Geometry Wars

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Geometry Wars

Developer(s)	Bizarre Creations
Publisher(s)	Microsoft
Designer(s)	Stephen "Cakey" Cakebread
Release date(s)	November 17, 2003
Genre(s)	Multi-directional shooter
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E)
Platform(s)	Xbox, Xbox 360

Geometry Wars is a minigame that came included in Project Gotham Racing 2 on the Xbox that can be accessed through the in game garage. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved is an updated version that is available through purchase over Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360, with a partial demo included in Project Gotham Racing 3. It is the second most downloaded game on the Xbox Live Arcade.^[1] The gameplay follows older multi-directional arcade type shooters. The gamer starts with three lives and gains more lives and weapons as they progress, but the game gradually becomes more difficult.^[2] On 6th November 2006, a version of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was announced as in development for mobile phones. ^[3]

1 Gameplay
2 Enemies
3 Summary
4 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
- 4.1 Weapons
- 4.2 Achievements
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Geometry Wars, created by Stephen "Cakey" Cakebread at Bizarre Creations, can be described as a mix between arcade classics Robotron: 2084, Asteroids, and Tempest. The player controls a simple "ship" with the left thumbstick and shoots with the right. The only other control offered is through the left or right triggers, which detonates a bomb that destroys everything in on the screen. Bombs should be used as a last resort, as they do not reward any points for any enemies they destroy. New bombs are awarded every 25,000 points. New lives are awarded every 20,000 points. The weapon system is upgradeable, but only through accumulating points, with a chance to upgrade every 10,000 points.

In Geometry Wars Evolved, the player is awarded new lives every 75,000 points and new bombs every 100,000 points. The number of weapons has been reduced to two, swapping randomly between them after the first 10,000 point upgrade.

The gameplay is very simple - stay alive as long as possible by avoiding crashing into geometric enemies. These enemies are as follows:

[edit] Enemies

Description	Retro	Evolved
Purple Pinwheel (Pinwheel) (Sometimes called Cyclones)- The grunts of Evolved. These spin while moving, but move quite slowly and are slightly attracted to the player. When they are first spawned, they are set on a twisting course that eventually reaches the position of the player when it spawned.	Evolved only	25 pts
Cyan Diamond (Diamond)(Sometimes called Blue Things) - The grunts of Retro. These shapes simply fly straight toward the player at a slow pace, without avoiding any of the player's fire. They don't even spin around in space; they will always remain in the same orientation, a diamond.	45 pts	50 pts
Green Square with Inner Diamond (Scare) (Sometimes Called "Green Meanies")- These shapes fly toward the player with more determination than the blue diamonds, but will dodge the player's fire when the player shoots in their direction.	175 pts	100 pts
Large Pink Squares with Crosses (Spawnship)- These shapes are much like the Green Squares, except that they do not avoid the player's fire. In addition, they split into three slow moving versions of themselves when destroyed by the player. They home in on the player in a circular movement.	65 pts	100 pts
Small Pink Squares with Crosses (Spawns)- These shapes originate from the larger versions of themselves and home in on the player in a slow, counter-clockwise, spiral motion. Since they are difficult to see, especially in a chaotic battle, they should be destroyed as soon as possible. When in large quantities, it is common for the small squars to swarm together and rapidly spin in wheel-like formation. At this point they are much tougher to disperse.	125 pts	50 pts
Gravitron (Black Hole, sometimes humorously called "Red holes") - When alone, these enemies don't pose much of a threat as they practically don't move. However, if the player fires at them they will activate, turning into a swirling stream of particles that revolve around the red circle, which increases in size and increases in gravitational pull. If the circle's size and mass reaches a critical level by sucking in too many enemies, it will explode in a cloud of protons (see below). A gravitron can only be shot at point-blank range, because its gravitational field will cause projectiles to diverge from it, and careen to the side. When shot, the gravitron decreases in size, but retains its gravitational pull and stream of particles. So, it is possible for the gravitron to survive for a long time, gradually increasing in mass until its gravitational pull is so strong that it even pulls in the player's ship. A good technique is to wait until the gravitron has absorbed a large number of enemies, then go in close to destroy it. The more enemies it sucks in, the more points are awarded for destroying a gravitron.	75 pts per hit, 175 pts destroy	150+ pts
Protons (Anti-Matter)- These enemies, although small, are very dangerous, especially in numbers. They behave like the blue diamonds, except that they form a large cloud of themselves after the self-destruction of a gravitron and move at a very fast rate.	100 pts	50 pts
Snake (Snake) (Sometimes called Worms)- The Snake moves slowly and toward the player with determination. It moves in a slithering, meandering path. It can only be terminated if shot in the head. However, coming into contact with its head or its tail will destroy the player's ship.	Evolved only	150 pts
Red Magnet (Pac-Man)- A red magnet-shaped ship (like the player's own) that is attracted to the player will suddenly fly at the player's ship and if it misses it will stop and try again to get the player. It can project a shield in front of itself, so it is wise to shoot it from behind or from the side. Red magnets are among the fastest moving enemies in the game. These are not as common as the other enemies.	Evolved only	150 pts
Blue Jacks (Blue Swarm, Butterflies)- The smallest enemies in the game, they are blue roses that look like three triangles attached to the end of a larger triangle; they are arguably the most deadly enemies that the player will encounter. They appear later in the game. When attacking, they swarm at the player by the hundreds, often from many directions and acting as one entity. Bombs are extremely useful against them. After using a bomb to destroy the swarm of blue jacks, the player can shoot the rest of the group with relative ease.	Evolved only	10 pts

