Phil Fish is one of those gaming industry guys that is always saying that everyone else's games suck, but then takes five years to complete his own masterpiece and with FEZ he was spewing nonsense. FEZ is a side scrolling puzzle platformer, but it is one that uses dimensions to it's advantage. You can rotate the view three times, each time showing a new perspective on whatever it is your standing on. It uses that mix of 2d and 3d perspectives to create complicated designs. The game also have a very pleasant atmospheric quality to it that is complemented by a sounds and music that are similar to Superbrothers Swords & Sorcery, except more light hearted. Polytron created a unique platformer here, a platformer that is a pleasure to play and quite inexpensive. Take a look at in action, some gameplay for Eurogamer, and see what my muddled explanations have failed to explain.

Story wise, FEZ is about a world that has been broken up and will soon collapse, but only if you do not find the cubes that are required to restore the world. It has a Mario 64 "Stars" kind of idea, meaning the more cubes you collect the more worlds are open to you. FEZ isn't innovative, games have done similar 2d/3d perspectives before and the art style, while pleasing to many, is a bit tired to others, seeing as how many Indie games have been using similar old-school graphical styles lately, but if your like me and you have no qualms about the way the game looks then you should find this world lovely and inviting. While the gameplay isn't brand new, it does have a brand new take on it and it is executed quite well. I also forgot to mention that there is a day night cycle that makes the world a bit less static, it does also help that there are animals and such in each world too.

FEZ came out on the 13th, yesterday, and it is a XBLA exclusive. If you have a Xbox 360 and enjoy platformers I do recommend trying out the ten minute demo. If you end up taking the plunge you should be comforted by the fact that is a cheaper XBLA game, running at 800 Microsoft Points, about $10. They have been making FEZ for a very long time and it's great to see that it turned out so well. I will be working on a review of it in the future, I thank you for reading and I hope you check it out.
Main Website: http://polytroncorporation.com/fez

-Written by Sean Cargle