''Geometry Wars'' is a series of top-down

multi-directional shooter A twin-stick shooter is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video games. It is a multidirectional shooter in which the player character is controlled using two joysticks: one for movement on a flat plane, and one to aim and fire shots at enemies, Usually s ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s developed by

Bizarre Creations Bizarre Creations Limited was a British video game development studio based in Liverpool, best known for their racing video game, racing titles ''Metropolis Street Racer'' (Dreamcast) and the follow-up Project Gotham Racing, ''Project Gotham Rac ...

, and, later,

Lucid Games Lucid Games Limited is a British video game developer based in Liverpool. The studio was founded in February 2011 by former employees of Bizarre Creations, which had been shut down a week earlier. Notable games developed by Lucid Games include ...

. Originally published by Microsoft Games Studios, the first title was included as a minigame in ''

Project Gotham Racing 2 ''Project Gotham Racing 2'' is a racing video game developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released exclusively for the Xbox in November 2003. As in 2001's ''Project Gotham Racing'', the route to advancemen ...

'' for

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

. An updated version was released in 2005 as a launch title for

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

and later ported to

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. Other titles in the series was launched in follow years to other platforms by Bizarre Creations and publishers

Vivendi Games Vivendi Games was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1996 as CUC Software, the publishing subsidiary of CUC International, after the latter acquired video game companies Davidson & Assoc ...

and

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

. The latest entry in the series, '' Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions'', was developed by Lucid Games and launched in 2014.

Games

''Geometry Wars''

''Geometry Wars'' was released in the form of an

easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than th ...

in the 2003 racing game ''

'' on the original

. The game was accessed from within Project Gotham Racing 2 by interacting with an

arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

present in the player's virtual

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

''Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved''

''Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved'' was developed by

and released for

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...

. At one point, it held the record for the most downloaded Xbox Live Arcade Game.

''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 ''Project Gotham Racing 4'' is a racing video game developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released exclusively for the Xbox 360 in October 2007. Development history ''Project Gotham Racing 4'' was accident ...

'' on

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''

''Geometry Wars: Galaxies'' was developed by Bizarre Creations and

Kuju Entertainment Kuju Entertainment Ltd. is a British video game developer. The original company was Simis, formed in 1989 and purchased by Eidos Interactive in 1995. Kuju was formed in 1998 in Shalford, Surrey, England, after a management buyout of Simis from E ...

, and published by

for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

and

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

in November 2007, becoming the first ''Geometry Wars'' game available on non-Microsoft platforms and the only one available on

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

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''

''Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2'' was developed by Bizarre Creations, and released on

on July 30, 2008 as a sequel to ''Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved''.

''Geometry Wars: Touch''

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

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 An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

'', but removed the multiplayer functionality entirely.

''Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions''

''Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions'' was developed by

and published by

under the

Sierra Entertainment Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, ...

brand name. The game was released on November 25, 2014 for

OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

and

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

, on November 26, 2014 for

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

and in the middle of 2015 for

, Android'Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions' Out Now on Android, Available on Google Play and Amazon Appstore
Retrieved 30 June 2015 and

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

. ''Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions'' is the first Sierra video game not to be owned by their former owner

Vivendi Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...

. It is the first installment of ''Geometry Wars'' to be released on

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

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

{{Bizarre Creations Activision Blizzard franchises Video game franchises introduced in 2003