FEZ Preview: 3D Manipulation And The Madness That Ensues
At Indiecade, I was fortunate enough to get some quality time with Phil Fish’s labor of love, FEZ. First, here’s a little background: FEZ has been in development for 5 years by a team of two people, yes, two. FEZ is a platformer in which players’ can manipulate the 3D environment in order to solve certain puzzles. It capitalizes on the faux-retro look that is popular in the indie scene; however, the only sprite based things in the game are the characters.
The 5 minute demo (rough estimation) left me with a decent grasp of the game. The aesthetic is simple, but once you look at the world from the different perspectives, you really appreciate all of the thought and time that went into producing each zone. The music also fit the aesthetic nicely. The sound effects varied from a Zelda-esque chest opening fanfare to noise sounds when certain events took place.
The controls were tight and extremely responsive. The ability to catch ledges and pull the protagonist up was a welcomed mechanic for getting to those hard to reach spots. Dialogue from the townsfolk was good for a chuckle and made me realize that life in two dimensions is as flat as those in the town. Additional devices, such as a pivot, build on the 3D puzzle concept that the game embraces. The core of the gameplay is collecting portions of a cube in order to gain access to the other zones in the game.
The game gains its name from the fez that allows for the protagonist to explore the world in 3D. Fish commented that the reason for going through the town initially without the fez was so that the player would be able to make the same trek again in 3D and go back to all the areas to explore with the new mechanic.
If 3D TVs could make life as amazing as Fish does with the use of three dimensions, then I would be sold on the concept. For now, 3D TVs will still suck and FEZ will be amazing. Look forward to FEZ in early 2012.
