Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved

"One of the most original, and fun, games to have come out in a while."

Every once in a while, you're treated to an extremely simplistic game that is not only mind-blowingly cool, but fun as hell to play. And to make it all even better, it's extremely cheap (only 400 MS points!).

First off, this is not a game for the non-devoted. It has a fairly large learning curve, and will set some people off in the beginning. I know when I first got the game I was extremely frustrated. That's the thing about this game, the more you play, the better you get, slowly...very slowly. On average, it took me around 2-3 months before I could even hit 200,000 points. On the other hand, it's so addicting you'll never go too long before playing it again, trying to beat your HighScore.

One of the selling points for the game is the graphics. They not only look gorgerous, but give the game an originality that others don't have. Plus, the simpicity of the baddies and characters makes it all that much more fun. And to top it all off, you can have up to hundreds of enemies on screen at once, how cool is that?

The gameplay consists of destroying shapes. Sounds boring right? Anything but that. It is one of the most intense games you will play once you get up in the millions. Once you get that high, hundreds of enemies will spawn at the screen at once, all wanted to get a piece of your ship. But you won't let that happen, you can't. It's your job to blow the **** out of them. The main strategy is making sure you have enough lives, bombs, and a large multiplier for the battle ahead. Once you get the hang of it, you'll never want to give this game up.

The game's amazing, in fact, my only gripe is no multiplayer support. The leaderboards are intense, and so are the achievements. In fact, the achievements are some of the most challenging out there. It took me over 1 year to complete all of them. This alone will keep the replay factor fresh.

Overall, it's a great game, and is definitely worth the money. It's challenging, but once you get the hang of it, you'll never look back.

9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/11/07