Take A Break

It's been a good gaming week this week. I finally finished Guitar Hero II on the hard level and also thrashed my Geometry Wars top score on the 360. It's still pretty weak but good for me!

Not such a big deal you might well say, but both of those were targets I'd tried countless times to achieve and just couldn't. I'd semi given up on them really and just accepted that I was at the limit of my gaming abilities. As most of us do from time to time though, I decided to look through my game collection for something I hadn't picked up in a while. Coming back to them with no real expectations or pressures on my performance worked wonders. I was in the zone, I was on the ball and experiencing the mental state known simply as 'flow'.

An example of this was given by Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, who during qualifying for the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix felt like he was driving the car beyond his limits. "I was already on pole and I just kept going. Suddenly I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my team mate with the same car. And suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct". Musicians, especially improvisational soloists can often experience a similar state of mind while playing their instrument.

The same concept of flow can be applied to video games.

"After mastering a game's learning curve or sometimes completely at random, the player may experience an increase in skill for no determined amount of time"

I've since tried many many times to better that score on Geometry Wars but I can't even get close. I'm back to my normal self for now at least. It's a strange phenomenon though and it's not the first time it's happened to me. Maybe it was because I was relaxed and not trying so hard. Whatever it is that causes it, it seems practice makes perfect but simply taking a break can work just as well.

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Evil Shapes

The Geometry Wars:Galaxies thread, on the Gameov3r FORUM, has rumbled along since September 2007 and has been generating quite a lot of excitement amongst the DS and Wii faithful as they impatiently waited for the release date and the chance to see what 360 owners have been going on about.

I had a few spare minutes earlier today, how these "spare" minutes occurred is for another time as it would take up a whole other blog entry, and as luck would have it I had the DS version of Galaxies and my DS to hand. Opportunity if ever there was one to find out how one of my favourite XBLA games has translated to Nintendo's DS. I only had time for a quick play but I tried out both Galaxies and the DS version of the XBLA classic Evolved which is included.

I should say before continuing that I am a big fan Geometry Wars Evolved on the 360, despite being rubbish at it, and my anticipation and expectation was running high.

Straight into Galaxies then and it's noticeable that the difficulty has been toned down in the earlier stages compared to Evolved on XBLA. This is not really a bad thing for me and helped me make progress quickly and not feel like I was going to see the gameov3r screen every couple of minutes. In fact I'd blasted past my Evolved XBLA score of around 220k by racking up 340k on my first go and after a few more tries I blasted my way to 850k. The enemy geometric shapes are considerably slower on the DS making them easier to avoid or obliterate. Easier, yes. Still not easy though. This is still a pretty stern test once your score get over 150-200k and it'll keep you playing for quite a while.

Galaxies tinkers with and expands upon the fabulous Evolved formula and whilst this is always a risky business it's safe to say that the changes here have had a positive effect and really do make Geometry Wars a more rewarding game. There's a sense of progression and of being on a mission rather than simply high score chasing. Changing size and shape of the play area adds variety, forcing the player to alter their tactics, and the appearance of the evil geometric shapes is staggered throughout the levels creating an excellent learning/difficulty curve so that Galaxies presents a consistent and solid challenge as you get further with every go. Something else I like about this game is that when you die, and you WILL die a lot to begin with, it's your fault. It's your fault every time. No mistake. There is no blaming the game for cheating with Geometry Wars.

The graphics are obviously not up to the 360's utterly gorgeous, eye meltingly retro-futuristic neon and there's some slow down when the screen fills up. Personally I actually found the DS graphics to be a bit too small making focusing a bit difficult for prolonged gaming. Remember the Gameboy Magnifier and light? Well forget that and just get me magnifier! My eyes felt like they were about two sizes to small for my head and could implode at any moment after 30 minutes! Even so I played on for another 40 minutes which is testament to the addictive qualities of the game and my lack of regard for the health of my eyesight. Perhaps it was just the bright lights where I was sitting and nothing to do with the graphics or my vision. I hope so. I think I'll play some more Galaxies when I'm tucked up in bed tonight. With all the lights off and a cup of cocoa. All For experimental purposes of course.

So far I think the XBLA Geometry Wars still has the crown but I've yet to play the Wii version of Galaxies, which links up your DS version unlocking a whole new galaxy, and I have a feeling that it could take over as the ultimate Geometry Wars game so far.

What do you do with the lights out? Perhaps your light's never on. Allow Gameov3r to counsel you on the FORUM. Discussion about Geometry Wars: Galaxies is also permitted.