Retro gameing is given a rebirth in this modern shoot-em up classic
Geometry Wars (GW) is one of those, "easy to learn - hard to master" games, that all game developers dream of creating. It strikes the balance perfectly between an extremely accessible shooter, that can be learned in seconds, but still pose challenge and room for improving your skills after hours upon hours of play.
GW only has three controls. You move your ship in all directions across a square playing field with one thumbstick, and can send a stream of fire in whatever other direction you chose with the second thumbstick. Lastly, you can deploy a bomb with a trigger button, that will clear the screen of enemies. Thats it, control wise.
The gameplay is also quite simple. You get attacked by waves of enemies, that get progressively harder and harder, and have to evade and shoot them. Your foes are geometric shapes, that each have different behaviours.
To mention a few examples:
Green squares will come at you fast, but get scared if you shoot at them, and try to dodge your shots. Purple enemies will split into 3 smaller units when shot, which attack you in a circular pattern. "Snakes" will cover their vulnerable head with an indestructible tail. All the enemies are well thought up, and fit perfectly into the game, forcing you to use different strategies as you are attacked.
The enemies spawn in random patterns around the playing field, or will pop-up suddently in great numbers to ambush you. Another gameplay element that makes a big impact is the "gravity wells", which are like small black holes, that emerge randomly. These get activated if you hit them, and suck in everything around them. This can work to your advantage, as enemies can get sucked in, but also block your movement. They will even explode into a horde of fast moving bullets,if enough enemies are sucked into the void.
You get 3 ships and 3 bombs to begin with, but earn more as your score increases, so its often a matter of staying alive, and getting enough points to gain a new ship. The bombs help you do this, as they clear the screen, but gives you no points for the enemies it kills, so you have to use it wisely. Also, the more enemies you destroy before dying, the higher your score multiplier will get, allowing you to rack up more points, and thus new ships and bombs.
Graphically this is amazingly executed, with wonderful visual details. the screen often looks quite surreal, with explosions of warped colors and shapes. The screenshots dont do this proper justice, you really should see it moving. I especially like the haze of particles pulsating around the gravity wells, and the way the background grid distorts and ripples when you shoot.
The waves of enemies get more and more insane, and once you get past 250.000 points there will often be several hundred of them chasing you at the same time. You will have to develop skills as well as strategies for quickly evading and destroying different kind of enemies, and save your precious bombs only for those "sure to die" situations.
This is where the game really starts to grow on you. Eliminating wave after wave of enemies in a satisfying havoc of geometric explosions is hugely satisfying. Plowing your way though hundreds of glowing squares, circles and triangles, creating an escape tunnel in a clog of them with your machinegun and making a narrow escape is simply priceless. Dying while trying to pull of moves like that is equally hartbreaking. But you know that eventually, you WILL get better, and you WILL beat your hi-score.
To sum things up, if you have an Xbox 360 with a hard disk, you should ask no questions and get this game. It's by far the best Xbox Live Arcade game, and may even be the best game on Xbox360 so far. not bad for a retro-shooter!