Rez for the Dreamcast is more than just an old-school shoot-'em-up.

It provides one of the most distinctive gaming environments ever seen in an audio-visual extravaganza reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The aim of the game is to track down and wake the artificial intelligence Eden by breaking through the firewall of a virtual network.

This involves guiding your character through a perpetually-scrolling abstract environment.

Players must collect items along the way to replenish energy and evolve from a humanoid into pure energy.

The gameplay is similar to Sega classics Space Harrier and Panzer Dragoon and involves locking-on to enemies by holding the fire button down.

Players can target up to eight enemies at once and when the button is released the shots are fired.

Sounds are triggered after every shot is fired, the exact sound depending on what was shot, when the shots were fired and how many shots were needed to make the target explode.

In this way players contribute to the game's music, which features exclusive tracks from progressive electronic music artists, including Brighton's Adam Freeland.

The in-game songs develop as you progress through the environments, with the on-screen action creating riffs to fill gaps in songs or mixing with the existing soundtrack.

If you shoot faster, the music's tempo increases, which then encourages you to play even faster and harder.

The painstakingly crafted environments react to the ebb and flow of the music.

The key to making the game "sing" is to let yourself get carried along by the game's natural pace and not to worry too much about making your every twitch rhythmic.

Although the game only has six levels, Rez is quite a trip. Sometimes - like when you are aiming at a few slow-moving targets - it is hard to ignore Rez is a straightforward on-rails shoot-'em-up.

But the game's eye candy and sonic trickery can put players in a trance long enough for this not to be an issue.

Rez is by no means a perfect game but its originality in marrying dance music, laser light shows and edge-of-seat thrills make it well worth a look.

Price: £29.99.

Contact: www.sega.com
Feel good factor: 8 out of 10.