#Geometry wars 3 review for mac#
#Geometry wars 3 review series#
#Geometry wars 3 review mac#

The 50-part campaign spans various gameplay types, some old and some new, to offer a deep series of diverse challenges. The more seismic shift, even if it's more a reversion to similar mechanics in Galaxies, is the single-player Adventure mode. At their best, the 3D grids tie into that well enough. With its countdowns, lives and growing waves of enemies, GW3 remains a test of dexterity, timing, and at its best, bravery. In some of GW3's levels you whiz across the surfaces of cubes, spheres and other 3D shapes, but the top-down modus operandi remains the same: Shoot lots of geometric enemies while dodging your way through the rainbow of carnage, collect green diamond 'geoms' to increase your multiplier, and exponentially boost your score like crazy. Switching from 2D to a Super Stardust HD-like 3D may sound massive, but Lucid doesn't reinvent Bizarre Creations' wheel. Take a more sober look at it, and it's a welcome, faithful enough return that you can still sink plenty into.

If you view GW3 in the inebriated, blurry lens of GW2 it comes up a little short. In contrast, GW3's freshest defining quality, the third dimension, doesn't make the same impact. Oddly enough, it's a sometimes overlooked Geometry Wars entry, Galaxies, that brings the most enjoyable component to developer Lucid Games' revival: a dense, challenge-based campaign. In short, it was a black hole of time in the best possible way.Īfter such a siesta, it's hard to see Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions outside of what came before. Like a three-legged pub crawl with tequila shots, it delivered in short, impelling bursts that kept you drunkenly chasing high scores through the night, or at least until your thumbs passed out. It riffed on Asteroids aptly, mixing simple, refined shoot-em-up with a hypnotic techno frenzy.

#Geometry wars 3 review mac#

Geometry Wars 3 is available right now through both the Mac App Store and Steam.In 2008, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 was the ruler (pun intended) of Xbox Live. Regardless, it's pure, unadulterated twitch action that should satisfy even the most demanding game enthusiast, and it's a welcome addition to the Mac game library. Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions updates the classic Geometry Wars gameplay with a new twist that some folks are bound to love, some are bound to hate, depending on how much they've invested in previous installments in the series. You really need a gamepad to be able to play well.

#Geometry wars 3 review for mac#

Simultaneous release for Mac and other platforms.At last, a real Geometry Wars game for the Mac.Fast and frenetic arcade-style shooting gameplay.Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB. The Geometry Wars franchise has been around for more than a decade now, though this marks its first appearance on the Mac (as well as Linux, whose port was also managed by Aspyr). You can remap input to different keys if you want, in the game's options. (Aspyr says it'll work on the Mac with the PlayStation 3 and 4 controllers, too, as well as Xbox One controllers.)įor everyone else, Geometry Wars uses keyboard input - W, A, S and D keys control the ship's movement, cursor keys control direction of fire. I'd strongly recommend using a gamepad if you have the option - the game plays much better with one. The left thumbpad controls ship movement, right thumbpad affects direction of fire. I hooked up a wired Xbox 360 controller and Geometry Wars 3 recognized it and supported it seamlessly. Worse, there's no documentation that I could find in the version I downloaded from Steam, so you're really on your own to figure out how it works.įortunately, if you actually use a gamepad on your Mac, you'll find that it'll work. Finding your way around the interface can be a bit daunting, because for whatever reason, Aspyr didn't elect to use conventions like the Esc key to back out of menus (I discovered quite by accident that the Delete key does the trick, though). It's worth noting that Geometry Wars: Dimensions is a straight-up port from the console version: No attempt has been made to rework the game's user interface for a Mac, so you'll see references galore to buttons that you'd find on a game pad - like A, B and X (and no, those aren't mapped to the corresponding keyboard keys). There are also community leaderboards so you can track how your friends are doing in the game. You can either go head-to-head with other players online or play a cooperative game using multiple controllers on the same computer. There is also a multiplayer component here.