The Shape of Things: Hands-on with Geometry Wars 3 Dimensions

The return of Sierra Entertainment is one of the more out-of-the-blue surprises of the summer, buoyed by the fact that one of the first titles to be released under its banner will be a new Geometry Wars title for Xbox One and Xbox 360.

Geometry Wars 3 Dimensions
is being developed by Lucid Games, which is a new studio featuring top talent from now-defunct Bizarre Creations, creators of the original Geometry Wars Retro Evolved and Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2.

The classic 60 fps
Geometry Wars twin stick-shooting action is back, but as the name implies, things have moved into the 3rd dimension, after a fashion. Lucid Games has mapped the familiar 2D feel of the game onto 3D geometry, radically changing the games’ strategy.

One of the levels shown (there are 50 in Adventure mode) took place on the surface of a large cylinder, with walls set up to complicate matters – walls which started moving and changing as the level progressed. A second level was roughly peanut-shaped, which added challenge both to sightlines and aiming, as your shots move around it in mysterious ways.

Fortunately, players have some new firepower in the arsenal to balance out the challenge. In addition to the classic, devastating Smart Bomb, there’s also a new Super move. Lucid demonstrated a Turret Super, which coated that peanut shaped map with ordnance like a second shell, wiping nearly everything out.

The Drone, first seen in
Geometry Wars: Galaxies, is another new addition to Geometry Wars 3 Dimensions.  The attack drone we saw shooting in the same direction as you. This little guy follows closely behind you like a duckling to its mother, nearly doubling your firepower. The drone can also be set to defend, or act as a battering ram, and can be leveled up as you progress.

The demo ended with a boss encounter on a cube-shaped map. Enemies spawned constantly from the 8 corners of the box, adding to the mad mélange of projectiles and the boss itself, a giant lotus blossom-esque creature constantly spinning in your direction. Like nearly everything in the
Geometry Wars series, the level was challenging, frenetic, and pretty.

There will be multiple competitive games modes, including head-to-head and team vs team, but Lucid’s not really going into it now.  All we know is that they might be ‘objective style’ as opposed to just shooting at the other ship.

In addition to the classic
Geometry Wars Adventure mode, Lucid is adding multiplayer to Geometry Wars 3 Dimensions, both couch co-op and competitive online multiplayer. The devs were cagey on how the latter will work, specifically, but we shouldn’t have long to wait. Geometry Wars 3 Dimensions arrives on Xbox One and Xbox 360 this Fall.