Game Review: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2

I just bought this game upon a friend's recommendation. While I enjoy it a great deal, I see it very much as a "niche market" game.

 

What is Geometry Wars? In a nutshell, it is the old Atari "Astroids", redone for the modern age.

 

Your "ship" consists of a little wedge on the screen. Your goal is to fly around and shoot the enemy, which are little glowy-shaped things on the screen. You also have to avoid getting hit. In the tradition of the old arcade games, a single hit destroys your ship. Sounds easy enough, right? But it quickly becomes excruciatingly hard.

 

Your goal is simple. Get a high score. Too help along the way, every time you destroy an enemy it drops a "geom". When you pick these up, they add to your score multiplier. Soon you are scoring thousands, even millions of points.

 

This is a true arcade game in every sense of the word. But updated for modern times. The game features an HD picture, with nice visuals that are truly beautiful to behold. It has a nice techno soundtrack that fits with the music. Play control is tight. And combined with the fast, frantic pacing, it makes for a truly unique experience.

 

The game also supports a variety of game modes, and leaderboards. It has the same in-game leaderboard feature that I enjoy from Halo: Reach, where you can see which friend currently holds a score that's higher than you, while you are playing.

 

I recommend the game, but not without reservation. If you are not the type who has tolerance for psychedelic visuals, or if you don't like the stress of high-score dependent games, then this won't be the game for you. Likewise if you want a story, you won't find one here.

 

But as far as mindless, shooting fun goes, this is hard to beat.

 

 

Vix's Rating: 10 out of 13 cups of Awesomesauce

 

Cost: 800 points