Switching it up – Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions review.
My thumbs are sore, it’s midnight, and the only thing standing between me and Eric Neustadter’s (e) score is 300,000 points. Can’t be that hard, right?
A little note if you’re a returning player to Geometry Wars, the series may be a little less conceptual at times – as Lucid’s take on the series feels a lot more like it wants you to see the beautiful atmosphere Geometry Wars has to offer.
In 2008, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 released and iterated upon its predecessor. New, interesting modes were introduced, and each felt alive – in many ways, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 was a perfect game. How could it be topped, you may ask? Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is the answer.
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is the third game in the renowned, fantastic Geometry Wars series – but this time, it takes on new developers – Lucid Games. A dual stick shooter known for making the genre fashionable again, Geometry Wars is pure (somewhat frustrating) fun – and the series has Retro Evolved since the previous game in the series. (I couldn’t help myself.) The franchise has never felt any more lively, and Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions has added depth, expanded upon the absolutely brilliant social features of Geometry Wars 2: Retro Evolved, but has never left behind the formula that makes the Geometry Wars series so incredible. I now see myself asking the same question I did when Geometry Wars 2: Retro Evolved released – how can anything top this game?
The answer is difficult to gather, as Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is such an enjoyable game as soon as you pick it up. Each attempt is distinct and plays out differently – as a sometimes overwhelming horde of enemies race to be the first one to get you off the screen, with colour blowing up in every direction. The aim of the game is to score enough points to progress to the next level – and each enemy you kill will help you achieve this by dropping green Geoms which increase your score multiplier. Watching your score go up and up is extremely satisfying, and the incredible social features make each high score worthwhile.
Not as monumental but still detailed, the new Adventure campaign has you progress through 50 different levels collecting stars – for example, to unlock the final level, Topaz, you will have to gain 100 stars throughout the game. The stars can be earned by the 3-star ranking system which makes Geometry Wars 3 heavily replayable, and those not striving for leaderboard domination may earn it anyway as you attempt for high scores to unlock the various different levels.
Across the 50 levels, no two are ever the same – whether it’s a incredibly hard boss fight, or walls slowly closing in on you until you are squished, every challenge feels unique and has a twist. By giving you a seemingly simple task to shoot things with two buttons, Geometry Wars has more depth than most AAA games. (And it wasn’t completely broken at launch, that too.) With Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions, the series is more frenetic than ever before, and I love it.
With Geometry Wars 3’s “Classic Mode” you can revisit five of the frantic mini-games Geometry Wars 2: Retro Evolved had to offer. You can revisit the Pacifism & King modes from Geometry Wars 3’s predecessor in Adventure and still have as much fun playing them now than you did before. But what really makes Geometry Wars 3 stand out from the crowd is its new modes.
One of the most creative new games in Geometry Wars 3 is Sniper, where you have limited ammunition which adds to the already surprisingly hard difficulty of Geometry Wars 3. Or you can try Claustrophobia, where the walls slowly close in on you until you are eventually squished or killed by an enemy inevitably. It puts an extreme new sense to Geometry Wars in the fact that it requires extreme accuracy and precision. Each mode feels unique and adds to the incredible game that Geometry Wars 3 is.
Danger is slightly more manageable this time around in the franchise, as Dimensions helps you out a bit with a few power-ups to deal with your imminent demise. Unlocked through progression in the campaign, “drones” and “supers” that are limited use. Sometimes they will shoot at random enemies in your way, collect the green Geom score multipliers for you, or create a black hole to suck in everything in your path. There are five drones and five supers, each of them being upgradeable to extend their usefulness to the top of the shape chain. Drones are quite difficult to notice in the frantic fray of Geometry Wars 3, but they’re extremely helpful. These also help in the six different boss battles set out through the six different boss fights that require you to deplete a particularly large enemy’s health until it reaches zero. Sounds simple, right? It really isn’t. The boss will send out a particularly large number of shapy minions to kill you and also distract you.
Classic Mode’s inclusion may just suggest that Lucid Games are only expanding – staying true to the core of the game while iterating upon that in the best fashion possible. The sub-name of Geometry Wars 2 may have been Retro Evolved, but Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is where the series has truly evolved.
Details
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions (PC, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One)
My review is based on the Xbox One version of the game.
Developer: Lucid Games.
Publisher: Sierra Entertainment.
Released: 25th November 2014 on the PS3, PS4 & PC – 26th November 2014 on the Xbox 360 & Xbox One.
Price: £11.99/$14.99/€14.99
Pros
- Incredible social features
- A wide variety of interesting content spread across 50 levels
- A blast to the past with content from Geometry Wars 2: Retro Evolved
- Affordable price tag for a great game
- Co-op mode
Cons
- Objects of importance are a bit hard to notice in the craziness
- Can get slightly repetitive
8/10
