Geometry Wars originally debuted as a niche mini-game in Project Gotham Racing 2; eventually making its way onto Xbox Live Arcade. It was an instant hit and quickly legitimized Xbox Live Arcade in the same way as Halo legitimized the original Xbox. Now it's taking on a life of its own as a new independent release for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. I opted to pick up the DS version because of its portability and its friendly price. Dozens of hours later, I'm glad I took the plunge.


Gameplay

The gameplay reminds me a lot of Smash TV. You move your ship using one directional control (dpad or touch screen) while shooting your cannons using the other control. You are confined by either a large or small geometric boundary which you cannot exit or shoot out of. Your task is to shoot as many enemies that appear or enter your geometric "arena" before they touch you causing you to explode and lose a life.

What makes Geometry Wars Galaxies so great is the sheer diversity of gameplay they mix in with this simplistic idea. The enemies that appear are so varied. Some appear and go to one predetermined direction, while others track you around the arena forcing you to pick them off. Black holes act passively until you shoot them once; they then will start sucking you and any enemy nearby in. Finally, there are enemies that will approach you cautiously until you start shooting in their general direction, in which case they high tail it out of there.

Besides the habits of enemies, the game varies its gameplay with the environments it puts you in. You can be in small arenas, large arenas, and even ones with moving pillars. In addition, sometimes they'll send wave after wave of black holes or aggressive pursuit enemies. Sometimes enemies will appear at the closest predetermined spawn point to your ship, sometimes the farthest, and sometimes they'll spawn exactly where you are at that given point.

Combating these varying conditions isn't done alone. You have a drone that helps you clear out enemies. Some are very similar like defend and snipe, but they each have subtle differences. Also the ability to level up your drones allows them to act quicker, smarter, and gives the a little more teeth.

Most of the planets, galaxies, and drones are locked. However, by collecting geoms you can spend them on these various unlockables.

In a game of this specific genre, it's rare to see AI this good from enemy ship actions to the shooting habits of your turret. While other games I think have better AI, it's like comparing apples and oranges.

In addition to the main game, you can also play the original Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved game that's available on Xbox Live Arcade. Also there's a couple multiplayer modes including a co-op mode that allows you to work together to fight off the waves of enemies coming at you in addition to a competitive mode that works a lot like the old Tetris versus modes where more enemies are thrown at your opponent depending on the better you do and visa versa.

Overall, the gameplay and various modes are some of the strongest aspects this game in and for this platform.


Controls

The control method is pretty simplistic. You use the combination of the dpad and touch screen to control and fire your ship's cannons. You can control which one you use. This is so you can fire in all directions while moving your ship all over the screen. The right shoulder button controls your bomb, which really can save you when you need it. I end up using my thumb combined with a screen protector on the bottom screen to play this game. The reason is because the stylus cramps my hand way too much, which is a first for this game system. I can play hours of Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass while using the stylus without cramping; however after just 15-20 minutes I just drop the stylus and start using my thumb because my joints just start killing me.

Geometry Wars Galaxies is one of those games which really demands two analog-type control methods. The problem with the DS is that it really only has one, that being its touch screen. Like Smash TV, you move your character with once movement device, while the direction of your fire is controlled by the other. Ultimately this game is a precision game and when you're forced to choose an 8-way digital control method for one or the other, the game falls short in the control area.



Graphics

While most games these days are trying to make the leap into 3D, Geometry Wars Galaxies takes the leap to 1D. This is because everything from your ship to the spatial boundaries, to the enemy explosions are made up of single lines. Even the menu style is made up of thin colored lines. It gives the game a very retro feel like you're playing a long lost game never released in the early 80's, which if released would have dazzled the masses.

Still with all these simplistic graphics the sheer amount of enemies on the screen causes the game to slow down at certain points. This is kind of disappointing because one aspect of the gameplay is your ability to cope when dozens upon dozens of enemies swarm at you all at once. The slowdown makes it easier to pick them off or to cooperate with your drone to clear the screen. Still, this is the biggest drawback besides the simplistic graphics for those who like a more visually stimulating experience. Still, with as many different gameplay elements and colored enemies trying to blow you up, the simplicity makes for a fantastic visual experience in my opinion.



Sound

The audio is a mixed bag with Geometry Wars Galaxies. The music consists of many upbeat techno themes which really fit into the hectic pacing of the game. The songs are so good that I have to plug in some headphones or ear buds to the audio out jack on my DS just to hear some of the subtler rhythms of the audio. While many of the tracks repeat among the various planets, the music is still good enough to keep me from turning on my own techno songs in the background.

The sound effects harkens back to the retro days of Tempest and Star Wars. Just about everything produces a sound effect from shooting your cannon to your turret shooting its weapon. When enemies appear, there's a unique sound effect, and even when they explode. The problem is with so much going on the sound effects become too garbled to really tell what's going on. What's worse is that there are some really annoying sound effects too. For instance when the turret is about to anchor and start firing around the board, it makes an annoying alarm-like sound. This seems to go off every 5-10 seconds which is really annoying and drowns out the music on the default volume setting. What's worse is that the alarm sound effect is much louder than most of the others to the point where it's the prominent sound. But overall the sound is good, just far from perfect.


Replay Value

There are two reasons to play Geometry Wars Galaxies for dozens of hours. First is opening up the game to its maximum potential. That is, to collect enough geoms to unlock all the planets and drones. You’re also tasked with upgrading all your drones to their maximum level as well as to get gold medals on all the planets. Simply doing this much would take at least a weekend and that's if you're good enough to get the medals on the first try. For me, it can take anywhere from 5 to 20 tries to get a gold medal on a particular planet.

The other motivation to play even past the unlocking and upgrading portion is to maximize your score. First, you can compete against your own high score. However, the online leader boards are much more popular to see where you stand against everyone else. Right now the leader boards are sparsely populated. Someone as mediocre as me can get a top 20 global ranking on seldom-played planets. After Christmas, this probably won't be the case. Still, it's interesting to think that this game has brought the score-based achievements back into mainstream gaming.

The gameplay is strong yet fair and only minor control annoyances keep the replay from soaring even higher. Geometry Wars Galaxies has kept me busy for the past three weeks and while I have unlocked every planet and upgraded every drone, I have yet to master every planet. This is what drives me to play this game any time I have the chance.

Recommended: Yes