Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved Mobile

Trapped inside an intergalactic box*, you are the pilot of a spacecraft. With just two weapons at your disposal – three charge bombs and a blast cannon with unlimited ammo – there isn't any room for mistakes. If your spacecraft is hit three times, the alien life forms will break through. You'll be eaten alive... By squares and squiggly images!

Inspired by the top-down shooters that once ruled arcades, Geometry Wars is a new game with a classic style. The graphics are as simple as they can be, having fewer colors than the games it could be easily compared to, such as Smash TV. This series, which started on Xbox Live Arcade and will soon go multi-platform, was not created to be a showpiece of what gaming hardware can do. Geometry Wars was made with the goal of one-upping all other top-down shooters.

 
*I wonder if this is what the inside of a black hole looks like?

Before this game, originally dubbed “Retro Evolved,” pops up on the Wii and DS, it will make a stop on mobile phones. The auto-shoot controls and basic game engine were perfect candidates for mobile gaming, the contents of which have been scaled to fit on tiny screens without losing its luster. Dual-stick controls (present in the 360 version) are not possible on this format – a mechanic you'll surely miss. But for gamers who were addicted to Geometry Wars as a whole and not just its controls, this version will help them continue that addiction – imperfections and all.

Challenge Me

In addition to the endless Evolved Mobile mode, players can test their abilities in Challenges, a collection of modes that contain restrictions to make the game more difficult. An Immortal Mode is also present, which allows users to play without dying to get a feel for the game and its controls. It’s not a necessary inclusion – the best way to learn Geometry Wars is to play it as is. But it’s here nonetheless.

The seven Challenges are: Survivor (score the highest with one life), Monster (score the highest with 10X multiplier), Trenches (score the highest without moving), Speed (fastest to score 100K, 250K, 750K, 1M, 2M, and 4M), Multiplier (earn 5X or 10X multiplier the fastest), Feline (earn 5 and 9 lives the fastest), and Bomber (earn 5 and 9 bombs the fastest). These are cool additions, but bear in mind that they are played from the same perspective, in the same level, and with the same enemies as the Evolved Mobile mode.

Still, you know a series is accomplished when (1) you can't stop playing it even though it technically has only one level and (2) you're willing to overlook or fight to overcome its flawed mechanics. Whereas the original game enabled you to fly and shoot in opposite directions, this mobile adaptation must use a phone's digital (not analog) arrow keys. The ship fires automatically in the direction you choose to fly, with a quarter-circle of ammo unleashed every time you adjust your ship's movement by 90 degrees.

To attack in a direction different from your travel, push the center key (which differs by phone; most say "OK," "Enter," or use symbols) to lock your gunfire into place. This was a fair attempt, perhaps the only way possible given the technology, but is more of a hassle than it's worth. You can't switch between locked and unlocked firing modes very quickly, leading to many unnecessary deaths. It wasn't long before I eliminated this feature by selecting a different control scheme from the options menu.

This skewed my first impression of Geometry Wars, causing me to believe that I might actually be able to permanently stop playing. The slower speed of the mobile version didn't help much – the game is at least 50% faster on XBLA. Again, the technology (mobile phone versus home console) is to blame, not the game.

Right now, Space Channel 5 fans everywhere are thinking, "Up Down Up Down – Shoot-Shoot-Shoot!"

But in continuing my play-through for the review, I discovered that, no matter how slow or awkward the control scheme, Geometry Wars is incredibly addictive. There's a wonderful urgency that comes with every minute of play. It's a constant rush to survive by dodging and shooting, a gameplay style that has been beaten to death for decades. But never has it been carried out this well in a top-down shooter. Never before has there been a game that's addictive in spite of the fact that nothing ever changes. One scenario, one set of colors, one song played until you kill the speaker…

The longer you survive, the greater the challenge will become. You’ll get a couple of new ships to destroy, which amounts to additional shapes to blast (mostly squares of a different size, color, or movement pattern). The evolutions end there, but your playtime just keeps going. This is the kind of mobile game that's worth playing even when you're not trying to kill time.

Gameplay: 7.9
Easy to learn, hard to master, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved Mobile’s simple, blast-‘em-all-or-perish gameplay is sneakily addictive. You might not realize it at first, when the slowness and control monotony are making their rounds. But this is a game that, despite its problems, doesn’t let you give up, making Geometry Wars a worthwhile purchase for any mobile user.

Graphics: 3.0
Very, very basic, even by mobile phone standards. A few colors, a handful of animations and … done, you’ve seen it all.

Sound: 3.0
Geometry Wars has two audio options: sound effects (which consist of just one blast sound and a “whoosh” effect whenever you die) or music (one song played repeatedly). No, you can’t play both the music and sound effects simultaneously. The music isn’t bad – if expanded on, the game could’ve had a decent soundtrack. But there’s no way a mobile game can get away with just having two sound effects, not in this day and age.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Endless play tests your endurance, while the other modes test how good you are at playing under certain restrictions (one life, no traveling, achieve a high multiplier, etc.).

Concept: 6.0
A mobile phone conversion of Xbox Live Arcade’s most enjoyable release.

Multiplayer: N/A
No multiplayer component, but you will be able to view opponents’ high scores and post your own via the in-game network connection.

Overall: 7.7
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved Mobile isn’t as fast, flashy, or feverish as the Xbox Live Arcade version. But if you’re a fan of its gameplay style and can deal with the limitations of mobile gaming, this is a great game to have on your phone.