Two Fedoras

I apologize in advance to the readers of this review. Namely because I think I will mention Geometry Wars about five-thousand times. But the comparison just can’t help but be drawn between it and Bad Egg Studios‘ latest title, Pew Pew Pod. This XBox LIVE Indie Game is considered by some to be a spiritual successor to the GW series. But is it really? Lets jump in and find out.

Gameplay

Pew Pew Pod is a 2D twin stick shooter that is exceptionally similar in design and gameplay to that of the Geometry Wars series. That said, the game is not simply another clone of the mega-hit XBLA title, and brings its own unique take on the genre to the table.

The controls of Pew Pew Pod, function similarly to what you’d expect from the genre with one noteworthy exception. The triggers and shoulder buttons, as well as the colored buttons, will each select one of the games four weapons allowing you to strategically swap them on the fly. This control functionality is taken fully advantage of in at least one of the games six modes of play:

• Arcade: You have three minutes and three lives to kill as many enemies as you can. Get an extra 1000 points for each life you have at the end!
• Survival: Live as long as you can off of three lives! Gain points just from living! No points for kills though!
• Zones: Sit in the zone to collect points. After five seconds the zone will disappear and another will appear somewhere else!
• Waypoint: You have three lives to collect as many waypoints as you can! Each is worth one point!
• Think Fast: Follow instructions to get points! Last as long as you can with three lives! no penalties for not following the rules, but no points either!
• Versus: Battle your friends! Each hit is worth points depending on the weapon! Highest points at the end of three minutes wins!

If you are familiar with Geometry Wars, you may have noticed there are a few similarities and differences in the list of modes. Namely the exclusion of a pacifist and wave modes, but considering the game’s greater focus on “pew pew” this makes sense.

Sticking with the theme of differences, Pew Pew Pod makes a considerable improvement on the Geometry Wars standard with the inclusion of power ups. There are two power ups in the game: four way cannons and weapon overload. Four way cannons, obviously, lets you fire in four directions simultaneously. Meanwhile, the weapons overload power up will increase your rate of fire. The two can be combined, and when one is active and another is acquired the timer for both is refreshed.

The pace of Pew Pew Pod is also slightly different from GW, with ship and projectile movements eeming to be slightly faster. Additionally, the opponents aren’t quite as “smart” as those in GW. For example, there is no equivelent of the little green diamond ships that will evade your fire in Pew Pew Pod. Personally, I found this to be a nice omission, namely because I suck at shooting those bastards.

I really have very few complaints about Pew Pew Pod, it’s simply an exceptionally polished XBLIG offering. But if complain I must, then complain I shall. My first bit of criticism involves the spawning of power ups. The system appears to be entirely random, which results in a wildly seesawing level of difficulty. For instance, I stink at twin-stick shooters, but because of an exceptionally lucky chain of power up appearances I managed to squeak out a score that was disproportionately higher than my previous attempts and not far off of being on the leader board. As further evidence of this, I have logged a good deal of time trying to repeat this miracle and have thus far been unsuccessful.

My next complaint is based purely on anecdotal evidence provided by a very sub-par player (me). The varied weapons seem to have a slight balance issue, in my experience the shot gun styled weapon was more effective than the others in most circumstances. That said, this does tend to evaporate as powerups are thrown into the mix. But almost never does the standard machine gun laser seem to be particularly effective.

Pew Pew Pod is just a really great twin stick shooter and I have very few reservations about referring to it as a spiritual successor to Geometry Wars 2. The controls are tight, responsive, and thoughtfully designed. The difficulty necessary to interest skilled players is present, but its curve is such that a novice can still pick it up and have a go.

Audio/Visual

Here is where we see a significant, but not immediately obvious, divergence from GW2. For starters the play area fits on a single screen. In other words, you wont find yourself being blind sided by something you didn’t even know had spawned yet. Next thing you’ll notice is that the particle effects are slightly more understated. This is also a positive differentiation since I often found myself completely incapable of discerning what was going in the midst of GW2′s eyegasmic glowsplosions.

The HUD and menu systems of Pew Pew Pod are the same neon looking style as GW2, with GW2′s looking only slightly more polished. Once in the game the main difference is in the way Pew Pew Pod will let you know what weapon you currently have active. Each weapon has its own uniquely colored projectile, when a weapon is made active, this color is applied to the entire HUD. Also, there is a bar of sound visualization stretched across the top and bottom that also switch with the selected weapons color.

On the topic of sound, PPP has a nice group of songs. Their Pop’ish electronic feel makes them well suited for the game and are of adequate length to avoid any sort of looping annoyance. As you play through the game will mix up the songs which helps to keep them relatively fresh.  With regards to the sound effects, they do their job nicely; there really isn’t anything particularly unique or exciting about them other than that.

Summary

Pew Pew Pod is a steal at 80Microsoft Points on the XBox LIVE Indie Game marketplace.  The game is well designed, very polished, and offers a great deal of replay value. I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Geometry Wars or twin stick shooters in general.