The once minor details become a big loss to what it otherwise an amazingly fun game made portable.
This is a comparison review. It is written under the assumption you know what the game for Wii is like. I wrote a review on that here:
http://www.gamespot.com/wii/action/geometrywarsgalaxies/player_review.html?id=549819&tag=readerreviews;continue
Story is cut due to irrelevance.
Graphics:
The graphics look fine for a DS game, but a lot is missing. They had to make a lot of to make it run, which is understandable. This is a portable, and it's weaker. The problem however, comes in the fact that all these cuts didn't stop the game from becoming a slower experience anyways. Lag will kick in like bullettime from the matrix, and overall, I think everything is moving slower with or without chaotic action. The small screen might also be responsible for the slow movement, but I'll explain that in gameplay.
Gameplay:
The game is mostly the same, but what little changes and glitches have happened hinder the game a small bit. You see, the small screen seems to have made the developers think that if the game was moving at the pace it was on the Wii, you'd die a lot. So every enemy now moves slower, and overall, made the game easier. where my first score for retro evolved on wii was 150k, I easily went into the 360k mark for the DS version. This makes the games incompatible scorewise, so when you tell people your scores, you better tell them which version. There are also a couple enemy oddities. Where all other enemies got a speed adjustment, the red odd shaped ships move at their usual speed. They are an insanely fast enemy on terms of time when they get on screen, and time when they kick you ass, making these the hardest enemy in that game by seemingly accident. Further more, I find the snake's tail not effective for blocking bullets. This makes them a ridiculously easy opponent to kill for the score they give you.
Galaxies mode is also different for this. Not gameplay wise, but level wise. Each system has it's own lineup of levels in galaxies mode, and that's why the 2 can connect for bonuses. You get the "best of" the wii and ds version levels on each when you connect. Control wise, I have to say they did a good job here at least. I actually wish I could use my DS as a method of control on the wii version sometimes.
Sound:
You'll hear every sound from the wii version on here, but that's it's problem. You don't feel like you're playing geometry wars music and sound effects, you feel like your playing with wii's music and sounds being played through the lower quality speakers of the DS. I once again hold all my praise for it's great use of sound, but it is played through a low quality emulation job it seems.
Who wants this game?
Someone who needs geometry wars on the go, not just thinks it will be kool to have. It is not a perfect port, and you will want to play the wii version when possible over this version due to that fact.