Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved has long been the poster child for digitally distributed games on consoles, mostly due to the fact it was the only decent game on Xbox Live Arcade for about 9 months. The game's intensity and gradually escalating difficulty level resonated with audiences, resulting in it quickly becoming one of the best-selling titles on the service. The popularity of the game resulted in a port to the PC, the appearance of an alternate version called Geometry Wars Waves in Project Gotham Racing 4, and the more fleshed out Geometry Wars Galaxies for the Wii and DS. Now we've finally got the fully fledged sequel, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2.

The Geometry Wars efforts released in the period between the Retro Evolved games have introduced all sorts of new gameplay elements and modes; Retro Evolved 2 takes most of these additions on, and brings in a couple of new gameplay modes of its own (for a total of six), and a fairly robust offline multiplayer mode to boot. Retro Evolved 2 also bears noticeably improved visuals, with a significant increase in the number of particle effects, and many of its enemies featuring overhauled designs. Each play mode also has its own music track, which is more or less a remix of the original Retro Evolved theme suited to each mode's theme.

Retro Evolved 2's core systems remain much the same as its predecessors'; it's still a dual stick shooter with an emphasis on high scores and survival. It does maintain the changes to the multiplier system seen in Waves and Galaxies; the different weapon types have been done away with, and player's multipliers are now tied to the number of Geoms they collect. Two or three Geoms appear after you destroy a ship – obviously with the amount of action going on, there are going to be a lot of them appearing on screen, and your combo meter is going to go through the roof. Points values of enemies have been scaled back to prevent the nine and ten digit scores of Galaxies, but it's still quite easy to rack up the first million, unlike the original game.

The expanded selection of gameplay modes is what really sets Retro Evolved 2 apart. Evolved is much like the original Retro Evolved's main game with the addition of Geoms. Slightly more different is Deadline, which functions much like Evolved, but limits players to three minutes of play. You have unlimited lives during this time; collecting Geoms staying alive will ensure a big score, as the flow of enemies restarts whenever a life is lost. Waves is pretty much the same as it was in Project Gotham Racing 4; a wall of orange rockets flies from one end of the screen to the other. The key here is to get in a position where you can destroy the wave with ease, but that becomes increasingly difficult when multiple waves and other enemies become active and the focus shifts to simply surviving the onslaught.


Retro Evolved 2's new modes are rather different animals. Sequence mode puts players through 20 different levels where they must destroy all of the enemies in each stage to move on. A unique twist to the mode is that if you are killed, the game automatically moves on to the next stage. It's tough, but players that stick at it will eventually see the end. King mode is a bit of a play on the King of the Hill concept. Several circles are placed around the game area, and the caveat is that the player can only fire while within these circles. You can't be killed while you're inside a circle, but they shrink after a couple of seconds, so you're always on the move. The inability to fire outside of the circles makes the dash to get Geoms a major risk, adding further excitement to the mix. Retro Evolved 2's most unique mode is Pacifist. An expansion of the achievement in the original game, Pacifist takes away your ship's weapon, and sends you into the thick of battle with units chasing you around the field. The only way to protect your ship from being annihilated is to steer it through gates which randomly appear on screen. Crossing the gates will destroy the ships within a certain radius, allowing you to last a little longer. You've got to be careful, as the gates are constantly rotating, and the edges are lethal. It's not easy to prevail, but it's very intense.

Up to four players can team up or compete in Retro Evolved's offline multiplayer modes. It's a little disappointing that the game does not offer some form of online play, but it would be pretty difficult to pull it off effectively. There is a nice smattering of modes that will please the majority of players. Four players can team up cooperatively in the Evolved mode, working together to fend off the forces of evil and build up a high score. If you thought the game was frantic when playing alone, then playing with three friends will blow you away. Co-pilot is two-player cooperative mode that has one player steering the ship and the other operating the weapons with amusing consequences. If you're not the cooperative sort, the competitive multiplayer puts you and your friends in a contest to get the highest score, but the difference here is that several power-ups on the field will grant you upgrades such as Geom magnets and better weapons, or disadvantage your opponents by freezing their ship. Multiplayer modes do a great job of extending the game's life, even if they're not online. Aside from a lack of online multiplayer, Retro Evolved 2's only other issue is that the game's achievements are a little too easy to obtain. The first game's achievements were a real badge of honour as it takes a decent amount of skill and hard work to get them. Retro Evolved 2 still has some achievements that are like this, such as the two Sequencer achievements, but the others can easily be gained in the game's first couple of hours.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 really has everything you need from a sequel, with more play modes, better graphics and terrific multiplayer support. It's also ridiculously addictive, making it one of the best bang-for-buck titles on any system, downloadable or not. It would have been nice to have online multiplayer, or more challenging achievements, but these factors are not deal breakers. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 is easily one of the finest titles available on Xbox Live Arcade and a fine blaster in its own right – it's a game that all Xbox 360 owners must play.