Geometry Wars: Galaxies (Wii) - Review by yoshimn

Introduction

First, the history (no don't go to sleep - I promise this wont take long). Originally appearing as a mini-game on the arcade cabinet in your virtual garage in Project Gotham Racing 2 on the Xbox, Geometry Wars was updated for Xbox Live Arcade where it became, for a time, the most downloaded game on that platform. Numerous versions have appeared for other platforms - including mobile phones and not it's time for Wii owners to get invited to the party. Does this outing warrant the price hike? I think so and I think you will too.

Gameplay

The basic Geometry Wars format has been kept - you'll be dodging and weaving madly (or with well timed strategic movements in my case *cough*) to avoid insane numbers of enemies bent on your demise. But this time you won't be restricted to a single playing field to try over & over again - in 'Galaxies' you'll have 10 galaxies & over 60 planets to conquer. Well - not conquer as such as you never 'win'; your just aiming to get medals & enough 'geoms' (dropped by dead enemies) to unlock those planets & upgrade your faithful drone ship. Ah yes - another difference for the Wii is the appearance of an ever so helpful drone which can be set to perform one of a range of jobs on your chosen level (after you've unlocked the feature with your geoms of course. These features include attack (the default), defend, sweep, collect, snipe, ram, turret & bait. Each behaviour you use will gradually level up as you progress - moving quicker, firing more rapidly and more accurately. You can't change the behaviour once you're in a battle, so choose wisely - there are definite advantages to certain behaviours on certain levels.

You also get a score multiplier upgrade every time you pick up a geom - up to a massive x150. Keep alive for long enough with this sort of multiplier and you'll get a seriously high score. Keeping alive of course not being that easy as by the time you hit x150 the paying area is getting seriously crowded. Also the harder enemies will be starting to make an appearance - ones that rapidly home in n your position if you don't take them out quickly.

Multi-player is available as either a cooperative or versus play, though it's a shame that there is no online multi-player. I also found the presence of another player occasionally distracting as I was temporarily convinced that his ship / bullets were enemies. There are online leader boards which will leave you gasping at the top scores compared to your pitiful attempts. Given the fact that my WiiMote hand & wrist became quite tense after a short-ish session I think some of these players must come away with serious crab-hand!

A nice bonus is the inclusion of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved for the DS - connect your DS to your Wii and you can download the game which will be available while the DS is kept turned on.

Controls

You can choose to use the Nunchuk + WiiMote or the classic controller (should you have one) to control the game. With the setup that most people will have, the Nunchuk's analog stick controls movement, firing direction is via the WiiMote and the C button unleashes the screen-clearing bombs. Using the WiiMote can be problematic: occasionally I found that I'd lost control of the targeting which in this game can very rapidly lead to disaster. However for the casual gamer it actually works pretty well - just don't expect to be heading the top-score tables using it.

Graphics

Galaxies is a very good looking game: each enemy disintegrating into showers of colourful particles that at hectic moments can almost have you playing blind. The background can also get warped like gravity wells gone mad as you fire.

Sound

A fitting techno beat accompanies you as you play which although a little repetitive matches the mood well. Other than that, the explosion & firing sound effects pretty much hit the spot.

Final comments

Great fun to play in short bursts and well worth the asking price. If you're the competitive sort then the leader boards will provide you all the challenge you need to keep honing your skills.

Pro: Simple but enjoyably frantic, extras in this version definitely bring a lot to the game.
Con: Difficult to remember what each planet plays like as they all look the same. You may not get the best out of it without investing in a classic controller.
Final score: 8

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