Fez has pretty much released every platform there is, so it must be doing something right I guess? The game, a 2D platformer with exploration at its heart, only recently featured in PlayStation Plus’ Instant Game Collection, which let you get your hands on all three versions of the game (PS4, PS3 and PS Vita) for free.
Personally I didn’t like Fez. With the exception of Minecraft, pixel visuals aren’t my thing at all, so from the off I could tell I wasn’t going to enjoy the game. Hopefully this WeView could persuade me to download it again and give it another chance.
Dom was on review duty for the PlayStation versions of Fez, scoring the game a wonderful 9/10. He asked “whether you should still be interested in a game that released two years ago”, later going on to say “the answer is of course an unequivocal yes”.
Although the game had previously released on Xbox, he felt “the PlayStation releases are the definitive way to experience one of the finest indie games of recent years”, partially thanks to the cross-save feature.
For those who are fans of the visual design of Fez Dom said “the pixel-art is endearingly rendered and displays a deep-seated love for classic videogames with various touchstones eliciting memories of Zelda, Mario and even Tetris”. The game was also brought to life “with wildlife hopping, swimming or flying about”. Apart from the “odd glitch here and there” Fez “plays exceedingly well, no matter which flavour of PlayStation you have”.
Fez is an indie game. It’s also an indie game you should experience, and if you own any of Sony’s current consoles you have very little excuse not to.
The ability to play across all of your systems, and transfer effortlessly between them, cannot be overstated, and the fact that you only have to pay once for it is an ideal that some companies are sadly still avoiding. Whilst there isn’t necessarily much of a traditional challenge to the game, working your way through the different worlds is so enjoyable that you’ll barely notice.
What did you think of Fez? Were you equally as impressed as Dom, or were you put off by the pixel-art presentation? Let us know in the comments below giving the game either a Buy It, Plus It, Sale it or Avoid It Rating. Remember to get your comments in by Sunday evening.
Tomhlord
Yeh, it has ‘pixely’ graphics. Yes it is ‘indie’. People will and have knocked Fez because of these two singular reasons. I know of people who won’t even try it for more than 10 minutes just because of the visual style.
But this completely misses the whole point. When all is said and done, Fez takes the traditional platform game and adds something new to the genre. It pushes gaming forward and that should not be underestimated. Once it clicks (for me about an hour in) it is a wonderful, joyous gameplay experience. I savoured every second and even though I beat the “It’s just not my sort of game” drum for years, I am glad I gave it a second chance. Buy It/Plus It/You’ve probably already got it so Launch It!
justinjh
I really enjoyed Fez, and I have to admit I probably wouldn’t have tried it if it hadn’t been on PS+. It’s definitely a game that rewards exploration with many eureka moments when you finally solve (or google!) some of the puzzles. Plus It!
element666
I really wanted to love it but I just couldn’t get into it,I just found it a bit frustrating.
Avoid from me.
Zimsalabim
Loved it; Technician Ted for the noughties!
JustTaylorNow
I downloaded fez for free. I haven’t booted it up due to the fact it’s pixel,l such a shame cause I refuse to play pixel.
kjkg
Bloody difficult is the best way to describe it. I spent ages trying to decipher what I thought was an alphabet code, only to give up, google it and realise all I had to do was make a shape that WASN’T on the wall. Totally threw me.
All said and done, it was a fantastic wee game. Lovely puzzles and actually a really decent length.
BUY IT
Youles
I played the demo, loved it, then realised I wasn’t prepared to pay the £9.99 they were asking (which is unusual for me as you usually just buy something if I like it). But anyway it came to PS+ about 2 weeks later so I was very pleased.
Not started the full game yet but no doubt will.
Plus It or Sale It for me. I feel harsh saying that as it’s a wonderful game, and I like to support these indie titles, but I’m not sure it justifies the tenner they were asking.
wonkey-willy
found it charming to start off with.
but then after about an hour of trying to find out where i was and working out the map,the charm soon wore off.
i got fed up with going through doors only to return to the same area where i was a minute ago.grrrrrrrr!
is burn it an option?
ron_mcphatty
I can see how Fez divides opinion, it’s not a simple game and the complete absence of any hand-holding makes you work very hard to work out what’s going on… unless you resort to Google, which I’m ashamed to have done literally minutes before discovering a room that would have given me a massive leg up on starting to understand the codes. So my only complaint is that it took too long for the secrets of Fez to start making sense and just a tiny little bit more help a bit sooner would’ve made all the difference. Other than that, I loved the presentation, structure, atmosphere and puzzles. This is a significant and potentially very challenging game that I think you need to want to play, it’s definitely not for for the casual trophy hunter, so watch a trailer and read a review before you take the plunge and Buy It.
Off topic a bit, the film Indie Game: The Movie is what got me really interested in Fez. It gives a brilliant insight into the indie business and exposes the frustration, rage and bitterness behind Fez’s creators struggle to get his game released. There’s also some chat from the very smug Braid developer and also the gripping story of the release of Super Meat Boy from the point of view of the two devs. I’ve sung the documentaries praises before in comments so I’ll stop now, I promise, after I’ve rated it as a Buy It!
CrawFail
Great game but the guy who made it is a grade A toss pot. I’d say buy it but you’ll be giving him money.
Lovely game though.