Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved

November 29,2005 - [Editor's Note - Xbox Live Arcade games are critiqued differently than normal games. An Xbox Live Arcade game that scores a 9.0+ could very well only score a 7.0 or lower by our typical standards.]

It’s a visually stunning, techno music fueled, old school arcade game mixed with new school gameplay. While some gamers are touting Perfect Dark Zero or Call of Duty 2 as the big 360 launch titles, for those fortunate enough to realize what lies within this Xbox Live Arcade game, Geometry Wars is the killer app...of Xbox Live Arcade games anyway.

The concept of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved is incredibly simple. Neon shapes swarm around your spacecraft, slowly and in limited numbers at first. Then the shapes change and become slightly more intelligent. After awhile your craft can’t move more than one millimeter without being pounded by an enemy shape. One hit and you lose a life, lose all of your lives (the game starts you off with three) and it’s game over. Fortunately, bombs are also at the player’s disposal, and they have the distinct ability to wipe out every enemy onscreen, this comes at a price, but it also has an advantage. For every enemy you kill, you gain a certain amount of points depending on the shape. After a certain number of enemies are destroyed, the score multiplier rises, meaning that ships that were worth 25 points would become worth 50 points, and so forth. If your ship is destroyed though, even once, the multiplier is reset back to one, so bombs are a last ditch effort as any ships that are destroyed with one don’t add to your score, but in turn you don’t lose a life, and you don’t lose your multiplier.

The left analog stick moves the ship around the board while the right analog stick controls the direction of fire. The right and left triggers set off the bombs, and the whole control set up is actually completely customizable. The controls are simplistic and work perfectly for the game. This control set up alone is a part of what makes the game so addicting and fun. As you shoot down enemy shapes, the main gun of your ship transforms to a wide burst or a rapid fire machine gun sort of weapon. The gun changes periodically, so gameplay is always forcing you to adapt to new situations.

The visuals of Geometry Wars have come a long way since the game first appeared on the original Xbox under the guise of a hidden mini-game in Project Gotham Racing 2. That version of the game is also playable in Geometry Wars Evolved, but isn’t nearly as fun or good looking. As the game begins to get exciting, as more enemies litter the screen and particle effects dazzle your senses, the background begins to rupture and contort with every shot your ship fires, every bomb lets off a wave of energy that not only has a visible effect onscreen, but a beautiful one at that. Geometry Wars Evolved is quite simply the best looking game of its kind that has ever come along.

The single audio track in Geometry Wars is a looping techno beat that flows along rhythmically to the action, and while it’s quite charming at first, it quickly fades away as the tension of the gameplay mounts up. Anything more would have probably taken away from the game, as focus is a key to staying alive when the situation becomes more frustrating.

The replay value of Geometry Wars is something of an anomaly. Normally a game that only had one level, no multiplayer modes, and a complete lack of any sort of need to replay the game whatsoever. However, the game is unbelievably fun. With Xbox Live leader boards, chances are you’ll always be striving for that higher score. The addition of Retro Geometry Wars is a small one, but this also adds slightly to the replay value as well. All of this fun can be had for roughly five dollars (400 marketplace points), making this the definitive Xbox Live Arcade title.

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