Played alone against the ever-changing leaderboards it's captivating and exciting, while played against friends in the same room it's an exercise in hooting and trying your hardest to put the other person off their game. The core game-what Geometry Wars is-is close to pure arcade gaming perfection. That's not to say these new elements are bad-it's just a case of the added extras only being there because they have to be. The original Geometry Wars was strong enough that this sequel would score a bit lower without the option to disable everything that has been added since. Thankfully, you can ignore all of the new newness, including extra features like helpful AI-controlled drones and secondary special abilities (homing missiles, black holes and so on.) If you like, you can stick Dimensions into classic mode and play the game pretty much as it was ten years ago on Xbox 360. The game isn't ruined by these dodgy battles, but they do stink up the place pretty bad-it's one of the few times I felt reticent about replaying a level, whereas before I couldn't hit restart quickly enough. It's a shame, because Geometry Wars' basic shooty-blastyness suits a more formal framework. They're beatable, but rely on cheap tricks like overwhelming you quickly rather than any kind of design nuance.

These stars are essential to progress, making the repetition of levels a requirement rather than an option-there's no cruising through, but it's still fun to go back over the short, sharp levels and try to better yourself.Īt least until you reach those boss fights. This is backed up by a star system, with each of the 50 levels rewarding your performance with one to three shinies. Yes, Dimensions features a campaign mode with boss fights-something that provides structure in a series renowned for its simplicity. This change actually caused a bit of motion sickness, personally, particularly as I span around an explosion-riddled cube while chasing a boss.Įnemies can sneak up on you by looping around the play area, Asteroids-style. One minute you're making your way around an explosion-riddled pill shape, the next you're avoiding encroaching Red Walls of Death on an explosion-riddled zoetrope.

Some stages are now fully three-dimensional objects, which introduces an element of strategy: enemies can sneak up on you by looping around the play area, Asteroids-style.Īs well as a mild strategic element, these levels also up the visual flair in Dimensions. The most notable change affects the levels themselves, which are no longer flat planes. In this sense, not much has changed for Dimensions. The basic modes involve familiar concepts-get the highest score in a set amount of time, get the highest score in one life, get the highest score without being able to shoot, and so on.

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