Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2

Title: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
Platform Played On: Xbox 360
Release Date: July 30, 2008
Date Played: August 2008
Time Played: 10+ hours
Completed (Y/N): N/A
Score: 5/5


Opinion:
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 1 defined the twin stick shooter genre a few years back. Wow, and everyone thought it cant get better.

Geometry Wars 2 went above an beyond by adding 5 additional game modes to the classic, expanding the game to 6 times the original. Each mode being completely different from each other.

Pacifism Mode

Pacifism and King being the two most interesting modes. In pacifism your ship is unable to shoot, instead you must pass through floating gates which explode and can blow up the shapes that are after you. And in King mode you are only able to shoot within certain areas represented by vanishing circles, so you must travel from circle to circle while avoiding the enemies and only shooting them while inside the circles.

The other 4 modes are,  Evolved (classic) mode, which plays similarly to GW1, Deadline, where you are given 3 minutes and unlimited lives to rack up as high of a score as you can. Waves, where waves of rockets come at you from all directions, and Sequence, which features 20 pre-defined levels.

GW: Retro Evolved 2 made improvements all the way around, it is much easier to recover from a death, as in the original a death meant simply starting over and not using the rest of your lives because it would take too long to get the multiplier back up. Speaking of which, it is much easier and faster to get the multiplier going this time around (a welcome change).

Geometry Wars 2 was the among the first to introduce the "you vs friends" leaderboard popups. You can compare your scores to your friends at any time, and when you are close to beating one of your friends the game lets you know that.

Overall Geometry Wars 2 is a great evolution of the series, the package is full of different modes that keep you interested for hours, and the addition of friend score comparisons keep you coming back for "one more game", while you grumble to yourself "argh Im so close, Ill beat him/her this time". This is a fun game to play for competition and even relaxation, although can be stressful at times, for the most part it is mindless enough for you to relax while watching a vibrant feast of colors and enjoy superb techno-like mix going. Unlike most games, this game's graphics will look great a decade from now. Everyone should check this game out.