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

multi-directional shooter Twin-stick shooter is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video games. It defines a multidirectional shooter in which the player character is controlled using two joysticks: the first for movement on a flat plane and the second to shoot in the direction th ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

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. Originally published by

Microsoft Games Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, fo ...

, the first title was included as a minigame in '' Project Gotham Racing 2'' for

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

. 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 Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

and later ported to

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. '' Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2'', the second installment in the series, was released for the Xbox 360 in 2008. Other titles in the series were launched in following years to other platforms by Bizarre Creations and publishers

Vivendi Games Vivendi Games (formerly known as CUC Software, Cendant Software, Havas Interactive, Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing and Vivendi Universal Games) was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was foun ...

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. On 13 October 2023,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

reacquired the game series as part of its acquisition of

Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes three operating units: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King (company), King. Founded in July 2 ...

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 holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...

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 '' Project Gotham Racing 2'' 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.

''Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved''

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

and released for

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA) was a video game Digital distribution in video games, digital distribution service that was available for the Xbox (console), Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publisher ...

. 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'' 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, and published by

for the Wii and

Nintendo DS The is a foldable 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 worki ...

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. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

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, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

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—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

'', but removed the multiplayer functionality entirely.

''Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions''

''Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions'' was developed by Lucid Games 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 Video game publisher, publisher founded in 1979 by Ken Williams (game developer), Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is ...

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

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

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

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 console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

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) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

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

Vivendi Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and t ...

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

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

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

{{Activision Activision Blizzard franchises Microsoft franchises Video game franchises introduced in 2003