[Correspondent Ken Ellis made the rounds all over the main hall and up through Indie Alley at PAX Prime last month. Over the next couple weeks he'll be passing on his thoughts and impressions on as many as his brain and notepad can recall. Next up, hands-on plus video footage of Polytron's Fez.]

A 2-dimensional game in a 3-dimensional world. Did I dimension this game is awesome?

Fez was at this year’s PAX and we were able to get a little hands on look at the game. While it may look like a simple side scroller game, the depth of level and genius use of space puts this game way past its supposed side scroll buddies.

The premise of Fez is that a three dimensional being approaches our fez wearing hero and tell him that he is needed to stop a threat to the world. Not only that it, the being bestows upon him the ability to see and adjust the 3rd dimension. This comes in real handy since the game can’t be won without this ability! The game revolves around you turning the entire world to move around, explore, and find new areas. Any platform may have completely different attributes on each side, and what looks impossible from one angle may be the simplest solution on another. Everything that can combine on one side does combine. So two platforms that do not connect on one world angle may appear as a land bridge on the opposite side.

To advance through a level you have to pick up eight golden cubes to form a larger cube that will open a door to a new world. They can be found anywhere from chests and walls to secret rooms hidden in houses. There is no time limit to find them and you are given infinite lives to find them all. The game focuses entirely on exploration and puzzle solving, and is certainly no Super Meat Boy in terms of gameplay.

Fez releases later this year.