I'm considering doing more of these. Possibly under a moniker of "Irrelevant and Irreverant" or something similar. Feedback much appreciated.

Before I really say anything, here's some bullet facts most of you won't care much about.
-I'm talking about the Wii version. There is a DS version, but I have not played it.
-All comparisons between Galaxies and Retro Evolved are to the PC version of Retro Evolved.


I'm going to assume nobody here is a stranger to Geometry Wars. Ok, no I'm not.

Geometry Wars is a fast, chaotic, brightly colored dual-stick shooter, originally added as an extra in Project Gotham Racing 2 (I think it was 2... it's not important) and later released on XBLA. It's simple, intense, arcade-y goodness. I love it.

As time went on, the game evolved, mostly visually, but also with a few new enemies and such. I first played the game under its "Retro Evolved" edition. I had fun. It got pretty repetitive, but not really boring, thanks to the sheer intensity. Basically, you are in a box, and various shapes spawn and try to collide with you. It's hallucinogenically delicious.

A time later, a shelved wii game caught my eye at the store. Geometry Wars: Galaxies, it called itself. From what I could see on the back of the case, it seemed quite the upgrade. Varied levels and modes, multiplayer, and the use of the classic controller to preserve dual-stick play. (Pointer's there, but it sucks) So I bought it.

I took it home, put it in, and immediately felt that something was wrong. The shapes, and my ship, are smaller. This irked me. It also irked me that the multiplier, which I would rarely get to 10 on Retro Evolved, rapidly advanced well past 50 my first play. I also did not expect the small white square that followed me around and shot at things for me.

In Retro Evolved, the multiplier goes up over time, or based on kills. Either way, it'll happen sooner or later. In Galaxies, each downed enemy drops a small yellow trinket. A "Geom." Grab a geom, the multiplier goes up. Geoms also serve as currency, to unlock new levels and bot (the white square from before) behaviors.

I at first found these changes to be awful, but felt compelled to keep playing, for fear of having wasted my money on the purchase. Thankfully, over time, I started to see the wisdom behind the decisions.

See, in Retro Evolved, you have a rectangular box. That's it. Galaxies offers many different sizes and shapes for arenas, as well as varied obstacles. This means that one could conceivably take advantage and find places to camp. By basing the score multiplier on pickups, the player is forced to move around if he wants a high score. The smaller shapes and players means more screen real estate. Arguable as to whether or not that's a GOOD thing, but it's justified. The geom=money bit... Ok, that one's a bit of a cheap trick. To keep going through the game, you'll probably have to do a couple levels over again. It extends gameplay in a way it doesn't need to. I think it has about the same replay value no matter what, cuz it's all about short, fast, intense survival rounds.



The bot... Eh, I just started to like the little guy. Though I must admit, one "personality" for him was VASTLY superior to the rest. Kinda nulls the point of being able to choose. But it's a cool idea.

Besides, even if it's not the best thing for him to do, it was still awesome to watch him ram into dudes for me.

Multiplayer... Kinda halfassed.Instead of allowing two people into the main game, they set aside a few levels specifically for multiplayer. Varied, yes, but few, and it feels a bit tacked on and unnecessary.

Also, the game has Retro Evolved included, which is pretty cool. It removes geoms and hazards and all the new stuff, but keeps the objects small. It works pretty well.

I could go into detail about the different stuff to do in the game. Certainly the most entertaining one, for me, was when there was essentially a black hole in the center, and everything (you and enemies alike) are forced to orbit it. It was pretty awesome. Most others are more forgiving, but you're basically guaranteed to find some levels you hate and some you love.

But that could get long-winded and dumb, so I'll just leave with the fact that it's a great game, the best that I've seen from the series. One of the best I've seen from the genre. It's varied and intense, but still simple. Though, without a classic controller, the pointer might get a little frustrating. Unless you don't hate it.

God knows I do... I hate it so much...