year made me understand why I'd want Kinect, but I have to go with what I got.

Looks like some time in September is the target release frame. It was originally supposed to come out on the same date as the 360 version. I'd assume it got pushed back to incorporate Move controls, but that hasn't been confirmed.

I played through normal last night and WOW! This is everything I wanted Rez 2 to be and more. You are floating around with lights pulsing to the bass and cleansing giant whales and birds made of crystals with your musical bullets. This is such a rare gaming experience, heck a rare anything experience. I was sitting there smiling in the dark with the music blasting and my brain gorging on the mind blowing sensory overload.

Hyperbole aside, Mizuguchi and Q Entertainment added some interesting mechanics. When you lock on with 8 (like in Rez), if you release it on the beat of the music you get more points. So instead of just randomly locking on and firing, you find yourself immersing yourself deeper into the game trying to land on beat.

There is now an alternate fire that shoots bullets. This is critical as anything that can harm you must be destroyed with the alternate fire. One of my favorite stages makes you constantly switch between these 2 fires and it's this awesome Ikaruga like thing going on. I think that might be my favorite stage.

For anyone curious about the length it's the same as Rez, about 2-3 hours. There are five stages, a bonus stage, leaderboards, unlockable graphic modes, unlockable pictures, unlockable sound effects, unlockable videos and a harder difficulty.

It sounds like playing this on Kinect is incredible so I'll definitely have to at some point.

Mizuguchi man. He's done Space Channel 5, Rez, Lumines, Meteos and now Child of Eden. Love this guy.

BNice wrote:

:O Rez Stage 5 is incredible man, get on that! And I'll be playing this with a pad as I don't have a Kinect and the vibration was a pretty big deal in Rez. I mean, remember that addon they released?

Is that the "Fear is the Mind Killer" track? Man, I loved that one so much. I played and replayed and replayed that one on my PS2, not even for scores, just to hear that music shift into the string section when the cylidrical "carrier ship" mini boss battle starts. I just picked up the disc version of Rez for the XBox from a bargain bin. Guess they didn't know what they had there.

As much as I want Child of Eden, there is so much to finish first. Sigh.

gains wrote:

As much as I want Child of Eden, there is so much to finish first. Sigh.

Well, this game is the PERFECT palate cleanser, so keep that in mind.

Man, Hard mode is hard. Having trouble on stage 3, 4 and 5.

8-4 Play podcast has CheapyD and Mizuguchi on this week. I haven't listened to it yet but it should be good.


http://8-4.jp/blog/?p=412&lang=en

I get that this game is awesome BUT 50 bucks for 2 hours? Yuck!

karmajay wrote:

I get that this game is awesome BUT 50 bucks for 2 hours? Yuck!

Yah, but this is a game that is meant to be replayed.

SallyNasty wrote:
karmajay wrote:

I get that this game is awesome BUT 50 bucks for 2 hours? Yuck!

Yah, but this is a game that is meant to be replayed.

As a game played with the controller, I don't think it could remotely justify the price. But playing it with Kinect, with how much that sucks you into it, and playing a game in a manner I would never have imagined, I don't even think about it not being worth the price.

BNice wrote:

Man, Hard mode is hard. Having trouble on stage 3, 4 and 5.

8-4 Play podcast has CheapyD and Mizuguchi on this week. I haven't listened to it yet but it should be good.


http://8-4.jp/blog/?p=412&lang=en

Nice, thanks for the link I'm downloading that as I type.

I just finished the game, and even though it's closer to being "Rez 2" than I expected, it really is a spectacular, both in the superlative sense and in the sense of being a spectacle. I played all the way through using Kinect (haven't yet tried it with a controller), and while I had the odd problem with it mis-detecting a gesture, it otherwise worked really well, and felt awesome.

I had the best luck holding my right hand fairly close to my body, sweeping it across the screen to target enemies, and then pushing it forward to fire. Doing that, in time with the music, makes you feel like some badass combination of a Jedi and a conductor.

One thing I didn't think was handled as well as Rez was the "story" -- Rez spoilers below:

Spoiler:

Rez did a great job of presenting the story and setting almost incidentally at first, only revealing more of what's going on once you hit Area 5, and even then the reveal begins very cryptically. I still feel a chill every time I get to the boss rush and see the floating dialogue from Eden, and I still feel a rush every time I see her come back to life in the finale.

Child of Eden, on the other hand, is a bit too overt in saying that you're saving Lumi, and in splashing her picture around. I'm sure I'd have been disappointed if they'd just done the same thing they did in Rez again, since it would never have had the same impact the second time, but I think I'd have preferred a little more mystery.