Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Lee Evans

There are a couple of different types of gamers. On one side, you have the kind of gamer who cut their teeth on Galaga and Arkanoid, who is used to sitting in an arcade for hours, plugging coins into a cabinet in order to eat more of those delicious, delicious power pellets. But there’s another type of gamer, the kind who teethed on a Master Chief figurine. This is the kind of kid who drinks three Jolts, 4 Mountain Dews, 2 Red Bulls, and a cranberry juice (got to drink SOMETHING healthy, you know) before sitting down to play anything.

Geometry Wars has gone a long way toward bridging that gap, with it’s intuitive gameplay and twitchy fun. For the uninitiated, it’s a fairly straightforward game along the lines of an old-school arcade shooter, where you, a little spaceship, are plopped into an arena where you need to shoot at other little spaceships and try to get a high score. It’s been compared very favorably to favorites like Smash TV. It got it's start in an arcade machine minigame in the Garage of "Project Gotham Racing 2", gained steam from there, and now there’s a portable version for the DS with new things, like different planets as well as a helper drone. How does it stack up to the other versions?

As the name suggests, everything is simple geometry shapes. There’s no bit-mapped, heavily textured demons from the very bowels of hell, just shapes. Your ship is a little shape with points on it. The enemies look like different colored pinwheels, diamonds, circles, and other basic things. There’s no flashy backgrounds, although there are some cool explosion effects. It’s very reminiscent of old vector games like Tempest.

That’s not to say it doesn’t look good, though. An older gamer will like how simplistic things look, while a younger gamer will appreciate the fact that because of the simple geometry your screen can be filled with lots of these things with little to no slowdown. The graphics work for what it needs to do, which is make things frantic and busy. However, it’s a testament to the designers that even when the screen is packed with enemies and geoms, as well as your helper drone (more on these later), you never get lost or confused. It’s not beautiful, but it’s crisp and clear.

At first, I was tempted to put this much, much lower. Through the DS speakers, the background music sounds like regular, tinny, generic techno. The sound effects don’t really do much either. However, when you put headphones on, it makes a world of difference. That’s when you hear the nuance that they put into each of the songs.

So why did I rate it as an 80? Like I said, through the DS speakers, the background tracks are really nothing to write home about. On top of that, there are some audio cues that aren’t readily apparent. For instance, let’s say that you turn your helper drone into a turret. (Yeah, you can turn your helper drone into a turret.) It makes a weird beeping noise every once in a while when you do that. It takes a couple of times before you realize that it’s the noise of your drone letting you know when it’s setting the turret up and taking itself down. I know they’re going old school, but some more easily understood audio cue would have been helpful. Still, it’s not a game-killer, just kind of annoying.

On the Xbox, Geometry Wars uses dual analog sticks to control your movement and firing. Obviously, that’s not a possibility on the DS. Instead, GW:G uses the control stick and the face buttons to accomplish the same function. On top of that, you can set off a screen-clearing bomb with a tap of the R button. It all works surprisingly well.

The controls are also extremely responsive. There’s very little “skating,” where you slide toward your original direction after you’ve moved in another direction. Instead, when you see an enemy in your way, you can deftly sidestep it, leading to one of those “Whew! I made it!” moments that this game does so well.

There is one caveat, though. My left had would cramp up an awful lot during my playtime. It wasn’t enough to stop my enjoyment of the game, but it’s an unfortunate result of having to squeeze a dual-analog setup into a DS. Fortunately, since the levels are short enough, you can give your hand a chance to rest in between levels.

This is where this game shines. It would be one thing if you just had to play the never-ending “Retro Evolved” option that is also included in the game. Instead, GW:G provides you with a whole new mode of play called “Galaxies.”

In Galaxies, there are several star systems that you can unlock and enter, and in those systems are usually several planets. On the planets, you get into an arena of varying size and try to fend off as many enemies as you can. Each level is slightly different and has its own challenges, such as a giant spinning vortex in the middle that affects you and the enemies. Another level might have moving obstacles that don't hurt you, but get in the way of your bullets. They're never too confusing though, as you can pretty much pick up what's going on within about 10 seconds of starting each level.

Every enemy that you kill leaves behind a little gem called a geom, which have several functions. One of these is as a score multiplier. The more geoms you pick up, the more your score gets multiplied for each enemy destroyed, all the way up to 150x. Even after you’ve reached that threshold, however, it’s still in your best interest to get more geoms, as they also act as the game’s currency. You can spend them in order to unlock systems and planets (although one can only be unlocked by connecting this game to the Wii version), as well as different behaviors for your helper drone. Also, achieving certain score levels in a level can earn you a medal, which gives you even more geoms.

Speaking of your little helper drone, it has a wide variety of behaviors that you can choose before you enter a level. There are options like Attack, which is exactly as it sounds. You can use Snipe, which doesn’t shoot as often, but shoots stronger shots when it does. There’s the aforementioned Turret, which periodically sets up a turret which swings around in a circle, laying waste to any enemies unfortunate enough to get caught in the hail of bullets. As you use these skills, they gain experience points and level up. All of them seem useful, and none seem overpowered.

The only real downside is that every level is almost exactly the same thing. You’re just destroying all the enemies until you die, like Space Invaders or Asteroids. However the levels are short enough that you can play one in three minutes (or longer, if you’re good), making it a perfectly portable game. You’ll find yourself going back to previously beaten levels in order to get a higher score and unlocking as many systems and planets as you can just to see them. It’s just such an incredibly fun game.

There’s a lot to do in Geometry Wars: Galaxies and it will take you a while to unlock every planet. There’s a multiplayer mode as well as the original game. Even after you’ve beaten planets there’s still the temptation to say “I can do better.” There’s always another drone behavior you can purchase and level up, and different quirks for each level. I mentioned this game’s extreme portability, but it bears repeating: This is a game you can pick up for an hour or for five minutes, which makes it perfect on the go. It’s probably going to have a place in my collection for quite a while. It’s difficult finding a game that makes everyone happy. Some people like more complicated games, and some people like more simple games. It’s rare to find a game that appeals to a broad spectrum of gamers. There’s something primal to Geometry Wars, an itch that it scratches, that makes it a tremendously satisfying experience. Whether you are looking for a quick and cheap thrill, or you’re looking for a game that you can master, Geometry Wars: Galaxies is the ticket for you.

Gaming Trend Score

85

1. Graphics: 80
2. Audio: 80
3. Controls: 80
4. Gameplay: 90
5. Value/Replay: 90
6. OVERALL:85