Pros & Cons
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- Addictive, classic arcade gameplay.
- Kaleidoscopic graphics.
- Varied adventure mode.
- Quick restarts.
- Plenty of replay value.
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- Barely viable mouse and keyboard controls.
- Sharp difficulty spikes.
- Sometimes unfair 3D levels.
Top-down arcade shooters have been a video game staple for a long, long time. The 1980s saw Robotron: 2084 popularize the genre with easy to use twin-stick controls, while the 1990s added Arnold Schwarzenegger flair and Paul Verhoeven panache with Smash TV. Last generation, the best shooter to play on the Xbox 360 SEE IT wasn't newfangled fare like Halo or Gears of War, but a simple gem called Geometry Wars. True to its title, sequel Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions ($14.99) takes the addictive shape-shooting action into the third dimension with near-immaculate results. Besides PC, you can find the game on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and last-gen consoles.
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Before, Geometry Wars took place on a flat, 2D plane. Now, there's a new Adventure Mode that gives you a linear set of levels and challenges in which you wage war against killer shapes (green diamonds, red cubes, and yellow arrows) across the surfaces of three-dimensional spheres, cubes, and cylinders. The gameplay is very simple, but it offers more excitement than most big-budget Hollywood-style games.
Wave after wave will overwhelm you until you're left a blubbering, cursing mess or you develop the quick reaction skills and nuanced tactics (focus more on movement rather than firing non-stop) necessary to engage. Instant restarts let you get right back into the action, enabling obsessive types to play just one more game.
