Day 101: Geometry Wars Galaxies

I am continually amazed by Circuit City's ability to remain in business. Whenever I go there, I'm the only customer in the store, and I rarely end up actually buying anything. I assume everyone else is frightened off by the awkward layout, made worse by a recent reorganization of the store, and the poor customer service. On my last trip, I took my merchandise to a podium located in the geographic center of the store, marked with a large sign that read "Checkout" and was told to go to the desk marked "Returns." I fully expected to be sent right back, or to have the full purchase price of the item returned to me.


I was almost disappointed when the cashier rang up my copy of Geometry Wars Galaxies, clearance priced at seventeen dollars. At least now I'd finally get to see what all the hooplah was about. Not owning an Xbox 360 (I see no reason to pay 400 dollars for something that's jst going to stop working in a year), I never got to play the original Geometry Wars. The original "Retro Evolved" version of the game is on the Wii disc, along with the new "Galaxies," which is essentially the exact same game but with the added need to "unlock" things.

Geometry Wars is a good shooter, but it's no the best out there. It's not even as good as the classic games it's modeled after. The addition of levels and power ups to unlock adds nothing in my opinion (I think I've already mentioned somewhere how sick I am of having to "buy" half the features of any new game), but the score multiplier is a nice way to reward longevity and really boost scores. If I had paid full retail price for Galaxies, I would have been disappointed, but for 17 bucks, it's hard to go wrong.