Fez is a 2D puzzle platformer with an almost literal 3D twist (it's more of a turn than a twist, but close enough). You play as Gomez, who early on gains the ability to rotate his two-dimensional world and see things from different perspectives. Like any great power, it also comes with great responsibility - Gomez learns that his world is in danger and only he can protect it!
Rotating the 2D world to a different face is an amazing mechanic that quite literally opens up an entirely new dimension to gameplay. Unlike fully 3D platformers, the world of Fez still functions as a 2D area, allowing you to change the relationship and distance from one object to another. For example, one section has a number of ladders attached to a group of buildings, but from the front side none of them are connected. Rotate the world, and all of a sudden the ladders line up, allowing you to climb to the top.
Fez of course takes this mechanic and builds upon it by adding more elements as you travel to new areas. You'll find pivots that let you turn specific sections by themselves, bombs that can be placed against crumbling walls to reveal hidden areas, a variety of rotating platforms that require timed jumps, sections of nuts and bolts that can be spun to get from point A to B and more. If most of those examples sound familiar to you, congratulations; you've probably enjoyed a fair share of classic NES games. Fez is heavily influenced by the 8-bit era and proudly includes both concepts from and references to some of the most memorable titles. I noticed this very early on as Gomez's bedroom features a poster which looks really familiar... I'm sure if you look hard enough, you'll find many more homages to classic games.
In terms of the platforming itself, Gomez has a few extra skills beyond that of just jumping. He can grab ledges and even hang from them, allowing him to shimmy along or even drop down. Ledge grabbing really helps to alleviate landing the long jumps, which is nice. Unfortunately, Gomez doesn't quite have the agility of a certain Italian plumber, as error correction once you've began a jump is fairly limited. This makes shorter jumps to small platforms a bit harder than you might expect. Thankfully, the game is quite forgiving in this regard, respawning little Gomez from his last safe position.
Much like last week's game, Fez requires you to explore every nook and cranny to progress. You'll quickly earn access to a 'hub room' of sorts that connects much of the world, but a number of doors require you collect an amount of cubes or even keys to open. While you will inevitably have to backtrack once in a while, the game provides you with a world map that marks areas where you've collected everything, which is very kind and considerate!
There's one more thing I have to say about Fez, and it's also tied to world design. Exploring for the first time can be wondrous yet frustrating. It's common to get to an area and see a nearby door that leads to an entirely new area (sometimes with a new element to learn)... and these can be nested. The first couple of times it happened, I was oohing and aahing at the new location, but the shine faded fast. Later on, it felt more like a distraction from completing the area I was previously in. Again, I have to mention that the world map makes me feel a lot better about it, turning what would be a fairly large complaint into something more like a minor gripe.
Overall, Fez is a very enjoyable title with a mechanic that puts quite a spin on the classic platformer.
Rotating the 2D world to a different face is an amazing mechanic that quite literally opens up an entirely new dimension to gameplay. Unlike fully 3D platformers, the world of Fez still functions as a 2D area, allowing you to change the relationship and distance from one object to another. For example, one section has a number of ladders attached to a group of buildings, but from the front side none of them are connected. Rotate the world, and all of a sudden the ladders line up, allowing you to climb to the top.
Fez of course takes this mechanic and builds upon it by adding more elements as you travel to new areas. You'll find pivots that let you turn specific sections by themselves, bombs that can be placed against crumbling walls to reveal hidden areas, a variety of rotating platforms that require timed jumps, sections of nuts and bolts that can be spun to get from point A to B and more. If most of those examples sound familiar to you, congratulations; you've probably enjoyed a fair share of classic NES games. Fez is heavily influenced by the 8-bit era and proudly includes both concepts from and references to some of the most memorable titles. I noticed this very early on as Gomez's bedroom features a poster which looks really familiar... I'm sure if you look hard enough, you'll find many more homages to classic games.
In terms of the platforming itself, Gomez has a few extra skills beyond that of just jumping. He can grab ledges and even hang from them, allowing him to shimmy along or even drop down. Ledge grabbing really helps to alleviate landing the long jumps, which is nice. Unfortunately, Gomez doesn't quite have the agility of a certain Italian plumber, as error correction once you've began a jump is fairly limited. This makes shorter jumps to small platforms a bit harder than you might expect. Thankfully, the game is quite forgiving in this regard, respawning little Gomez from his last safe position.
Much like last week's game, Fez requires you to explore every nook and cranny to progress. You'll quickly earn access to a 'hub room' of sorts that connects much of the world, but a number of doors require you collect an amount of cubes or even keys to open. While you will inevitably have to backtrack once in a while, the game provides you with a world map that marks areas where you've collected everything, which is very kind and considerate!
There's one more thing I have to say about Fez, and it's also tied to world design. Exploring for the first time can be wondrous yet frustrating. It's common to get to an area and see a nearby door that leads to an entirely new area (sometimes with a new element to learn)... and these can be nested. The first couple of times it happened, I was oohing and aahing at the new location, but the shine faded fast. Later on, it felt more like a distraction from completing the area I was previously in. Again, I have to mention that the world map makes me feel a lot better about it, turning what would be a fairly large complaint into something more like a minor gripe.
Overall, Fez is a very enjoyable title with a mechanic that puts quite a spin on the classic platformer.
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