Geometry Wars: Galaxies

"Great game, no geometry included"

Geometry Wars is an amazingly simple yet fun retro arcade style game. Best of all, you don't have to know geometry! But lets get down to the real reason of this, the review....

Story: You are special agent John Henderson, last survivor of humanity. You are the last hope against thousands of Aliens destroying earth..... except thats not the story. There IS no story, just you and an infinite number of enemies. Sounds fun, doesn't it?

Gameplay: Now the gameplay is rather simple, but very good. Basically, the top screen is what you pay attention to, because it shows you and the all the enemy shapes attacking you. There are two control layouts, either you shoot with the touch screen and fly with the d-pad or letter buttons, or vice versa. But when the going gets tough, don't forget you have a good Ai friend called the drone. Now the drone isn't nearly as powerful as you, but he doesn't die and helps you out a lot. There are 8 drone layouts you can buy, but only one is available at the start. During the game, whatever drone type you use, at the end of the battle it gets experience, making it better. During the game, when you shoot down enemies, they drop little yellow shapes called Geoms. There are 2 in game weapons. The first is the laser. You use this most of the time, and it gets upgraded throughout each battle, making it more powerful, and more shots get fired at a time. The second weapon is the bomb. These things are limited, but they will save your life by destroying almost every enemy on the screen. In the beginning of the battle, you can usually just sit in one place and kill everything. But as the battle progresses, you will be moving around shooting things constantly, while it may take 5 or 6 shots to kill them. Eventually, your ship will either explode in a fantastic array of colors and lines, or your hand will wear out,then you will exploded in a fantastic array of colors and lines. After that, you will be taken to a screen that awards your drone with experience, and award you with either a gold medal, a silver medal, a bronze medal, or nothing. Each medal will award you with bonus Geoms, letting you buy more drones, planets and galaxies, allowing you to win more medals, get more geoms, ect. Some times, when millions of enemies crowd the screens, the game slows down drastically, causing some people annoyance, or some people (like me) a very good opportunity to get your self back together.

Graphics: The graphics are very simple. Little neon shapes fly around in a neon box shooting each other with neon lines, very lovely against a almost blakc background. Very suitable for this game.

Audio: The audio is great, retro back ground music along with laser fire and explosions. Your laser emits a different sound every time it changes.

Replay Value: I'm not sure if replay value is a good word, scince there is no replaying. But this game is good for a very long time. Shooting neon shapes through every planet of every galaxy, trying to get that elusive gold medal.

Overall: This game is a great game that probably never gets old. Every time you kill one shape, 3 more appear. It keeps you on your toes, adrenaline rushing, just barely managing to survive. It draws on those arcade game many years before our time, but makes it modern, a great blend.

The good:
An endless number of enemies for you to destroy on a chaotic battlefield
Simple graphics

The bad:
Sometimes gets repetitive.
Not good for long times.
Endless enemies.

Score Board:
Gameplay: 8
Graphics:9
Sound: 7
Replay: 10
Overall:8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/09

Game Release: Geometry Wars: Galaxies (US, 11/27/07)