Geometry Wars

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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, Windows Vista

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 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 November 6, 2006, a version of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was announced as in development for mobile phones.^[3]At CES 2007, it has also been released for Windows Vista. On March 7, 2007 a demo for the Vista version of Geometry Wars: Evolved was released on the internet.

Contents 1 Game play 2 Enemies 3 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 3.1 Weapons 3.2 Achievements 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Game play

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 detonate a bomb that destroys everything on the visible screen. Any enemies not visible on the field will not be destroyed. Some people believe as a strategy, 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 100,000 points. New lives are awarded every 75,000 points. The weapon system is upgradeable, but only through accumulating points, with a chance to upgrade every 10,000 points. The number of weapons has been reduced to two, swapping randomly between them after the first 10,000 point upgrade. In the later stages of the game, players must pursue a rounding tactic with the shapes, arranging them on the screen to make it easier to destroy them. Clever movement will allow for the player to do so.

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

[edit] Enemies

Picture	Description	Retro	Evolved
	Purple Pinwheel/Teletubby (Pinwheel/Teletubby) (Sometimes called Cyclones)- The grunts of Evolved. These creatures spin while moving, but move quite slowly and are slightly attracted to the player. Set on a twisting course that comes very close to the player, but does not make contact.	Evolved only	25 pts
	Cyan Diamond (Diamond)(Sometimes called Blue Things or 'Stupids') - The grunts of Retro. These shapes simply fly straight toward the player at a slow pace gradually gaining momentum, without avoiding any of the player's fire. They don't spin around in space; they will always remain in the same orientation, a diamond.	45 pts	50 pts
	Green Square with Inner Diamond (Scared) (Sometimes Called "Green Meanies")- These shapes fly toward the player with more determination than the Cyan Diamond, and will dodge the player's fire when the player shoots in their direction. Ultimately, you must remember that they are scared of your bullets.	175 pts	100 pts
	Large Pink Squares with Crosses (Spawnship, Xboxes, Salmon,Big Pinks)- These shapes are much like the Green Squares, except that they do not avoid the player's fire. In addition, they split into three smaller moving versions of themselves when destroyed by the player. They hone in on the player in a circular movement. These move just as fast as their parent, but due to their circular motion, progress across the field at a slower rate.	65 pts	100 pts
	Small Pink Squares with Crosses (Spawns, Xbox Spawns,Small Pinks)- These shapes originate from the larger versions of themselves and home in on the player in a slow, counter-clockwise, spiral motion. When in large quantities, it is common for the small squares to swarm together and rapidly spin in wheel-like formation.	125 pts	50 pts
	Gravitron (Black Hole, sometimes humorously called "Red holes" or "Apple Jacks") - 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. 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 (Blue Circles/Anti-Matter)- These enemies, although small, are very dangerous, especially in numbers. Their behavior is quite similar to 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. Like Spawns, these are unaffected by Gravitrons due to their size.	100 pts	50 pts
	Snake (Snake) (Sometimes called Worms or Sperm)- 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. Think about using the bomb.	Evolved only	150 pts
	Red Magnet (Pac-Man, Nemesis, Hannibal, Kamikaze, Game Overs, Evil Twin)- 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
	Aphids (The Kryll,The Virus,Blue Jacks,Bats, Blue Swarm, Butterflies, Gnats, The Fuzz)- The smallest enemies in the game, they are blue roses that look like three bat triangles attached to the end of a larger bat triangle; they are arguably the most deadly enemies that the player will encounter. They appear later in the game. When attacking, the bats swarm at the player by the hundreds, often from many directions and acting as one entity. They Also spawn from gravitrons with the protons. Effective for increasing multiplier rapidly if dealt with.	Evolved only	10 pts

[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 (XBLA), Windows
Media	Direct Download

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] It has been announced on Microsoft keynote at CES that Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved is coming for PC.^[5] Known system requirements for Geometry Wars is a PC with Windows Vista. Oberon Media is providing hosting services for the game and will be charging $7.95 USD.

[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. However, its small projectiles are easily misdirected by gravity, making it ineffective against gravitron enemies, unless used up close.

• 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.

[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. There is no achievement feature on the Windows Vista PC version.

The full list of achievements for the Xbox 360 version are as follows:

Pacifism: survive the first 60 seconds of the game without fireng
Multitastic: earn a 10x multiplyer
Quartermaster: collect 9 bombs
Mad Catz Skills: collect 9 lives
Score 100,000: earn 100,000 points
Score 250,000: earn 250,000 points
Score 500,000: earn 500,000 points
Score 1,000,000: earn 1,000,000 points
Survived 100,000: earn 100,000 points without dying
Survived 250,000: earn 250,000 points without dying
Survived 500,000: earn 500,000 points without dying
Survived 1,000,000: earn 1,000,000 points without dying

[edit] See also

• Xbox Live Arcade
• Project Gotham Racing 2
• Project Gotham Racing 3
• Grid Wars, freeware Geometry Wars alternative for PC
• Blast Factor, a similar game available for download on the PlayStation Network

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Geometry Wars website
• 'Strategy Guide with Video'
• Geometry Wars' Achievements list
• Reviews of several Geometry Wars clones
• Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved at MSN games