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Classic Games (Games)

Geometry Wars Reshapes The Past 61

Posted by Zonk from the more-than-meets-the-eye dept.
Eurogamer has a piece looking at the sucess of Geometry Wars, despite its old-skool flavour. From the article: "Eyes around The Beehive widen and brows furrow in incredulity. I'm suddenly instructed to tell everyone at the table what I've just said to one half. I clear my throat. 'The worldwide high score for Geometry Wars is 12.8 million.' Nobody says anything. Everyone just thinks about it. 'Terrifying,' says someone, eventually. 'Mine's 2.1 million, which I originally thought was pretty good,' says Stephen Cakebread, creator of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved and its predecessor, 'but I've since been put to shame by all the people who've scored five times that!' Well, six times, but we're not counting. It's too painful."
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Geometry Wars Reshapes The Past More

Geometry Wars Reshapes The Past

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  • Cool (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Eightyford ( 893696 ) on Thursday February 02, 2006 @12:52PM (#14626979) Homepage
    It looks like a cross between asteroids and a winamp visualization.

  • Undeserved praise^H^H^H^Hworship? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Gogo0 ( 877020 ) on Thursday February 02, 2006 @12:57PM (#14627045)
    I recognize geometry wars as a good game (I am a huge shmup [SHoot'eM-UP] fan, so I had to play it), but there are tons of other shmups that are just so much better.
    Is it a "Oh wow, look what I just discovered on xbox live! This is the first shmup I've ever seen and its the greatest one there is!"-kind of thing, or what?
    • Is it a "Oh wow, look what I just discovered on xbox live! This is the first shmup I've ever seen and its the greatest one there is!"

      Seriously, it's quite possible. The genre has been "dead" now for what, ten years? Yes, I know it wasn't truly dead, hence the scare quotes. But it certainly was something only old-school gamers even knew about, and then only some of those would develop a serious taste for them.

      Not helping is the fact that some of the later iterations got increasingly focused on that market, w
    • There ARE a lot of them that are much better, like Gradius V and Ikaruga. The only thing is... Geometry Wars comes at 1/4 of the price (or in the case of Ikaruga, 1/10). That's a lotta bang for your buck.
      • But those games you mention put the player in specific environments and ask him to deal with them. There's always a basic sameness to the game because of that, later plays of a level will always be easier than the first time, because the player will learn what comes up when. Geometry Wars, on the other hand, is dynamically-generated, which has the potential to make it a better shmup than a static-level game could ever be.

        This is one of the major reasons why the old NES game ZANAC is still among the best s
        • The levels may be static, but that doesn't necessarily make them easier or less fun.

          I love them all, though I think I got far more playtime out of Ikaruga and Gradius. Which would make sense, considering Geometry Wars is $5 and the others are, like I said, 4x the cost (or more).

          You have to factor in cost when you're comparing games like this, and that was the point of my post. Geometry Wars is a damn fine game, but had it been $50, I would've been rather peeved at how shallow it is. However, at $5, t

          • I think that's why a quarter of the people who tried it bought it.
            It's a different genre of game than most people play, it's a twelfth of a new XBOX360 game, they already have your credit card number... it's just too easy.

            Maybe the people who make games like Gish should take note of this.
            Low price + good, easy to make game + ease of aquirement + large audience = the money.

            It's just too bad there's a $400.00 entry point.
    • I've played games all my life, from Pong to Resident Evil 4. Including a lot of shooters like Space Invaders and Ikaruga. IMHO, Geometry Wars is truly impressive. The game has a classic feel, akin to Robotron and Asteroids. And like Jeff Minter's Tempest 2000, there is a true marriage between the balanced game play and the aesthetic of the graphics and music. Beyond that, Geometry Wars is simply fun to play. Pure video game nirvana.
    • I don't think it's fair to categorize it with "shmups". Almost that entire category is based on scrolling games, with almost all of your enemies scrolling on the screen, etc, etc.

      The single playfield with enemies spawning around it, combined with the dual-joystick steer/shoot combo, turns it into an entirely different play mechanic.
      • I would consider it a shmup because Border Down is considered a shmup.

        If you havent played Border Down, imagine playing a regular shmup with a helecopter that you can spin around 360-degrees and... well, you see what I mean. Theyre pretty close in terms of control and objective.
        Also, stuff like Twinkle Star Sprites (a blend of shmup and tetris-like puzzle games) is pretty far out there, but still considered a shmup by people who say the word "shmup" a lot.
    • The best Shmups are those where you have to be able to move on an instinctual, twitch level in order to survive.

      Let's look at my favorite shmup, Giga Wing 2. Sure, there's different levels, gorgeous graphics, etc, but aside from the percent of the screen saturated with bullets, the first level isn't much different from the last. Different patterns, perhaps, but essentially the same thing.

      I'd argue that depth and variety are NOT good things in the genre. Shmups are supposed to be perceptionally*-demanding ga
    • Just a little clarification...

