Geometry Wars
Genre(s)Multi-directional shooter
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Creator(s)Stephen Cakebread
Platform(s)
First releaseGeometry Wars
November 18, 2003
Latest releaseGeometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved
October 11, 2016

Geometry Wars is a series of top-down multi-directional shooter video games developed by Bizarre Creations, and, later, Lucid Games. Originally published by Microsoft Games Studios, the first title was included as a minigame in Project Gotham Racing 2 for Xbox. An updated version was released in 2005 as a launch title for Xbox 360 and later ported to Microsoft Windows.

Other titles in the series was launched in follow years to other platforms by Bizarre Creations and publishers Vivendi Games and Activision. The latest entry in the series, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions, was developed by Lucid Games and launched in 2014.

On October 13, 2023, Microsoft reacquired the game series as part of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Games

Release timeline
2003Geometry Wars
2004
2005Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
2006
2007Geometry Wars: Waves

Geometry Wars: Galaxies
2008Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
2009
2010Geometry Wars Touch
2011
2012
2013
2014Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions
2015
2016Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved

Geometry Wars

Main article: Project Gotham Racing 2

Geometry Wars was released in the form of an easter egg minigame in the 2003 racing game Project Gotham Racing 2 on the original Xbox.[1] The game was accessed from within Project Gotham Racing 2 by interacting with an arcade cabinet present in the player's virtual garage.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved

Main article: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was developed by Bizarre Creations and released for Xbox Live Arcade on Xbox 360. At one point, it held the record for the most downloaded Xbox Live Arcade Game.[2]

Geometry Wars: Waves

Geometry Wars: Waves was developed by Stephen Cakebread of Bizarre Creations, released as a bonus mini-game as part of Project Gotham Racing 4 on Xbox 360 on October 2, 2007. The game is a variant of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved where the player is given one life to survive continual waves of orange rockets that pace back and forth across the edges of the play-field for as long as possible.

Geometry Wars: Galaxies

Main article: Geometry Wars: Galaxies

Geometry Wars: Galaxies was developed by Bizarre Creations and Kuju Entertainment, and published by Vivendi Games for the Wii and Nintendo DS in November 2007,[3] becoming the first Geometry Wars game available on non-Microsoft platforms and the only one available on Nintendo platforms. This updated version includes a single-player campaign mode, several multiplayer modes, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, and support for online leaderboards. The Wii version supports widescreen and 480p progressive scan display.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2

Main article: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 was developed by Bizarre Creations, and released on Xbox Live Arcade on Xbox 360 on July 30, 2008 as a sequel to Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved.[4]

Geometry Wars: Touch

An iOS port of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 was released in 2010 entitled Geometry Wars: Touch. It added a seventh game mode, Titans, which had gameplay similar to Asteroids, but removed the multiplayer functionality entirely.[5]

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions

Main article: Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions was developed by Lucid Games and published by Activision under the Sierra Entertainment brand name. The game was released on November 25, 2014 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, on November 26, 2014 for Xbox 360 and Xbox One and in the middle of 2015 for iOS, Android[6][7][8][9] and PlayStation Vita. Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is the first Sierra video game not to be owned by their former owner Vivendi. It is the first installment of Geometry Wars to be released on Sony platforms and developed after the creator of the series Bizarre Creations was shut down by Activision.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the series was composed by Chris Chudley from Audioantics.

References

  1. ^ Welsh, Oil (14 November 2008). "Geometry Wars: Retro Explained". Eurogamer.net. p. 1. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  2. ^ Carless, Simon. "Q&A: Microsoft Discuss Xbox 360 Live Stats". Gamasutra. CMP. Archived from the original on 2018-02-04. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  3. ^ "Geometry Wars on Wii and DS". Archived from the original on 2022-02-24. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  4. ^ "Xbox Live Marketplace - Geometry Wars Evolved". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 29 April 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  5. ^ "'Geometry Wars: Touch' for the iPad (for Now...)". TouchArcade. 2010-04-04. Archived from the original on 2019-08-30. Retrieved 2019-08-30.
  6. ^ "Behind-the-scenes video basks in Geometry Wars 3's glow". Archived from the original on 2015-02-17. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  7. ^ "PAX Prime 2014 - Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Trailer". Archived from the original on 2019-12-11. Retrieved 2019-12-11.
  8. ^ Lowe, Scott (May 28, 2015). "Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Now Available For IPhone, IPad, And IPod Touch". Activision. Archived from the original on May 29, 2015. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  9. ^ 'Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions' Out Now on Android, Available on Google Play and Amazon Appstore Archived 2019-12-11 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 30 June 2015
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