Games / Game Reviews

Review: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2

By Sean Booker
October 6, 2008 - 13:00

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 is the sequel to the major hit Xbox Live Arcade Game - Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. It contains the same gameplay style you've grown to know and love but adds new modes and ways to think about playing. With the added elements to the game and a visual overhaul, it turns out to be a game well worth your money.

Since the launch of the last Retro Evolved, which was one of the first XBLA games to be released, fans have been awed by it's gameplay and visual style. What Retro Evolved 2 does is take the same gameplay and makes you think about using it in new and interesting ways. Together this adds for harder challenges, more to do, and a lot more fun. If you don't know, Retro Evolved 2 makes you move a ship around the screen with the left analog stick while shooting with the right analog stick. The longer you survive, the harder then enemies become to fight off and their numbers vastly expand. If things become too hectic, you are equipped with a set number of bombs that will clear the screen when used.

Boom!

The biggest difference between Retro Evolved 2 and it's prequel is the addition of Geoms. In the first Retro Evolved you gained score multipliers by surviving longer and longer, in Retro Evolved 2 you can collect Geoms to increase your multiplier. Geoms appear after you destroy and enemy and with this addition, you are now able to get high scores of unimaginable digits compared to the first game.
 
Retro Evolved 2 has six gameplay modes in it. You can unlock each new mode by playing the previous mode for a certain length of time. The first is Deadline, which you start out with from the get go. It's basically the general Geometry Wars style of play, but you only have three minutes and an unlimited number of lives. This mode is more of an introductory into the Geometry Wars style of gameplay.

The next is King which has you unable to fire your weapon unless you are inside small shielded  areas. When inside you can shoot as much as you like, but the areas will shrink and go away after a few seconds. This requires you to gauge how long to stay in a shielded area and destroy enemies before it becomes unsafe.

Surrounded on all sides.

Next is Evolved which is once again the basic Geometry Wars game. This is mainly what the original Retro Evolved was, as you can go on for as long as you can survive.

The fourth mode is Pacifism, which is much like the first Retro Evolved's pacifism achievement, in which you cannot shoot. This mode renders your weapons completely useless for the entire game. You must make the enemies follow you through small gates, passing through a gate causes it to explode, destroying nearby enemies.

Waves is the next mode, and it focuses on orange enemies that are on a set axis and move back and forth between walls. By adding many of these together in a line it acts as a wave, hence the name, and more and more of these waves are sent at you.

Doing the Wave.

Sequence is the final mode and it's nothing crazy new, it's more of a level system. Each level has you fighting certain enemies and in certain orders. This mode is by far the hardest and requires tremendous skill.

The graphics have been updated since Retro Evolved to make them sharper and much more colorful. Destroying each enemy has it explode, shooting sparks of their color out. Combining enemy destruction can make a wonderfully beautiful light show. Each mode also has it's own music and modes. For example, King has the music muffled unless your in a safe zone, while Evolved has the original theme but remixed. The music is probably one of the best things about this game as it's high paced and doesn't get repetitive. When you get destroyed by an enemy the music screeches to a halt and then wipes back into play. While using bombs causes the music to sound warped for a second.

Onslaught.

The achievements this time around are also much easier and seems to be at a good pace between all the modes. From achieving challenges as easy as unlocking all modes, to challenges like "rub up against all the walls in pacifism twice". The achievements do get difficult to collect further on though. One achievement in Sequence requires you to finish in a very specific way. These will having you coming back for more as they can be crazy hard and take a number of hours to complete.

Another new update to the franchise is multiplayer. In each mode you can play cooperatively with up to four people. There's even a mode called co-pilot where one person will drive the ship, while the other controls the gun. The multiplayer mode is only local, not online, which, at first glance, can seem like a let down. The thing is though, online multiplayer would most likely ruin this game due to all potential lag. Any bad connection leading to the slightest lag will cause you all to mostly screw up, or die. This game is just too fast paced, requiring far too much split second timing and decision making to let any lag be a factor. To counter this they have made user high scores a huge part of this game. Each mode select screen shows the top high scores of everyone on your friends list. Also, during each mode in the top right hand corner you will see the highest score on your friends list so that you have something to play towards beating.

Can you survive?

Overall Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 is a great game to continue the Geometry Wars franchise with. If you enjoyed the first game, you will find this perfect will all the graphical and audio updates along with the new styles of play and gameplay modes. For 800 points ($10 US) it's definitely worth your money and will make any Geometry Wars fan and new comer quite happy.

Verdict: Buy It

Rating: 10 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12