      Despite my being critical of the game, I am very glad for it. The more people that play it and adore it are more people that have been introduced to shmups and more potential customers for companies to think about when theyre planning their next game ("should we make a shmup? well, people seem to like them again...").

      I dont think it is as great as everyone rattles on about (though I do find it fun), but I am very happy that its here and attracting so many new people to th
    • I'd really like to play the game -- there's literally no other Xbox 360 game I care about.

      That doesn't make Robotron any less awesome.

  • PC Version? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Stachybotris ( 936861 )
    Any chance of this becoming available on the PC? Even as a (shudder) flash-based web game?

  • Could it be... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rAiNsT0rm ( 877553 ) on Thursday February 02, 2006 @01:06PM (#14627148) Homepage
    That people are actually looking for solid, easy to get into, quick to play, fun, games instead of expensive eye-candy and flash with no substance that offer complex controls, forced long investments of time, and no real reward? I daresay it does.

    I find it so ironic that this powerhouse console is most played for a $5.00 remake of Asteroids on LSD. The public is speaking, actually shouting, what they want and game companies are finally starting to wake up to this and take notice. While UT2K47 and Quake 32 with new bot AI and super-duper physics and textures still interests a fair number of gamers, a much larger audience is out there clamoring for fun, quick, simple, challenging, and cheap games to waste some time and veg out with.
    • I hear people talking about how it looks like Asteroids, but from watching some videos, it seems to me it plays alot more like Smash TV: [google.com]

      Since I don't own,or know any who has, an Xbox 360: Could someone enlighten me on how the controls for this game are? It reminded me alot of Smash TV because of the (seemingly) seperate controls of fire-direction and movement.

      Anyhows, it looks like a sweet game, and I hope they'll release a PC version of it.

      • Re:Could it be... (Score:2, Informative)

        by rAiNsT0rm ( 877553 )
        It's actually a hard nut to crack as far as comparisons, it borrows a lot of things from a lot of games. To me it is most like an Asteroids variant, but I found this website with a decent breakdown of the game: http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/geowars. htm [excellentcontent.com]

        I like his quote: "Geometry Wars is basically Robotron crossed with the famous Macintosh game Crystal Quest, with vector graphics" That sums it up well if your familiar with those titles. It isn't exactly my cup of tea, but it is fun... and fun

        • "Geometry Wars is basically Robotron crossed with the famous Macintosh game Crystal Quest, with vector graphics" ... and funny you bring up Smash TV as it is also on Xbox 360 arcade and also experiencing a nice revival.

          Soon you'll be able to verify if that comparison is apt, since Robotron 2084 [xbox.com] is currently available on 360's Live Arcade and Crystal Quest [xbox.com] is coming soon.

        • [Gibberish]

          "You suck at this game!"

          [Hilarity]
          :b
      • That's funny, the two games I've purchased off Xbox Live Arcade are Geometry Wars, and SmashTV. :) SmashTV is easy to get through when you have unlimited quarters, but the high score boards take your score and divide it by the number of virtual quarters you used. My next XBLA purchase will probably be the Street Fighter II game that's coming soon.
      • I've seen the demo videos and I'm reminded of Sinistar, which you can get with 19 other games on one of Midway's Arcade Treasures discs.
    • It's worth noting that Tetris is still the #1 selling game for most cellphones.
    • ...people are actually looking for solid, easy to get into, quick to play, fun, games instead of expensive eye-candy and flash with no substance that offer complex controls, forced long investments of time, and no real reward? I daresay it does.
      That sounds like exactly the direction Nintendo is going with the Revolution (and the DS). Let's just hope they get the controller right.
    • Indeed.

      I had a friend over (a big PC gamer fiend, not friend, fiend) and all I really have is my Gamecube. But I got Timesplitters 2! So we start a co-op and while we're both struggling to remember/figure out the controls I ended up in the minigame menu after which we played many a 2 player snake (Anaconda as they call it) games.
    • > "solid, easy to get into, quick to play, fun games"

      Well, everybody claims that their games is just that. But most aren't.

      If you're looking for something short and sweet (perhaps to play during lunch-break, or while listen to some management fool babble on the phone)... that market already exists, it's just that many people don't seem to know about it.

      Have a look at http://www.gametunnel.com/ [gametunnel.com] for a nice overview. (No, I have no connection with them).
      Want to play something like 'Civilization' in four min
      • Not only has it grown up, but it is now bigger and more profitable than the so called "hardcore" market. The players have more discretionary income, there is no real threat of piracy in this demographic, and the audience is very broad.

        Most game developers, and a number of my close friends who are tied to gaming in some way professionally, are the first to say that their full attention and hope is on this new market. They eliminate their biggest areas of loss, increase marketshare, create less costly and com
  • Charging you for the right to pay money to download small, overpriced games, sounds and backrounds.

    Obviously there is a ton of money in this, but this is just the first step in seeing this crap happen to video games on a widespread. Microsoft does it, then sony sees it works, and they do it, then Nintendo says what the hell and they go for it...

