Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (XBLA) Review
Posted by Dan Hirsch on 10.09.2008
Bizarre Creation's finally comes out with a sequel to its instant classic!
A little mini-game released with Project Gotham Racing 2 made huge waves back in 2003. It proved to be such an instant classic that an updated version was released as one of the first Xbox Live Arcade games during the 360’s launch. It helped pioneer the left stick moves, right stick shoots control scheme of XBLA games. This hit was Geometry Wars, and thanks to the developers over at Bizarre Creations, we finally get the long anticipated sequel: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2.
The killer shapes and foot thumping techno are finally back. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 takes the simple style and game play from its predecessor and jacks it up on steroids! The game has players piloting their familiar claw shaped ship inside a box within the depths of space. Swarms of geometrically themed neon baddies are spawned in intervals and try to destroy your ship by crashing into it. Its up to the player to destroy these evil shapes and rack up points and multipliers to achieve the highest score possible.
The basic elements gamers know and love make a return, but Bizarre has added a ton of new enemies and game modes to liven things up and build upon the original game play. Instead of a single mode of play there are now 6 unique ways to play:
Sequence- This game mode is best described as a campaign mode. The gamer gets 30 seconds to destroy all the enemies in a stage, with 20 levels total. With only 3 lives and increasing amount of enemies, the stages get tougher as they progress. But don’t worry, failing a stage gives you a by and simply moves you onto the next one as long as you have a life remaining.
King- Gamers have 1 life and no bombs. Instead of having free reign, the player can only fire from within green circles that litter the map. Enemies can no enter these circles, but they quickly open up, leaving the player vulnerable until they can seek refuge in a new circle.
Deadline- The player has 3 minutes and an unlimited amount of lives in order to gain the highest score possible.
Pacifism- this unique game mode doesn’t allow the player to shoot or detonate bombs. Instead, the only way to destroy an enemy is to fly through a gate which explodes once your ship passes through. All enemies within range of the gates burst are smoked. It takes great piloting skills and timing in order survives in this game mode.
Waves- Triangular enemy rockets fly vertically and horizontal in lines across the map. The player must shoot holes through these passing waves in order to ensure they aren’t smashed to pixilated bits by incoming enemies.
Evolved- The classic game mode returns! Make the most of 4 bombs and 3 lives and try to gain the highest score possible.
New to the game’s scoring mechanic are geoms. These little green diamonds are dispersed when an enemy is destroyed. The player picks up these icons to build up their score multiplier. The gamer is now always aware of how much there multiplier is and when it increases. In previous games, the multiplier would seem to increase at random intervals. So to actually know the state of your multiplier is definitely a welcome addition.
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 now features local multiplayer. Up to 4 players can play any of the 6 game types in either competitive or cooperative matches. Each player gets a uniquely shaped and colored ship to help keep confusion to a minimum. Power ups are available for use and come in the form of shields, bombs, and speed boosters. As games are completed , each player is given points for their placement. A running tally is kept showing who has the lead. There are no ways to modify game play other than team selection, so options are limited to what was available from the single player mode
Technically speaking, the game looks great. The simple lines and bright colors of the in game’s shapes provide a charming gaming aesthetic. Being in High Def brings out the crispness of these simple designs and gives the overall game a very clean and refined feel. The number of enemies and vividness of and quantity of color also proves to be detrimental. When enemies explode, flashes of light and multicolored lines fly out all over the place. The screen becomes clogged with alive and dead enemies, making it hard to see anything until the clutter fades away. It makes it nearly impossible to actually determine where your actual ship is. This can lead to more than few frustrating moments of random deaths because your ship hit an enemy you didn’t even know existed. The snappy techno theme from the previous game is back with a few remix variations thrown in to keep it fresh. All the classic sound effects like lasers firing, ships blowing up and black holes exploding are all back as well.
The 411:
The first Geometry Wars game was an instant classic because it was fun, simple, and addictive. The follow up title does a good job of taking the game play of its predecessor and building upon it while incorporating new game modes and improved graphics and sound. The sequel is just as fun as the original. But despite the additional modes and the addition of multiplayer, the game is still very shallow. There just isn’t much here below the surface. That’s not necessarily a bad thing given the simplistic nature of the game. This is definitely a pick up and play game where you can fool around with from 15 minutes when you need a break or want to try beat your previous score record. It stays true to its roots and doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel. However, after playing all the clones the original game has spawned off, it feels like just another right shoots, left stick moves XBLA title at this point.
Graphics
8.0
The neon colors and simple shapes are beautifully represented here, even if the screen can become cluttered at times
Gameplay
7.0
The classic right stick shoots, left stick moves control scheme that launched an entire generation of XBLA games returns.
Sound
7.0
Blasting techno, lasers, and explosions. Not much variety here, but the quality is on par with a lot of titles.
Lasting Appeal
6.0
New levels and multiplayer modes don’t stop the game from becoming old fast if you are not a devoted player.
Fun Factor
7.0
6 new game modes and multiplayer are a welcome additions, but the game feels very similar to its predecessor
King- Gamers have 1 life and no bombs. Instead of having free reign, the player can only fire from within green circles that litter the map. Enemies can no enter these circles, but they quickly open up, leaving the player vulnerable until they can seek refuge in a new circle.
