Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions

Editor's Notes

Digital version reviewed for Xbox One.

Introduction

Sierra Entertainment disappeared in 2008 after their parent company was absorbed by Activision. They were resurrected earlier this year with the indie market in mind and one of their first acts was to revive the 'Geometry Wars' series, which had also disappeared around the same time. The series began as a minigame in 'Project Gotham Racing 2' and was popular enough to successfully spin off into its own franchise. 'Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions' was developed by Lucid Games, one of the larger studios that came from the dissolution of Bizarre Creations, which developed the earlier games.

The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

'Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions' is a shoot-em-up in the vein of classic arcade titles like 'Galaga' or 'Space Invaders' that were popular in the 80s but have since become more obscure. The player controls a tiny claw with a top-down perspective while masses of hostile shapes attempt to kill the claw by touching it. The claw defends itself by moving around with one stick while firing in any direction with the other stick. Each level presents a new playing field. The most basic is a 2D plane, but true to its name, other planes come in the shape of circles, pills, cubes and others.

Each enemy has a signature shape, color, and behavior. Blue tetrahedrons cluster up and zoom directly at the player. Pink cubes linger around in one spot and don’t seem the least bit interested in the claw. Green pyramids are one of the most challenging enemies, as they are very fast and adept at dodging shots. Whenever a shape is destroyed, squirmy little green diamonds called geoms can be collected that boost the score multiplier up to a potentially obscene degree. In adventure mode, there are a few revolving objectives for each level. Some gave me a time limit and endless lives with which to accumulate a score threshold. Others reversed it with no time but only three lives. Stars are earned by reaching high scores, and some levels are blocked off with a star requirement.

The action in every level starts quite slow, and as time goes on the hordes of shapes become increasingly unmanageable. I had access to a few powers to help in times of distress like a smartbomb and an AI drone. There are several drones, all with different powers, and they followed me around to assist with my shape-exploding. One offers an extra attack, another seeks out geoms of its own volition (good for raising the score in the never-ending hunt for stars), and so on. A drone super can also be selected for extra firepower.

Even with these gadgets, 'Geometry Wars' espouses the arcade mentality of its forebears and can be very challenging, especially on single-life levels. Difficulty is fine, especially with gameplay that is so rewarding, but it's how the game metes out its content that I had a problem with. Perfection is encouraged, and trying to get past some of the star requirements can be tedious. Thankfully, the frenetic, non-stop action is addicting and makes the level locks easier to forgive.