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Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
Bizarre Creations
Game details:
Release Date: Mar 7, 2007
Genre: Shoot Em' Up
ESRB: Everyone
Platforms: PC, Xbox360
Geometry Wars started as a minigame for the game Gotham Racing 2, and it was fairly popular by itself, so an updated version, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved has been made available for download on Xbox Live for the Xbox360. Since then, it has grown into the most downloaded game for consoles, at least for a while. As much as it has been popular on the console from Microsoft, so much were PC users craving for the colourful and simple gameplay of the game. As such, people started making clones of it. One of them, GridWars, was so similar to the original, that the developer started seeing dents to the sells of the game and decided to put the freeware game off the market. People were still hurting for the game on PCs, so a company got to it and made an almost pixel perfect version of the game which was released last year.
About the Game
As much as the people who made it say that it is a pixel perfect copy, as much have I nothing to combat it, and aside of the fact that even if the game is played much better with an Xbox360 controller rather than the normal keyboard and mouse, nothing has changed from the entertaining and colourful highscore rush from the console. The game is of a revamped Arcade genre, with new graphics and great controls, and has a simplistic idea which works really really well.
Gameplay - 99 guaranteed ways to blow up
There is only one way of playing the game, and it is enough as it is. The first time you play it, you might notice that you will consider the game extremely hard. The objectives you must accomplish are extremely simple, and in my mind there are only 2. Don't die, and score tons of points. You control your claw shaped avatar on a grid, with an area a little bigger than the screen. You move your ship in any direction you wish, and fire in the same way, but not dependant of your direction of traveling. The more points you have, the more enemies come up against you. More, and more varied as well. All of them are geometrical forms, and they are all colour-coded, so you will soon learn them. As an example, the cyan square will always come directly at you, while the dark red circle will move very slowly towards you, will activate when first shot, and when activated it will absorb other enemies into it until it explodes in a myriad of cyan circles (which come at you at a high rate of speed). There are many kinds of enemies, and all of them will make your screen fill with trippy colours and some kind of joy. You can also unleash a bomb which destroys all enemies on the screen in case of a panic situation, but you only get another bomb each 100 000 points, so you should use them wisely. You also get another life each 75 000 points and an upgrade to your firepower each 10 000 points, just to spice things up.
Controls
You control the little ship using the keyboard, and the fire using the mouse (as default) in two ways. One of them is an orbit style, with the firing made in the direction of the movement of the mouse, and the other is a more typical target style, which FPS game lovers might prefer. You can also control the firing with the arrow keys, but it's not as accurate and therefore worse than the mouse. You can also use an Xbox360 controller with the game, and it is recommended, because the experience is better, as the analogue sticks are really good at that.
Graphics - Trippy colours
The graphics are incredibly simple for the colour it generates, and it doesn't use complicated shaders to convey the feeling of immersiveness. The only things used to give the beauty of the game are simple geometrical forms, mainly lines and points, along with properly used colours and blur, as well as bloom and antialiasing to give it the sharpness it should have. The game is simply beautiful, yet some people might consider it a bit trippy and too coloured, and long periods of play may give players a headache. Also, the grid behind the playing ground morphs and warps with the events on screen, and it will often get you back to reality when you die, as it wraps around the position your ship respawns in. It makes up for beautiful effects and also takes your though away from usually happens in the boring start of the game.
Different difficulty settings?
There are no difficulty settings, nor does the game need one. It starts off easy, with few enemies popping up as fast as you can kill them, and it grows to a colourfest with enemies popping out everywhere and which will absolutely keep you on your toes.
How it sounds
The sounds of the game are crystal clear and very fitting, and although it's very reminiscent of the older arcade games, it still feels fresh and new, and it will totally immerse you. The music is very fitting and fast, as well as incredibly catchy to the effect of the game.
Why to play this game
You only play the game for highscore and fun, and there is practically nothing to achieve. The scoring board is local, and the online option doesn't exist, yet you will always seem to get a higher and higher score, as you actually feel you get better and better at the game. And it's very satisfying as well, practically because you will feel that the feeling of overwhelmingness the enemies invoked you starts to diminish until you will just get through with none of the beads of sweat you had before. Although the game is clearly laking in the region of gameplay features and optional stuff, it's still one of the best retro games you would play in quite some time, and you will sometimes stay and look at the screen and say wow.
Shooting Conclusions with triangles
All in all, Geometry Wars is a game you can always fire up for a little run, and it will always call for more. The game is very addictive, so beware when handling. It also has superb controls, good music and beautiful graphics, yet the lack of any other modes of gameplay as well as the absence of a multiplayer mode or at least a multiplayer board takes it down a bit. You can get the game off Steam at a low price, which is understandable for the lack of content.
Score?
I give it a 7!