Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions (PS4) Review

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions isn’t actually the third game in the Geometry Wars series. There were some less than great games that appeared on the Wii and other platforms. These games just didn’t feel like the Geometry Wars that so many fell in love with. Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is different.
Activision is publishing this game under the revived Sierra Entertainment name, which is a bit weird but whatever. When I booted up Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions I was greeted to bright colors and techno music and a robot voice. What I’m saying is that Geometry Wars 3 makes a great first impression. This game looks like a Geometry Wars game. Brightly colored shapes came at me and tons of effects popped onto the screen when I blew them up. The entire time the game kept a steady 60fps.

This consistent framerate and the super crisp graphics go a long way in making the game feel good to play. Moving around with the left stick and shooting enemies with the right stick felt great. My ship moved exactly liked I expected it to and I was able to weave in and out of enemies with ease. Geometry Wars 3 feels smooth and satisfying and I quickly would lose track of the time as I chased high scores.
Geometry Wars 3 adds a few new wrinkles to the gameplay. You can have a drone now that follows you around. You can upgrade this drone and give it a special ability, like having it double your fire power or having it collect geoms for you. (Geoms return from the 2nd game and work the same way. You raise your multiplier up by killing enemies and collecting geoms. If you die and you have more lives your multiplier stays.) Sometimes special golden symbols will spawn on a level, shooting these will grant you a more powerful weapon. There are few new enemies too and the old shapes return from the older games.

The big new addition to Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is Adventure Mode. In this mode you work your way through different levels. These levels are shaped differently and will have different rules or obstacles. Like giant unbreakable red boxes or teleporters. Some of these levels are fun and some can get pretty chaotic. But some of the weirder shaped levels, like a peanut looking level, can cause some issues with seeing enemies. Sometimes I would come over the crest of a level hit an enemy I couldn’t see. In levels where you have one life these moments were super frustrating.
Outside of a few weird levels, Adventure Mode is a nice addition to the game and it serves a good way to learn the basics and the new features in Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions. As you complete levels you earn stars and unlock boss battles. These were hard, but completing them gave me a great sense of accomplishment and definitely got my heart racing. Sometimes after a tough level or boss I would have to wipe the sweat off my controller and take a break.

There are also some mulitplayer elements to the game, but I wasn’t able to play this. Sadly it seems not many people are playing this online. Hopefully that means people are too busy playing the real game mode and not that this game is selling poorly.
This real game mode I speak of is the main attraction in Geometry Wars 3. If the new additions of drones and boss levels isn’t what you want, you can play classic styled game modes. These get rid of the weirdly shaped levels and strange obstacles. Instead it returns to the more pure and simple gameplay of past Geometry Wars games. This is the mode I spent the most time with and will continue to do so. Trying to beat friends' high scores is addicting and the more pure gameplay gets rid of the random deaths or weird issues. It’s you, enemies and three lives. And it’s fantastic.

Gameplay from a boss fight on PS4

Geometry Wars 3 is simple to play. You move with one stick and shoot with the other. It’s easy to pick up and play and feels great. But if you want to get really high scores or beat all the levels you will have to practice. And practice. And work on getting faster and moving around better. Learning patterns and enemy behaviors. If you’re an experienced Geometry Wars player and don’t want to deal with new stuff like bosses, classic mode is just a better looking Geometry Wars 2 that is now available on your new console of choice.
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is a great sequel and one of the best dual joystick shooters you can play.