Geometry Wars 2!

[Tommy Gun]

Who else is playing? It's awesome how it shows your friends' high scores right on the main menu. I don't have many people on my friends list, so I only know that Miffy is playing (*cough*and I was kicking his ass:yep:).

The new modes are really fun, my favorite right now is the new pacifism -- you can't shoot, but flying through these trip-mine gates will kill enemies. So you get this massive swarm of blue guys following you around. 13.x million was my highest in that mode today, but I didn't have a ton of time to play yet.

King is another fun mode, where you can only fire from these rings, but the enemies can't enter. The rings disappear quickly, so you have to make sure you've cleared the way to the next one, then fly to it. Anyone else get the achievement for this mode? You have to fly through 30 rings without firing a shot. I was literally a centimeter away from ring 30 when I got killed -- the enemies become faster than you at the end, so you can't outrun them! But after like ten more tries I got it.

I really hate Waves. I suck at it, and it's annoying.

Sequence looks like it'll be a lot of fun -- kind of a puzzle mode, where the levels are always the same, so you need to memorize them. I only played it a couple times. Stupid roommates wanting to watch a movie, grrrrr.

[Noyb]

I tried out the demo, which just had a three minute timed deal. It seemed like they fixed the completely unbalanced difficulty curve of the last game. This time, it seems like the difficulty increases dynamically based on how many enemies you kill in a life, with a slight drop in difficulty whenever you die. Far cry from the first game with its annoyingly long early game, followed by decent midgame, all-too-quickly capped by a brick wall. Pity the game doesn't have online multiplayer, although I do see how hectic it would get to actually implement well.

(btw, Braid next week makes me very, very happy)

[miffy495]

I only know that Miffy is playing (*cough*and I was kicking his ass:yep:).

Hey now, I had you beaten on Deadline and Waves last I checked. And we're both beating the hell out of Aussie Ben...

...and checking again I see that you have indeed bested me in all modes. Motherfucker. Back into the game I go.

I find it interesting as hell how quickly the addition of Geoms changed the way I play. The various modes of play are all really different and quite fun too. I didn't get the King achievement, but I did get the one for surviving 8 waves without firing a shot. Bloody hard. Bizzare obviously realized the glut of twin-stick shooters on the market right now and really went out of their way to make this one worth the money. Good fun, this.

EDIT: Goddamn you Tommy, I haven't been this frustrated trying to do something in a game since spending an entire afternoon failing to get the "Pacifism" achievement in the first Geometry Wars (I eventually got it about a week later when I gave it a shot just for the sheer hell of it). 30 TIMES I died with 28 of those fucking hoops done. Then it hit me that I was quite literally going through hoops for a developer's amusement and I gave up. I'll still probably go back and try for that achievement again later, but still. Damn you.

[Tommy Gun]

I find it interesting as hell how quickly the addition of Geoms changed the way I play.

Agreed -- especially for Deadline, you really have to go for geoms to get a high score, which means you really can't retreat as much as before. I'm still terrible at it though. I got the Rebound achievement (bounce bullets off gates) and that was actually my high score...so I guess I should do that more often.

I didn't get the King achievement, but I did get the one for surviving 8 waves without firing a shot. Bloody hard.

That one was fun, have you tried:

Phobia

Score 1,000 points in Waves without collecting any geoms.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? I got it, but that took some tries. You obviously can't shoot your way through a wave, or you'll get a geom, so you need to really pay attention and dodge them all.

30 TIMES I died with 28 of those fucking hoops done.

Damn.

I only have three achievements left to get:

Wax Off [Fucking hard! Wax On is so easy, but damn this gets tough.]

Game Over (Reach the end of sequence.) [i got to the very last level, but died. I think that was the time my roommate walked in front of the tv, too, so I'm just going to blame it all on him. I'll definitely get this one soon.]

Smile [Yeah...this isn't going to happen in the near future, shit.]

Oh, and I got 70 Million in Pacifism.

GW was never a game I liked to play for very long though (in one sitting). GW2 mixes it up a lot more, so you don't get as bored, but I still don't like to do the same thing over and over again.

If anyone wants to compare scores, add me: Tommy Gun CRG

[miffy495]

And don't be afraid to add me either, if you haven't. I'd like to know that I can at least get higher scores than somebody as I have to see Tommy's high score in the upper right corner of every damn game I play...

[Tommy Gun]

Haha, well you can actually change that if you go to Settings, and it'll display your personal best.

