The Wii version is great from all perspectives. It's fun, intense, and has great graphics and controls. Worth the $40!
In Galaxies mode, there are a ton of levels all with different point requirements, life and bomb amounts, grid shape, and enemies. You also get a little ship that follows you, called a drone, to help you. Before you begin a level, you tell the drone what action to take. You can make it fight with you (Attack), go in circles around you and destroy enemies on contact (Sweep), have it stay in one place and fire in a circle (Turret), and more. The drone levels up in each ability and gets better and better until it reaches level 10. There are also objects called geoms in the Galaxies mode, which is the currency of the game. With geoms, you can buy new drone abilities, galaxies, and planets. They also increase your score multiplier within a level. There are also online leaderboards for every planet in the game and for Retro Evolved as well, which is a good addition to an already complete game. To top it all off, there is one galaxy that can only be unlocked by connecting a Wii game with a DS game.
In this version, you have two control options: you can either use the two control sticks on a Classic controller or use a remote and nunchuk configuration where you move your ship with the nunchuk's control stick and shoot by pointing at the screen with the remote and holding A or B. While those who are used to the XBOX 360's style of playing this game will prefer the Classic controller, the remote and nunchuk work very well and allow for more accuracy. The game, overall, is as crazy as Retro Evolved, and the colorful, unique graphics are just as good as on the XBOX 360. It has everything it needs to be a true Geometry Wars title, because a Geometry Wars game without intensity and craziness isn't much of a Geometry Wars game at all. The music is cool, but there are literally about five tracks in the game.
There is also a multiplayer mode in this game. In the multiplayer, there are actually two ships on the grid, which sounds like it would get confusing, but it somehow isn't that confusing. You can do versus or co-op on Retro Evolved or do select Galaxies levels with a partner. The multiplayer was a nice addition to the game and is very good and fun.
Well, they did it! The makers of Geometry Wars have successfully made their small arcade shooter into a full game. It doesn't build on the original gameplay much, but it doesn't ever get boring. If you're looking for an intense, fast, crazy, and endlessly enjoyable arcade-style shooter, then this is definitely the game for you.