[edit] Summary

Geometry Wars is an example of "classic" gameplay: few enemy types, simple graphics, and addictive gameplay. For this reason, it and its sequel have been extremely well received among those who have played it.

[edit] Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved

Developer(s)	Bizarre Creations
Publisher(s)	Microsoft
Designer(s)	Stephen "Cakey" Cakebread
Release date(s)	November 16, 2005
Genre(s)	Multi-directional shooter
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E)
Platform(s)	Xbox 360

An upgraded version of Geometry Wars, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, is offered on the Xbox Live Marketplace in the Xbox Live Arcade section. It costs 400 Microsoft Points (4.8€/£3.25/$5 USD approx.) and contains both Geometry Wars Retro (as seen in Project Gotham Racing 2) and Geometry Wars Evolved. The demo is free to download and offers the full game (with a four minute time limit on play) but it lacks the ability to see the player's highscore against other people's. In the Xbox 360 game Project Gotham Racing 3 made by the same developer, there is a playable demo of the game in the garage. This demo features the full Retro mode, unlike the Arcade demo, as well as the four-minute Evolved demo.

Evolved contains very similar gameplay compared to Retro, with improved graphics for the Xbox 360 console. There are, however, a number of differences between "Evolved" and its predecessor. Most notably, the player can only accumulate a maximum of nine ships and nine bombs (compared to the unlimited number possible in "Retro") and the playing area has been altered in size, such that the entire field cannot be viewed at once, with the game instead utilising a scrolling feature. On March 10, 2006, Microsoft announced that Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was the best selling game on Xbox Live Arcade.^[4]

[edit] Weapons

Like Retro, Evolved features an upgradeable weapon system. Weapons are usually upgraded every 10,000 points. There are three main weapon types in the game:

Straight-Line Auto -

This weapon is a basic gun that shoots in a straight line. It can only be used from 0 to 9,995 (scores between 9,996 and 9,999 are impossible with the scoring system) points, after which it is replaced with the Spread-Fire weapon and Blast-Cannon weapon.

Spread-Fire -

This weapon is awarded alternately to the Blast-Cannon weapon. It fires a very fast, automatic stream of three small projectiles, making it useful for destroying hordes of small enemies. An effective technique is to "hose" the battlefield with fire from the Spread-Fire weapon. However, its small projectiles are easily misdirected by gravity, making it ineffective against gravitron enemies.

Blast-Cannon -

This weapon is awarded alternately to the Spread-Fire weapon. It fires a slightly slower, automatic stream of five large, flaming projectiles, which cause noticeable disruptions to the space-grid background. It is useful for destroying gravitron enemies as its large projectiles are less affected by a gravitron's gravity field. However, since it warps the space-grid considerably and fills the air with many large projectiles, it can be distracting to players.

[edit] Achievements

Geometry Wars features an achievement system, as do all Xbox 360 games. The achievements can be obtained by scoring a certain amount of points, surviving to a certain amount of points, or other feats such as getting 9 lives at once.