Geometry Wars Wii and DS!

January 5th, 2008 | Posted in Games | 1 Comment »

Somehow or another I missed the release of Geometry Wars for the DS and Wii, but my brother tipped me off in a blog comment. I decided to go out today and look for things to buy and while I was out I was going to keep on the look out for Geometry Wars. Best Buy had both and I spent my gift card plus some extra cash to get it for both systems.

I drooled over the plasma TVs and seriously debated a 1 tb Ethernet HD. Eventually I settled on just buying the games and came home without anything else to show for the day of driving around. I had intended to go to Book-A-Million but failed. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow. Anyway, almost immediately after getting home I had to check them out.

Since both games actually came out in 2007, I decided they were fair game to blog about and below are my experiences.

Wiiometry Wars

If you haven’t played the 360 version, the game is basically a shooter in the style of Robotron/Llamatron. The game essentially involves just staying alive while getting points by shooting multi-colored shapes that explode in a lovely display of fireworks. You move with one joystick and you shoot with another. This means that the 360 version uses the two analog sticks on the controller. For the Wii, you can use either the two sticks on the Classic controller or you can use the stick on the Nunchuka to move while guiding a targeting laser around in 360 degrees using the Wiimote.

I was seriously surprised by how well the Wii version translates over from the 360. In fact, if you play Retro Evolved with the classic controller it’s almost indistinguishable from the original. There are obviously far fewer players though, because I ranked 801st on the leaderboards with my very first game. The new features are pretty neat, and if you decide to play using the Wiimote you will find it actually works pretty well. I think I prefer the classic controller, but the Wiimote does change the experience some, and it it’s still fun (though a little harder, I think.)

DS Style

Like the Wii version, the DS version translated very well. Given the limitations of the hardware, the DS version is very nice. The controls, once again, involve pointing a targeting laser at the enemies. This time, a 360 degree targeting system is drawn on the lower screen and your direction of fire is determined by guiding the direction of your laser by touching the bottom screen with the stylus. If you prefer you can direct your fire in one of eight directions by using the A, B, X, and Y buttons as up, down, left, and right (and the diagonals). Movement is handled with the D-Pad. How well this works for you might depend on how good you are with using this configuration will depend on how well you hold the system and use the style at the same time, so it’s easy to imagine many people needing to set the system on a table in order to play it well.

Control issues aside, the game is very solid. It’s not quite as flashy, but it works well given the size of the screens and the sound track came over fairly well as well. I could easily recommend either, though if you were resigned to choosing only one or the other I would probably suggest the Wii version unless being able to play it on the run is a huge bonus for you.

New To The Galaxy

A whole slew of new features have made it into these versions of the game, and as far as I can tell they are very close to the same on both versions. Among these features are multi-player options and a level based progression system that allows you to work your way through several “galaxies” all the while collecting some in-game currency consisting of little power-up thingies that let you by upgrades.

It’s all really well done and if you haven’t played Geometry wars but have a Wii or DS you might seriously want to consider checking them out. If you have played Geometry Wars but thought it was too hard, the level progression system might be more your style.

I honestly can say I’m pleased. Now, I need to see if I can put my name on the top of that leaderboard. 4 million? That’s only four times my highest score.

So, uhm, yeah.