    Finally, its acceptable for all console games, computer games to charge extra for things that used to be unlocked through persistance. Now, the guy whos winning is
    • The games cost money, nothing new there. Are they overpriced? Personally (with some exceptions) I think not, but if you do then you're free not to buy them.

      As for your assertions that you can buy progress in the games (a) show me any example of this in any XBL game (b) explain why it's XBL taking us down this path when people have been buying MMORPG loot & characters on ebay for years.
      • Good games for a few bucks is no big deal, and this is a successful example of a good game being bought for a price. In my opinion its not the majority, but I wont speak more there. Buying a game console, paying for an online service, then being charged extra for small, simple focused (although fun) games is unfair. Your acceptance of this just shows how the market is beginning to accept this as a honest business practice. If HBO started playing commercials during movies, Id be pissed. A online gaming
        • You make a good point, that was valid in the old Xbox Live days. But the Live service now has changed. The Silver Live accounts are free, and give you access to the marketplace, arcade, etc. The Gold accounts are not, though, but all they give you is the actual ability to play your games in multiplayer.
    • Dude, it's 5 bucks. I've paid about a nickel an hour for the amount of time I've spent in the game.
  • What a surprise, a good game is fun with or without 3d bitmapped whatever and tons of graphics horsepower. Er, wait... geometry wars does use a fair amount of graphics horsepower. So, it's the APPROPRIATE use of graphics to make a cool game, and not just graphics for the sake of "mommy-wow". I remember a paper airplane game on the Macintosh that was totally awesome, even though it was black+white, with simple cartoon style graphics. Heck, what graphics did the game 3 in Three have, and how great was tha

  • Success? (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Sigma 7 ( 266129 )
    Eurogamer has a piece looking at the sucess of Geometry Wars, despite its old-skool flavour.


    The game hasn't been released yet. How can it be successful?

    In the mean time, Mutant Storm [pompomgames.com] is already available - plus it has eight difficulty levels along with two-player support.

    • Hmmm... there does seem to be a trial available for download somewhere, but clicking on Game Information [eurogamer.net] from TFA indicates a release date of December 2006 - which is well off.

      As far as I know, the game is unreleased and there's nowhere to get it. Either the article's support page is incorrect, or it's something that will be forgotten by the time it hits the release date

      • Ah, right, the problem is the article's support page is talking gibberish. It's out, both as a trial (downloadable, and on the PGR3 game disk - you can access it by walking around your garage and going over to the arcade machines) and as a full game...
    • Errr....where on earth did you get that from? Geometry Wars was a 360 launch title - it was available on the Arcade from Nov 22 2005. It's one of the best selling (if not the best selling) titles on the Arcade.
  • Though I cannot understand the shading logic that should I use, it is very colorful and attracative even to my pets.
  • "I find it so ironic that this powerhouse console is most played for a $5.00 remake of Asteroids on LSD"

    GW's sales, even at 5$, haven't come anywhere near the 800,000 copies sold of Call of Duty 2.

    Call of Duty 2 for 360 made the top 20 list of games sold in 2005 even though it was only out a month, and the console was scarce.

  • Online Gaming Changes Old School Gaming (Score:3, Insightful)

    by popo ( 107611 ) on Thursday February 02, 2006 @03:18PM (#14628633) Homepage
    I think it has to be said that something big has happened here.

    Its not that old-school games are back. Its that online gaming changes the
    paradigm of "bragging rights" -- and that changes the motivation for playing
    old school games.

    Asteroids was never networked. High scores were something that kids whispered
    to each other -- but never saw. With 360's LIVE arcade, we're looking at whole
    new reasons to play: to rank, to rank nationally, and to have your score visible
    to thousands of other players. Its what bragging rights *should* be about.

    This isn't to say that the success of GW is purely linked to a national hi-score
    list -- the game is also great looking. Its an old-school concept with a lot
    of things old-school games couldn't do visually, and that in itself keeps it fresh.

    But I wouldn't be surprised at all if we see a whole new cult of players trying
    to top high-scores of a new generation of "twitch games" in a huge global
    competition for bragging rights.
  • Liquid War [ufoot.org] is another very entertaining and yet very simple multiplayer game.
  • The write-up sounds like Battle-girl, a fast-paced shoot-em-up for the Mac. Unfortunately, it was OS 9. Under OS X, the graphics suffer, and it doesn't really deal with USB controllers as well as it should.

    But it was an awesome game!
  • Played this a ton on Macs back in the late 80's, seems to be abandonware now: http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/the_fairway/ game_pages/crystal_quest.html [apple2.org.za] It has the same concept of enemy's behavior indicated by their shape.
    • Ahhhhhh... Crystal quest.... So many hours were spent on that game! What a fantastic game too, all those different aliens with different behaviours, the action got pretty frantic right at the end of each level as I remember as you desperately tried to get into the gate before the bombers dropped mines near the entrance!

      Thanks for the memory!!

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