Geometry Wars | |
---|---|
Genre(s) | Multi-directional shooter |
Developer(s) |
|
Publisher(s) |
|
Creator(s) | Stephen Cakebread |
Composer(s) | Chris Chudley |
Platform(s) | |
First release | Geometry Wars 18 November 2003 |
Latest release | Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved 11 October 2016 |
Geometry Wars is a series of top-down multi-directional shooter video games developed by Bizarre Creations, and, later, Lucid Games. Originally published by Microsoft Games Studios, the first title was included as a minigame in Project Gotham Racing 2 for Xbox. An updated version was released in 2005 as a launch title for Xbox 360 and later ported to Windows. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 , the second installment in the series, was released for the Xbox 360 in 2008.
Other titles in the series was launched in follow years to other platforms by Bizarre Creations and publishers Vivendi Games and Activision. The latest entry in the series, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions , was developed by Lucid Games and launched in 2014.
On 13 October 2023, Microsoft reacquired the game series as part of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
2003 | Geometry Wars |
---|---|
2004 | |
2005 | Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved |
2006 | |
2007 | Geometry Wars: Waves Geometry Wars: Galaxies |
2008 | Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 |
2009 | |
2010 | Geometry Wars Touch |
2011 | |
2012 | |
2013 | |
2014 | Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions |
2015 | |
2016 | Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved |
Geometry Wars was released in the form of an easter egg minigame in the 2003 racing game Project Gotham Racing 2 on the original Xbox. [1] The game was accessed from within Project Gotham Racing 2 by interacting with an arcade cabinet present in the player's virtual garage.
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was developed by Bizarre Creations and released for Xbox Live Arcade on Xbox 360. At one point, it held the record for the most downloaded Xbox Live Arcade Game. [2]
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 Xbox 360 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 was developed by Bizarre Creations and Kuju Entertainment, and published by Vivendi Games for the Wii and Nintendo DS in November 2007, [3] becoming the first Geometry Wars game available on non-Microsoft platforms and the only one available on Nintendo 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 was developed by Bizarre Creations, and released on Xbox Live Arcade on Xbox 360 on July 30, 2008 as a sequel to Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. [4]
An iOS 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 , but removed the multiplayer functionality entirely. [5]
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions was developed by Lucid Games and published by Activision under the Sierra Entertainment brand name. The game was released on November 25, 2014 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, on November 26, 2014 for Xbox 360 and Xbox One and in the middle of 2015 for iOS, Android [6] [7] [8] [9] and PlayStation Vita. Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is the first Sierra video game not to be owned by their former owner Vivendi. It is the first installment of Geometry Wars to be released on Sony platforms and developed after the creator of the series Bizarre Creations was shut down by Activision.
The soundtrack for the series was composed by Chris Chudley from Audioantics.
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.
Bizarre Creations Limited was a British video game development studio based in Liverpool, best known for their racing titles Metropolis Street Racer (Dreamcast) and the follow-up Project Gotham Racing series. The company has also developed games in other genres, including the Geometry Wars arcade series, plus the third-person shooters Fur Fighters and The Club. Bizarre Creations was acquired by publisher Activision in 2007, and subsequently completed its racer Blur in May 2010.
Project Gotham Racing 3 is a racing video game developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released exclusively for the Xbox 360 as a launch title in November 2005. The game was rated by Official Xbox Magazine as Xbox 360 "Game of the Year" (2005), as well as "Best 1st Person of the Year", because of its realistic inside-car view. A sequel, Project Gotham Racing 4, was released in October 2007.
Geometry Wars is a 2003 video game by Bizarre Creations. Initially a minigame in Project Gotham Racing 2, an updated version, titled Retro Evolved, was eventually released for the Xbox 360. That version, at one point, held the record for the most downloaded Xbox Live Arcade Game.
Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a video game digital distribution service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital sales platform for the Xbox 360. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers. Titles ranged from classic console and arcade video games, to new games designed from the ground up for the service. Games available through the XBLA service ranged from $5–20 in price, and as of October 2016, there have been 719 Xbox Live Arcade titles released for the Xbox 360. Prior to the Xbox 360, "Xbox Live Arcade" was the name for an online distribution network on the original Xbox, which was replaced by the Xbox Live Marketplace.
Crash Bandicoot is a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. It has seen numerous installments created by various developers and published on multiple platforms. The series consists predominantly of platform games, but also includes spin-offs in the kart racing and party game genres. The series was originally produced by Universal Interactive, which later became known as Vivendi Games; in 2008, Vivendi merged with Activision, which currently owns and publishes the franchise.
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.
Project Gotham Racing (PGR) is a series of racing video games developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Microsoft Studios and Sega (Dreamcast). The series appeared on the Dreamcast, Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles, and consists of Metropolis Street Racer (Dreamcast), Project Gotham Racing (Xbox), Project Gotham Racing 2 (Xbox), Project Gotham Racing 3, and Project Gotham Racing 4.
Boom Boom Rocket (BBR) is a downloadable video game for Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade service. Boom Boom Rocket is the first rhythm game for Xbox Live Arcade and was developed by Geometry Wars creators Bizarre Creations and published by the Pogo division of Electronic Arts. The game was made backwards compatible on Xbox One on July 26, 2016.
Geometry Wars: Galaxies is a multidirectional shooter video game developed by Bizarre Creations and Kuju Entertainment, and published by Vivendi Games for the Wii and Nintendo DS in 2007. As the first Geometry Wars game to be released on non-Microsoft platforms, Galaxies is a spin-off of Geometry Wars, which was originally included as a bonus game within Project Gotham Racing 2 on Microsoft's Xbox console. 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 is a multidirectional shooter developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Microsoft Game Studios and Activision. It was released on Xbox Live Arcade on July 30, 2008 as a sequel to Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. It was followed by Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions, a sequel published in 2014 by Lucid Games, which was founded by former members of Bizarre Creations.
Blur is a 2010 vehicular combat arcade-style racing video game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was developed by Bizarre Creations, published by Activision in North America and Europe, and published in Japan by Square Enix. The game features a racing style that incorporates real world cars and locales with arcade style handling and vehicular combat. Blur was the penultimate game developed by Bizarre Creations before they were shut down by Activision on February 18, 2011.
Platform exclusivity refers to the status of a video game being developed for and released only on certain platforms. Most commonly, it refers to only being released on a specific video game console or through a specific vendor's platforms—either permanently, or for a definite period of time.
Audioantics is a UK-based video game audio production company run by a freelance sound engineer Chris Chudley.
Skylanders is a toys-to-life action-adventure video game franchise published by Activision. Skylanders games are played by placing a character's figure on the "Portal of Power", a device that reads its tag using NFC and "imports" them into the game as a playable character, leveling them up and saving its progress on the figure to potentially be used on a different game with its saved stats. Skylander figures are sold separately from the game itself unless you buy the starter pack. Typically, the starter pack for each game contains two or more Skylanders, a Portal of Power, the game disc and sometimes something else to show off the game's newest feature.
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. Games developed by Lucid Games include Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions (2014) and Destruction AllStars (2021).
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is a 2014 multidirectional shooter video game developed by Lucid Games and published by Activision under the Sierra Entertainment brand name. The game was released on November 25, 2014 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, day later for Xbox 360 and Xbox One and in the middle of 2015 for iOS and Android. As the sequel to Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is the first game in the series to be released on Sony platforms. It is the sixth installment in the Geometry Wars series and the first one developed after the creator of the series Bizarre Creations was shut down by Activision.