'Geometry Wars 2' is one of best games Xbox Live Arcade has to offer and is a must own for every gamer.
I first got 'Geometry Wars' after I got tired of 'Pac-Man', 'Dig Dug', 'Galaga', and all of the other arcade games available at the time. I was surprised to see an original game that was so good and addicting on the service. It really showed what developers could do with original content instead of just porting over arcade games. It paved the way for many other original games and really helped launch the 'Xbox Live Arcade' service to the heights that it is at today.
'Geometry Wars' was an addictive dual-stick shooter and had a brutal difficulty level. The game was tough, no doubt about it. It was fun as hell, but it would get extremely frustrating at times. Of course, you always came back for more. The game was lacking in depth and variety, however. It only had one mode of play. Even if gamers weren't complaining, the thought of more game-types or levels would have been welcome. Enter 'Geometry Wars 2'........
'Bizarre Creations' is back for a much improved sequel. 'GW2' is an improvement on the original in every way possible. The game looks fantastic and better than the original. There are now six gameplay modes instead of just one. It even has a mini 'friends leaderboard' on the main screen for each mode which is a very nice touch.
Are all of the modes as good as 'Evolved'? Unfortunately, no. But most of them are and you won't ever tire of playing the good ones. The first one up is 'Deadline'. This is very similar to 'Evolved' (which is also back) except you have to score as many points as possible in 3 min. Since the game plays a bit different than the first game, both 'Deadline' and 'Evolved' play out quite a bit differently then you might expect. In the first game, as you killed enemies and didn't die, you built up a score multiplier. As long you didn't die, the multiplier would keep rising allowing you to get insane high scores. If you died, it was back to zero. That was very frustrating. Now you pick up little dots known as 'Geoms', which add up to create your multiplier. I really like this change and it adds a different element to the gameplay. You now have to really be conscious of picking up all those little dots.
Like I said, 'Deadline' plays very similar to 'Evolved' but with a 3 min. time limit. The enemies come faster and more furious in this mode. The nice thing is that you have unlimited lives and you will rarely run short on bombs, so it's a very fun mode. 'Evolved' is, obviously, very similar to the original. The addition of some new enemies and the 'Geoms' I mentioned earlier add a nice twist to the mode. 'King' mode is a decent new mode where you move around to different safe areas only being able to shoot while in the safe circle. The borders of the circle degrade in a short time and you have to then move to a different circle without dying.
'Pacifism' and 'Waves' aren't my favorite modes. You don't shoot at all in 'Pacifism'. Instead you move your ship around and kill enemies with the 'gates' (a new enemy, sort of) that are now in the game. As you fly your ship through these gates, they explode killing many enemies around you. 'Waves' is my least favorite mode as it just has you shooting your path through increasingly difficult waves of enemies. Both of these modes aren't as much fun as 'Deadline', 'Evolved', or even 'King'. Arguably, the best new mode is, 'Sequence'.
This sucker is hard and very addicting. It has you taking on different sequences of enemies, in a time limit, and they get increasingly difficult. The first few levels of this mode aren't too bad and get you warmed up. Then the game hits you with all sorts of crazy combinations of enemies. It's a very fun mode, but it will kick your as$. If you can finish this mode (there are a certain amount of levels), I tip my cap to you.
'Geometry Wars 2' is a perfect example of how to do a sequel over Xbox Live Arcade. It gives you more of what you already like from the original game, but brings a lot of new stuff to the table as well. I wasn't a big fan of a couple of the new gameplay modes, but the overall game doesn't really suffer much because of that. 'Evolved' is still VERY fun to play and 'Deadline' will have you hooked in no time. And if you are up for a real challenge, give 'Sequence' a try to see if you can be it up to the end. No matter what type of gamer you are, you owe it to yourself to check this game out. It's one of the best Live Arcade releases yet and really should be owned by every Xbox 360 gamer.