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By Elias Dounis on January 3rd, 2006
The original Geometry Wars was quite the treat for owners of the Xbox’s Project Gotham Racing 2. The game was hidden inside the PGR2 virtual garage in a coin-op machine, and you can imagine that there are a good amount of Project Gotham Racing 3 owners who were quite disappointed to only see a demo of the sequel, Geometry Wars Evolved, hidden in the game instead of the full game. There’s no need to fret, however, since Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved is currently the highlight downloadable game available for purchase off of the Xbox Live Marketplace and playable on the Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Arcade. The game’s dollar equivalent price tag is no more than five dollars and the amusing bit is that it’s probably the most entertaining game currently available for Microsoft’s next generation game machine.
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved and its predecessor (which is also included in when downloading the Evolved) is a throwback to the twitch gameplay of classic arcade games. In actuality, Retro Evolved is a complete knock-off of the timeless classic Robotron 2084 but is much more stylized and visually pleasing. In the game you’re tossed into a rectangular 2D arena in which you control this
"a throwback to the twitch gameplay of classic arcade games"
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geometrically-shaped vessel that moves around the plain freely and can fire in any direction. As time passes, vibrantly colored geometrical shapes begin to appear, with more and more appearing every second. Each one of these variously designed shapes will float around and attempt to take you out. Simply touching these objects will cause the loss of a life and once all your lives are gone it’s game over. As your score increases and as each second passes, the gameplay will become more and more intense, putting your true gaming skills to the test. Retro Evolved is the kind of game that demands players to always be on their toes, honing their skills and reflexes so that they become unstoppable geometrical-shape killing machines. I can guarantee that most younger gamers have never experienced a game as intense as Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. It’s the type of game that gets your heart pumping as you always seem to be overwhelmed by a never-ending amount of enemies and obstacles. The game is not completely mindless, however, since you will only be able to get those high scores if you memorize the attack patterns of enemies and create specific strategies in order to take them out. Unlike most modern video games, Retro Evolved doesn’t require the usage of 10 different buttons and button combinations. The game’s controls are fairly simple. Only the game pad’s two analog sticks and trigger buttons are needed. The left analog stick controls the movement of your geometric character, while the other fires lasers in every direction. Either one of the two triggers can be used to unleash a bomb
"probably the most entertaining game currently available for Microsoft’s next generation game machine"
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attack which clears the arena of all enemies for a short period of time. The game may be simple in approach but it can still be one of the most difficult gaming experiences you’ve ever come across, depending on the score you’re shooting to attain. There is no end to Retro Evolved. The game just keeps on going and going as you destroy more enemies and rack up points. However, games of this sort have almost been brought the brink of extinction as a result of today’s popular gaming trends. For most gamers, games that have no end often lose their appeal very quickly but as a result of the Xbox 360’s game achievements and Xbox Live leader-boards, its quite possible that players may never actually lose interest in Geometry Wars. These online leader-boards feature the scores of the best players around the world and this simple feature sparks the competitive flame within most gamers and gives them a reason to continue for years to come. Not to forget, the game is also the ideal pick-up-and-play type of video game. Let’s say you’ve become frustrated with Dead or Alive 4 or Perfect Dark Zero for some particular reason and feel like you need a break from those games... what do you do? Well, you could just walk away and come back later to defeat that cheesy opponent or get passed that seemingly impossible mission, or you could simply forget about the frustration those games have caused you and sit back and enjoy old-school gaming at its finest. Since Robotron is also available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace, players can also experience the game that inspired Geometry Wars/Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. There are a few varying differences between the games, the most apparent
"sit back and enjoy old-school gaming at its finest"
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being Geometry Wars’ modern presentation and visual effects, but Robotron also has its own unique gameplay traits, including the rescuing of humans from aliens for bonus points, and going through hordes of unique stages (or waves) of enemies. As a die-hard fan of Robotron, I can say that Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved will definitely be a worthwhile purchase for fans of the coin-op classic. The game is different enough to offer its own unique appeal. There’s not much about Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved that I can truly say I dislike. It’s not a game filled with gimmicky gameplay and it isn’t designed around appealing to a specific group of gamers. It’s the type of game that puts your skills and reflexes to the test. And while it isn’t the most original game title, Retro Evolved is still a very enjoyable title. With its low price point, there isn’t any reason as to why Xbox 360 owners shouldn’t download this game. | 
