Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was the first certifiable must-have download when it hit Xbox Live Arcade at 360's launch, but can the game maintain its status when it evolves into a full-priced Fall release in the form of
Geometry Wars: Galaxies for Wii and DS?
The biggest change for Galaxies (and the biggest justification for the bump in price) is a fully-fleshed out single-player mode. Thankfully, this isn't going to be a
War and Peace-style epic. "There is a game story wrapper but it's only as far as any classic retro game would go," says Sierra producer Roger Carpenter. "We don't keep ramming it down your throat."
Instead the focus will stay on the simple, proven arcade gameplay of Geometry Wars, but with a new "big progression curve," according to Carpenter.
SCREENS: One of the most addicting aspects of Retro Evolved on 360 (pictured here in its Wii form) was the race to top your friends' scores on the leaderboards.
The Wii and DS versions of the game aim to emulate this feature, with numerous leaderboards on the way.
"The principle is very simple," he explains. "The Galaxy is full of solar systems. The solar systems have lots of planets within them, and each one of those is a battlefield. You've got to do battle with each planet's inhabitants... all in a Geometry Wars style, of course. Each of these worlds, full of angry circles, squares, and diamonds, will culminate in a boss battle of sorts -- just not in the sense of 'here's a big thing and it's really difficult to kill.'" Gamers will have new ways of dealing with the constant waves of baddies in the form of new "weapon related content" such as the "hotshot moves" promised in last month's press release. Carpenter is tight-lipped about what exactly that means, but he seems convinced that players will be pleased when they find out.
Besides the freshly-enlarged single-player experience,
four other game modes exist in the title: Co-op, Simultaneous, Versus and Hot Seat. While at least a couple of these seem fairly self-explanatory, the depth here is another aspect of the game that Sierra isn't talking much about yet. Carpenter assures us of one thing, though:
"Don't underestimate the fun to be had shooting alongside a friend."
Naturally, the Geometry Wars gameplay, simple as it may appear to be, is being meticulously tweaked to fit the unique control scheme opportunities presented by Wii and DS.
"Stage one goal was to make sure the control methods could match the gameplay, which we've done and then some," Carpenter says. And what if you want to give these new controls a try but aren't really into all these fancy revamped game modes?
Carpenter and the guys have got you covered -- retail copies of Geometry Wars: Galaxies will come with Retro Evolved packed right in.
SCREENS: Galaxies includes some never-before-seen shapely foes for you to battle.
Despite the bigger overall goal, new Geometry Wars developer Kuju Entertainment is maintaining the small game mindset of the original versions. A mere 10-man team is creating the whole thing, backed by and with full approval of original developer Bizarre Creations. According to Carpenter, the two are working together closely.
"[Bizarre Creations is] the license holder so of course it's very much involved. It's a three-way team effort between the groups. It was Bizarre Creations' concept -- they created the initial proving code incorporating control methods -- and Kuju has taken that baton and run with it. We're pretty much in daily contact with the guys at Bizarre Creations and they visit Kuju regularly."
The Kuju crew still has a way to go before the game is ready for release, so until then, we can't be completely sure if it's going to do as well as a full game as it did a downloadable title. But Carpenter believes gamers will not be disappointed.
"If you want to compare Galaxies versus Retro Evolved, then the best way to do so is to say that RE would be a single lone planet somewhere in one of our solar systems." We'll see just how big of a galaxy awaits us this Fall, with hands-on impressions on the way soon.
It looks sort of ethereal looking, reminding me a little of Electroplankton.
