Sunday, December 2, 2007

Geometry Wars: Galaxies


A gem. I've been hoping for this title to be ported to the DS ever since it was released as a $5 XBLA download called Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. Ported it was but as a bonus game attached to this game subtitled Galaxies.

That's right, where Retro Evolved was a fun little distraction for an inferior system, Galaxies has been fleshed out quite a bit. An automated, upgradeable, drone has been added along with a slew of new enemies. Also added are Geoms. Space bucks you can use to open up new systems and planets and that also serve to multiply your scores.

Beautiful to look at and tons of SHMUP action. Controls took a bit of getting used to and made me wish I could play it with dual analog sticks or a Wii Remote and Nunchuk. Minor issue though and not nearly enough to warrant passing this title up unless you have really fragile thumbs. I'm not going to lie, my little hitchhikers are really barking after playing this game for a few hours.

The closest I could get to simulating dual analog sticks was to use the control pad for movement and ABXY as a second D-Pad to shoot; just roll your thumbs over two buttons at a time to shoot diagonally.

One issue though: lag. At first I thought I had found a secret powerup that slowed down time. Then I thought, wow, I must have gotten so far in the game that I broke it! No. After a few million points and the waves of polygons start pouring from the corners you'll find the game really starts to chug. It can be kind of frustrating.

Lots of replay value for people who like to post High Scores. You can post your scores to Internet leaderboards as well. I've been playing it non-stop since release trying to up my total score and earn all the medals.

Overall, a strong Buy.

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