Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Review - The third entry in this beloved series is meatier than ever

Written by Stephen Varner  on November 29, 2014

Reviews: It may not have the same impact of the first game but the adventure challenges shake up the formula enough to make it feel fresh again.

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In 2005 Bizzare creations released the first true killer app of the Xbox Live Arcade with the launch of the Geometry Wars. Almost ten years later and the senior members of the original team have reformed under Lucid Games to create a new entry in the beloved arcade series. They've done a pretty fantastic job of both staying true to what makes Geometry Wars great and adding enough new content to make it feel fresh.

Adventure mode is the new single player campaign and the biggest addition to the Geometry Wars formula in Dimensions. It lays out 50 challenges on a wide variety of 3D grids in the shape of everything from cylinders, spheres and even peanuts. Each plays host to a specific game type like the classic Evolved, Deadline, Pacifism, and King as well as new modes such as Titan, Sniper, Rainbow, Claustrophobia and even boss fights. Each has a unique play style that forces you to mix up your strategy if you want to get the maximum three star rating for each stage.

Which brings me to loadouts. As you topple bosses and acquire more and more total stars you'll unlock new super abilities and drones that will aid you in future challenges and max out scores on previously completed ones. At certain thresholds throughout the campaign you'll need to have a certain number of stars collected in order to move on. I found that this gave me great incentive to go back and retry a challenge I struggled with only to find that with a new drone and super combo it became much easier to blow my previous score away and get those next couple of stars needed to progress further into the campaign. There was never a point where I felt like I got bogged down in collecting more than a few stars from previous challenges and so it never felt frustrating to have to go back and try again on something I'd already done. I actually found myself going back on my own whenever I unlocked something new just to see if it would help me get stars I simply couldn't before. The grids themselves only start to repeat about half way through and you'll be given a different game type and enemy spawn pattern to take on the next time they come up so you never feel like you're simply treading over old ground. These layers add a great sense of progression, depth and replayability to an already addicting formula.



On the multiplayer side you're given the choice of local co-op that supports up to 4 players and a pair of competitive modes called Stock and Summoner that will have you face off against an opposing team of up to four players. Each of the competitive modes feature both match made and private games. Stock is a test of accuracy and maneuverability as you'll have to collect ammo spread around the grid to fire at the boss that chases you and launches enemies for you to rack up your multiplier and score. The game ends when either team chips away their boss meter to zero or when time expires. The team with the higher score at that point will win. Killing your boss the quickest isn't always the best strategy if you're at a severe point deficit. It's more important to be precise and not die in order to maximize your multiplier. Summoner requires you to shoot pillars to gain control of the enemies they spawn. If you don't control the pillars then the enemies you kill will not net you any points so a healthy strategy of controlling points and racking up multipliers will be required to come out on top. The local co-op is a sort of abbreviated take on the adventure mode that you and up to three friends can take on a set of ten challenges that will test your ability to collectively stay alive. Points are scored both individually and as a team with your team score counting toward the challenge requirements. The individual scores are a nice addition so that you can see who's earning the bragging rights and who's not doing enough to contribute. Ultimately the multiplayer is a nice addition but feels a bit shallow compared to the rest of the game. It would be nice if there were a couple more modes but it was rare enough to find a matchmade game of more than simply 1v1.

If you're a purist then lets be honest, Geometry Wars is all about your best score. All of the classic modes are there with their own separate leaderboards. Play on the classic grid in Evolved, King, Pacifism, Deadline and Waves to rack up your best score to compete with rivals and see how you stack up globally. Bragging rights are the order of the day.



The music is a mix of techno beats that change depending on what game mode you're playing and serve their respective modes well enough even if tracks aren't that varied. In King the music will kick down to a muffled beat when you're out of a hill zone and unable to fire and kick back up again when the action picks up. Nothing stands out but everything serves more to give a bit of rythym to what you're doing on screen without being distracting, which the visuals do a fine enough job of doing. With all the particles, explosions, and enemies on screen there's a whole lot of color and chaos to keep you on your toes. If you blink you'll miss something.

Geometry Wars 3 Dimensions is the best game of the series. It may not have the same impact of the first game but the adventure challenges shake up the formula enough to make it feel fresh again. It takes everything that made Geometry Wars great in the first place and gives you a whole lot more of it. With every classic mode available and a brand new Adventure campaign there's a lot to play and a lot to love.