Geometry Wars: Touch
 | |
| Developer(s) | Bizarre Creations |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Activision Publishing, Inc. |
| Distributor(s) | Apple |
| Designer(s) | Stephen Cakebread |
| Series | Geometry Wars |
| Platform(s) | iOS |
| Release date(s) | April 1, 2010 |
| Genre(s) | Multi-directional shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Geometry Wars: Touch is a port of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 on iOS. Geometry Wars is a multi-directional shooter first developed by Bizarre Creations on the Xbox. A sequel was later made on the Xbox 360 in the form of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 on the Xbox Live Arcade. The iPad version of the game features all 6 game modes from the Xbox 360 version and includes a new exclusive game mode called Titans. The game is available for download from the iTunes App Store and is currently selling at $0.99 (Original release price was $9.99). This game is stated as taking full advantage of the iPad's graphical abilities. It was later updated as a universal binary supporting the iPod Touch and iPhone, in addition to the iPad.
Gameplay
The player controls a small, highly maneuverable ship that can move and fire independently in any direction. The objective of the game is to score points by destroying a variety of shapes and surviving by not touching them. The player's ship is destroyed if this happens, and a life is lost. Depending on the game mode, lives and bombs can be collected upon gaining certain numbers of points— with bombs being able to clear the game space of enemy shapes instantly, although with no points gained for their destruction.
Crucial to effective play is the score multiplier, which increases as the player collects "geoms" — small diamond-shaped green objects dropped by enemies upon destruction. The number of points gained on destroying an enemy depends on the multiplier; with multipliers sometimes reaching many thousands. Constant collecting of geoms and destruction of enemies cause exponential scoring of points.
On the iPad, the player controls the ship using simulated analog sticks on the iPad's touchscreen. This allows for similar controls as the Xbox 360 version. It would appear that the 4-player local multiplayer mode is absent from this version of Geometry Wars.
Unlike the Xbox 360 version, there are seven different modes available to unlock throughout the course of the game instead of 6:
- Deadline: The player is challenged to score as many points as possible in three minutes with unlimited lives. During the course of the three-minute countdown, it is possible for a player to earn more bombs than the three the player initially starts with.
- King: The player has only one life and no bombs. Circular safety zones appear randomly in the playing field. Enemies and geoms cannot enter these zones, and the player can only fire while inside one. The zone shrinks and disappears a short time after it is entered, causing a new one to appear elsewhere in the playing field and forcing the player to keep moving from zone to zone.
- Evolved: Similar in style to Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, the player is challenged to score as many points as possible with no time limit. The player starts with 4 lives and 3 bombs, and earns extra lives and bombs at set point intervals. (100,000; 1,000,000; 10,000,000)
- Pacifism: The player has only one life and cannot shoot. The player must fly through gates to destroy nearby enemies while avoiding the dangerous edges of the gates, and earns bonus points by flying through gates in rapid succession. This mode was inspired by an achievement in the first game called "Pacifist" where you had to survive 60 seconds without firing.
- Waves: The player has one life and must avoid and destroy waves of rockets that fly horizontally and vertically from the edges of the game space. (This mode was first introduced in Project Gotham Racing 4.) As Waves mode progresses, the player must deal with increasingly challenging groups of additional enemies while dodging and destroying the ever-increasing number of rockets.
- Sequence: This mode consists of twenty levels, each with a predetermined pattern of enemies. The player has thirty seconds to destroy all of the enemies in each level. If the player loses a life, they are taken directly to the next level, but the game ends if the player loses all of their lives. Additional lives and bombs are earned at set point intervals.
- Titans: This mode is exclusive to the iPad version. The player starts with 4 lives and 3 bombs and fights large versions of enemies that break up into smaller versions when shot. This mode is similar to certain game modes in Geometry Wars: Galaxies.
Development
The iPad entry in the series builds upon the core of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2. The game utilizes on-screen virtual thumbsticks.
Bizarre Creations follow up with a press statement on Kotaku website saying the Following "The iPad is an exciting new device, the idea of Geometry Wars running on it really appealed to us and we considered it to be a good fit," he says. "As far as the iPhone...who says we're skipping it?" How You'll Control Geometry Wars On The iPad (And Maybe On the iPhone, Too) Kotaku