Yesterday was a pretty big day, got back from Florida about 1:30 a.m., it was my 21 birthday, I got my iPhone and Geometry Wars 2 released. How exciting! For now though, I just wanna talk about Geometry Wars 2 some more.
The first Geometry Wars was simple and fun. That was about it. It was one of the original XBLA titles and still holds strong to it’s name. Probably everyone with a 360 has at least sampled the game. Not to long ago there was a new Geometry Wars game released for the Wii and DS. This game was quite different from the first one released on XBLA, but it was a very fun game. Geometry Wars 2 is kind of a mix of the two games and a pretty good one.
The game adds several playing modes that the original didn’t have which make it feel like a lot more game than the first ever was. These modes are actually quite creative to and challenging to become skilled at. For example, one mode only allows you to shoot when you are inside designated areas, but if you stay in the areas for to long they disappear, leaving you out in the open. This forces you to dash around dodging enemies and strategically killing them off when you have the chance.
The graphics are definitely toned up along with a ton of new enemies. The first game made a name for itself with it’s simple, yet overly flashy graphics and this one has step it up a notch for sure (or two maybe). The enemies come in a much bigger variety of colors and the explosions are much more hyped up. This is awesome to watch, but can make the game even more difficult to play because sometimes you just can’t tell what is what.
The achievements in the game are quite impressive to, but also frustrating. They all seem achievable, which is good compared to some games if you give you seemingly impossible tasks, however I’ve become quite upset trying to do several of them. For example, in the mode I mentioned above there is an achievement for flying through 30 of the circle areas without shooting. Well, getting through 20 is easy, 25 do-able, but the last 5 are super hard to get. I’ve gotten to 28 several times, but can’t seem to get all the way to 30. Very upsetting.
I am very appreciative of the fact that when you begin to do something like that the game recognizes what you are doing and tracks your progress for you. So after going through 10 of the games a progress counter appears on the bottom of the screen so you know how many you’ve been through. It does this with all achievements that require something like this.
All in all though a solid value. It runs the standard 800 points ($10) and I say that it’s worth it if you’re into fast-paced shooter style games. It’s got way more content than the original and looks to be worth a lot more playtime. Obviously I can’t give it a lasting appeal rating yet because it’s only been a day, but I still play the original so I don’t see how this will be any different with all the extra features it’s added.
