Austin GDC 2009: Phil Fish offers first public demo of Fez
by JC Fletcher 
{ Sep 15th 2009 at 2:00PM } 
Fez plays sort of like Super Paper Mario, but with more of an emphasis on optical illusions. It appears as a 2D sidescrolling platformer most of the time, but at any time the player can rotate the entire world 90 degrees along a vertical axis. This allows the player to use optical illusions to navigate the game world. For example, Fish climbed a ladder up the side of one platform, and then rotated the world to reveal another identical platform several yards away. By rotating again, the perspective shifted such that it looked like the ladder was connected to the second platform -- and so it was, and Fish emerged atop the once-distant platform.
In another example, Fish tossed a bomb onto a moving platform to expose the entrance to a cave. He walked to the entrance, and then rotated the world 180 degrees to reveal the other side of the rock structure into which the cave had been cut, granting him immediate access to the other side.
When Fish paused, we noticed a "leaderboards" item in the pause menu. We don't know as yet what the leaderboards will compare, but at least they'll be there.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Markez @ Sep 15th 2009 2:05PM
Not to be overly critical, but it seems like we've been hearing news about this fooooorrreeeeeeeevvvvveeeeeeeeerrrrrr. But I guess since it's something of a grass roots effort that people are interested in and the media is into, that people will come out of the woodwork to take shots at it. Oh yeah I went that route. Prove me wrong, children, prove me wrong. (Pssst, it's an Arman Tanzarian quote)
Markez @ Sep 15th 2009 2:06PM
Nice air conditioner, btw
Markez @ Sep 15th 2009 2:38PM
Facts
1-We've heard about this being in development for a long time.
2-People on here rip on this kind of stuff, all the time because there isn't a major house behind it.
3-I personally think it looks kind of cool, which apparently I didn't make clear in my initial post.
4-Downvoted why, eh!?
BananaBoat @ Sep 15th 2009 10:37PM
Facts
1-I bought a Fez T-Shirt.
2-I've been waiting for this game for years now
3-That it still has bugs is a bad sign
4-I hope this and Cave Story Wiiware come out soon
Courtney @ Sep 16th 2009 12:41AM
Fact:
Markez talks to himself.
Fun DMC @ Sep 15th 2009 2:09PM
Weird, I've never heard of this before. Sounds cool yo.
Gamer4Life @ Sep 15th 2009 2:11PM
I was never a big platformer fan but this does look fun, far better then Mario (I only really liked Mario 64 and Mario Galaxy).
Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Sep 15th 2009 2:13PM
I would imagine the leaderboards gauge how long it takes you to navigate the levels.
Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Sep 15th 2009 2:14PM
I would imagine the leaderboards gauge how long it takes you to navigate a level.
Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] @ Sep 15th 2009 2:14PM
W00t! 2x post score!
koehler83 @ Sep 15th 2009 2:17PM
Super Paper EchoCrush
Jcarpio @ Sep 15th 2009 3:24PM
if it is half as good as EchoChrome and Crush then this is a buy.
Fez @ Sep 15th 2009 2:56PM
"I said good day sir"
Orion @ Sep 15th 2009 3:07PM
I could be wrong, but it sounds like a complete rip-off of Super Paper Mario for the Wii.
Orion @ Sep 15th 2009 3:07PM
sarcasm/
Slayer8675309 @ Sep 15th 2009 3:21PM
But I've already played Cave Story.
Amos @ Sep 15th 2009 4:21PM
I didn't really like this game when it was called Crush. Dunno if I'll like it more now that they've added a "That 70's Show" reference. Or do you play as some sort of hat, like in Monopoly?
Ad-man @ Sep 15th 2009 5:22PM
There's me thinking there might finally be a Tommy Cooper game...
Levi @ Sep 15th 2009 6:22PM
this looks like a mashup of Crush and Cave Story. I anticipated Crush quite a bit before it came out, but the gameplay grew stale halfway through, and we all love Cave Story... maybe a little storyline and charm (and enemies?) are what the Crush formula needed to be awesome.
boing.inc @ Sep 15th 2009 7:31PM
I'm so sad this isn't coming to the PC anymore :[