Geometry Wars 3 – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 14]
Yesterday’s new game for the Steam Backlog Bonanza was Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved. I think it’s an extended edition of the “Dimensions” release. It’s a pure arcade action game, of the kind you might find in an old-fashioned upright arcade cabinet.
It's very difficult to get any sense of what the game is like from a still image.
I don’t know why I bought this game, but it was only $1.35 in the 2016 Winter Sale. I feel like that was the last time I “went crazy” and just bought a lot of stuff because it was cheap. I also bought a huge list of old, 2D RPGs for about $1 each in that sale that I have yet to play.
Geometry Wars 3 is not my kind of game at all. Like I said, this is a pure “arcade” game. There’s no story. There’s no characters. There’s no role-playing. You maneuver a little ship around the screen and shoot at enemy ships, while avoiding obstacles and picking up power-ups. It’s basically the same premise as Asteroids.
Your ship "flies" around on various geometric shapes in 3D space.
It might play like a game from the 80s, but it looks like a beautiful modern game. The graphics are colorful and smooth as butter. They almost look like vector graphics. High-energy dance music plays in the background while you shoot up the screen with missiles.
Your objective varies from mission to mission. Sometimes you just try to rack up as many points as possible before your time expires. Sometimes you can play as long as you want, but you only get a limited number of lives. Usually you have to reach a threshold of points before you can move on to the next level.
I am terrible at this game. It’s hard. You people complaining about Dark Souls should try this one out. I think I made it to the fourth level before I ran into a solid brick wall and couldn’t progress any further. It took me about 30 minutes to reach my limitation.
But sometimes you play on a flat plane.
The game is also quite repetitive, as you might imagine. Again, this is the most “pure” arcade game experience I’ve seen in a long time. It’s easy to imagine this being a game you had to put quarters into a machine to play.
Will I play more? Not for fun. However I did observe that it might make a very good “workout” for your thumbs on a controller. If you’re someone like me with weak thumbs, playing this game for 15-20 minutes every day would probably be a very beneficial strengthening regimen. The game is microscopically small so it takes up little or no room on the hard drive and could remain installed indefinitely.
Stream Production Notes: This is a very short stream because I simply couldn’t get past that one level, and I didn’t want to keep bashing my head against the wall with it. I also noted in the stream that it’s a terrible game for video, because there’s nothing to talk about. It’s all instinct and reflex reaction, there isn’t much decision-making to be analyzed.
Previously on the Steam Backlog Bonanza: Penumbra: Requiem.
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