Written by Brian Beck, 12/21/2007
Played on:
DS
I can say that, without a doubt, Geometry Wars on the original Xbox was a hit. Originally, it was included on the Project Gotham Racing 2 disc -- just a minigame. Later, it helped to propel Xbox Live Arcade to great success. The controls were simple, the graphics were easy on the eyes but high quality in a strange sort of way (especially in HD on the 360) and the game was just plain fun to play in short bursts. Naturally, then, the game will eventually appear on other consoles, right?
Enter Geometry Wars: Galaxies on the Nintendo DS. This game is no different, formula wise, than the 360 version. You're still going to be flying around various similar-looking locales (yes, the graphics are worse), and still shooting up vast hordes of enemies. Included now, though, are things like an upgradeable drone that can shoot enemies for you or 'collect' geoms. These Geoms are the second addition, and can be used for a variety of things. However, this version of Geometry Wars is definitely not without its problems.
The game's main problem comes into play when you first pick up the game. The controls seem simple enough -- move the ship around with the D-Pad and fire using the stylus. Just put the stylus on the bottom screen, where there's an image of your ship. Where you touch down there will determine where exactly the ship fires. However, this poses one big problem -- the game just does not feel right whatsoever.
Now, I've played this game for quite a few hours thanks to a recent 6 hours of flying/waiting in airports, and have really tried to like these controls. But, to me, this game really was not meant to be played on a D-Pad and touch screen. For one, the game is hard to control after playing it for awhile. Sure, you will eventually get somewhat used to it, but it is still awkward. You can mess with the controls a bit -- use the face buttons to fire, use the D-pad to fire and the stylus to move and such, but the game still really doesn't feel right to me.
That doesn't prevent Geometry Wars from doing some things right, though. First of all, you're still getting a metric assload of levels to play through. Sure, they all look somewhat alike, but that is part of the charm of Geometry Wars, right? You'll unlock these levels (and galaxies) through the collection of little yellow bits that enemies drop called Geoms. These are like a sort of currency that you can use to buy the new levels, or to unlock new modes for your drone.
These new drone modes can alter your drone's abilities, allowing it to fire more effectively, to defend you or to collect the tasty little Geom bits for you. It is a neat little touch and provides a reason to play beyond just going for a higher score than you had the last time. You'll have to do some extensive playing to get these abilities to a good level, since you gain experience for them through playing. Of course, you can still gun for that high score in an effort to get gold medals on all the levels. And you're going to see some stupidly high scores here, since your multiplier can rocket as high as 150x. Yes, you heard me right, 150x. You're going to lose all of that if you die once, though, so staying alive is of absolute, utmost importance.
The graphics and sound here are in a style you'd expect from Geometry Wars. All of the ships are shapes -- geometric figures if you will. The music and sound effects will definitely sound familiar to anyone that has played the game on the Xbox or Xbox 360. Both are, naturally, of a lower quality than the stuff you'd see on those systems, sure, but they're actually pretty decent for a DS game. However, it can slow down some when you get a ton of enemies on the screen at once -- a limitation of the DS hardware. It really isn't all that bad, though, and didn't annoy me all that much.
Overall, Geometry Wars Galaxies is not a bad game in the least. There's a ton to do here between unlocking new planets/galaxies, buffing up your drone and getting stupidly high scores. You can go ahead and play some co-op multiplayer with a buddy, or can just play the original game (referred to as 'Retro Evolved') if you like. However, the controls, while intuitive, will take awhile to get used to -- I still didn't find myself feeling OK with them after hours of playing. Not to mention, holding the stylus for incredibly long periods can really make your hand cramp up in a way that dual analog sticks didn't.
This is definitely worth picking up if you aren't going to get frustrated with the controls too easily. If hard-to- get-used-to controls get on your nerves easily, though, skip this game and go play it on your 360 instead.