[modium]

I was a big fan of the first one. To me, it's that sort of perfect simplicity that makes Tetris so great, even more than a million 20 years later. I was really excited for the sequel, but wasn't expecting much for some reason. I figured it'd either be the same game with different enemies and a graphical upgrade or something akin to Galaxies-lite. As I'm wondering where the hours have gone, I'm glad to say Bizarre proved me dead wrong. :tup:

Like Tommy said, all the modes are just great. I love how they took the basic idea of the game and completely changed it for Pacifism and King. The leaderboard stuff is just brilliant, of course. I was going back and forth with a friend of mine, we'd try to beat each other's scores and then talk trash over AIM...good times. Though I have to wonder what the psychological effect could be if you're not so good at the game, to have someone else's super-high score in the corner mocking you. I know you can turn it off and everything, but still, it's something that I've been thinking about. Well, when I'm not cursing out those swirling purple things.

[Tommy Gun]

Anyone who isn't playing and wants to know how we're feeling with these achievements,

(you don't have to watch the whole thing).

I still haven't fucking beaten Sequence! I got to the last level again, and keep coming really close, but screwing up on easy stuff. There were times when I really should have used a bomb, and that would have saved me a life, which, in the final level, would have meant I would have won. I want to murder someone. This isn't that hard! I can do it! I keep fucking it up! And the more I play, the worse I get.

When I first got the game, I never failed on the one Sequence level with those guys who fly at you, and you can only shoot them in the back. Level 10. I could beat that every time (without a bomb)...but I can't remember exactly how I was doing it. Now, I can't beat that for the life of me (without a bomb).

On the bright side, you know the level with only green guys? I finally beat that one without using a bomb! It just takes so long, but I finally did it with barely any time left. The one with the bubbles/green guys, I still haven't beaten in time -- I can get down to just the bubbles, but they take forever to kill, unless I'm missing some trick.

Also: if you haven't heard -- when playing, hold RB and hit BACK. It's cool.

[toblix]

These sorts of games... I get so fucking angry by looking at that movie.

[ThunderPeel2001]

The first one was pure TORTURE. I don't see how anyone could get decent scores on it without being a weathered Zen master at it. Far too hardcore for the sake of it.

I'll give this sequel a go, though.

[Tommy Gun]

I beat Sequence! Zero lives left, and I used my last bomb on the final stage, but I made it! It was during my first try yesterday -- like I said, I'm always the best right at the beginning.

I also got the Wax Off achievement! That was pretty damn tough (same one the guy was trying to get in the video I posted above). Now the only one I have left is Smile, but I don't think I even want to TRY getting that.

I'm definitely getting a lot better at Sequence though, there are a bunch of levels I can do without bombs that I never thought were possible before -- like the one with ALL the waves, but also snakes. Or the one with tons of purple boxes.

[twmac]

If people wonder what achievements are about I think I have a perfect example in this thread.

I should be getting my 360 back in the next week or so and will be planning on getting a few games on XBLA (Commando 3, Rez, Ikaruga, Assault Heroes 2, Fatal Fury) so I should pick this up at the same time. Miffy you can laugh at my atrocious scores.

I remember coming with 4 thousand points of the achievement for 500 000 points, that hurt a lot when I died oh so close to it. The worst part is that my connection dropped out at the end of the game so the score was never even uploaded.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Yay! I played this last night and I have to say: A fantastic improvement over the original. Still frustrating at times, but definitely less so, and there's plenty of different things to do as well.

It'd be cool if more Thumbs bods got it, too.

[Tommy Gun]

Yay! I played this last night

Yes! Now there'll be more than just Miffy on my leaderboards space! Now that I have all the achievements except Smile, I don't know how often I'll be playing it, though, heh.

[miffy495]

Got Wax On the first time I tried. Actually, the same game I got 89% of Wax Off. Highest I got was 97%. Second time that I got that far and died, I got pissed and played Braid instead. Gotta say it was a good call releasing these two games within a week of each other. The feelings that each gives the player compliment each other perfectly.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I got Wax Off! Hurrah! What a little sod it was too.

This is still a great game. It's a shame more thumbs haven't bought it.

PS - I've only just noticed that this is the worst sounding game of all time. What's next? Algebra Battles?

[Guest nyotonde]

You will have to teach me much more http://www.kenyatoursdirectory.com

[DanJW]

You will have to teach me much more http://www.kenyatoursdirectory.com

Dammit, one wiggled through the mesh. Stomp it!

[ThunderPeel2001]

You will have to teach me much more http://www.kenyatoursdirectory.com

Well the trick is to quickly go for Wax On and then get good at avoiding and killing the baddies for... Hey! Wait a minute...