PAX PRIME 2014: Hands-On with Geometry Wars 3 Dimensions

ne of the standout titles for the Xbox 360 during the launch of the Xbox Live Arcade was Bizarre Creations' Geometry Wars, a highly stylized frenetic Twin-Stick style shooting game with a super-high emphasis on Score Attack for players to compete on the newly-formed XBLA leaderboards. Seeing a number of sequels since its 2005 debut, including XBLA's Geometry Wars 2 and the Wii and DS' Geometry Wars Galaxies, all of its iterations are solid, competitive games that anyone can drop in and play.

Even though Bizarre Creations has been dissolved, that didn't stop Geometry Wars 3 Dimensions from blasting onto the scene, making a comeback via Lucid Games, an indie studio newly-reconstituted from the bits of Bizarre Creations' crumbling. We got hands-on with this newest iteration of the Geometry Wars mythos at PAX 2014 and oh my, has it changed.

The first thing longtime players are sure to notice is the 3D nature to the stages. Not to settle at simply utilizing the flat void of a 2D arena, Geometry Wars 3 features depth in its stages, a trait very similar to other twin-stickers like Super Stardust and Nano Assault. Not limited to just spheres, shots fired will follow the curvature of the stage in question which, depending on its contours, will make them follow odd paths. It's something easily overcome for newbies with a bit of practice to gain an understanding of how the 3D space works, and in no time, players will be blasting things into oblivion without even needing to see them onscreen.

Also new to Geometry Wars 3 is the drone helper that will follow the player around and lay down suppressing fire while you take care of business and new drones and special attacks are also unlockable. There's more to the drone helpers though; in addition to your area-clearing bomb attack which has been a staple of the series since the very beginning, your drone helper also has a bomb attack that can help in getting some serious score opportunities. Unlike the regular bomb which nukes everything at the cost of no score bonuses, enemies taken out with the helper's super-attack will still leave multiplier crystals behind to collect.

Which brings us to the scoring. In our play-session, we were on a timed score attack run on a peanut-shaped arena. Just as in previous entries to the Geometry Wars series, high-scoring is achieved by collecting green multiplier pickups. The more you have, the higher the score you'll receive when destroying the enemies that will invariably swarm you. Die, and the multiplier will remain, but opposition will sharply decrease until more are destroyed.

The graphical changes make for what is easily the most visually striking Geometry Wars yet. In addition to the crazy 3D arenas, all of the set pieces are also rendered in 3D as well, rather than just a bunch of lines with bloom effects applied. It all moves super smoothly for the most part, though when helper super attacks are activated the frame-rate takes a small dip. Regardless, this game looks great with sound to match.

Geometry Wars 3 Dimensions is coming this fall to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, so it's official; nobody has an excuse to miss out.