What doesn’t make sense about Geometry Wars Galaxies is how such an apparently limited concept as a line-drawn, single screen, 2D shooter can sport such massive irresistibility. The hours dissolve like a geometric shape flying apart at the corners, in a way not seen since Tetris.

Once a few hours have gone into chasing around the grid and shooting at squares, you come to realise that many games have lost their way. Epic, free-roaming quests of great importance, realistic force-feedback driving challenges and beautifully recreated ancient worlds pale in comparison to the raw fun of zipping around the screen, shooting stuff. Re-inventing the classic Geometry Wars was a bold move, as it essentially tests the willingness of the world’s gaming community to take a step back and return to a simpler state of videogaming – but by god, it does it well.

Many people will most immediately be wondering how the Wii and DS versions compare to the game’s most recent incarnation, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved (a version of which is included in both new games), on Xbox Live Arcade, so that’s a good place to begin.

Essentially, the port to Nintendo’s consoles (of the XBLA version, rather than the 8-bit classic, of course) is spot on; the only differences being the control systems and screen resolutions – neither of which are inferior. Simply different.

The Wii and DS versions follow a very similar method of control to each other. The directional controllers (being the nunchuck attachment on the Wii and D-pad on the DS) guide the ship, while the Wii-mote and stylus direct the ship’s weapon fire. Both are beautifully intuitive – to the point at which even a newcomer finds they no longer need to watch the precise location of their ship, but can navigate by unconsciously extrapolating their avatar’s position in relation to the laser-sighted weapon.

Being a full, commercial release, the concept naturally had to go beyond the bounds of the (slightly larger than) single screen XBLA download. What we have in its place are different geometric sizes and shapes for the play area – each a little larger than single screen, allowing for some amount of smooth scrolling, but all in much the same vein. The divergent shapes do pose an extra physical conundrum for players to navigate, however, and determine significant alterations in the way enemy entities are spawned.

Each new play area is represented by a planet in a solar system which makes up the galaxies referred to in the title. Moving onto the next planet, then the next system, costs “geoms” – small, quickly evaporating objects collected after enemies are destroyed. Playing through the previous planets (often several times) shores up the pre-requisite number of geoms to move on, although this voluntary progression method adds a remarkable freedom to Geometry Wars that expands its boundaries exponentially.

Suddenly, we find we’re no longer playing the simplistic shooter this game was born as, but a minimal, galaxy wide epic (I agree this sounds like something of a contradiction, but a minimalistic epic is exactly what Kuju have created). The free-roaming gameplay normally reserved for complex RPGs is infused with the basic shmup mechanics to become something impressively grand, and provides a crucial replay value that makes this mid-price title a genuine bargain.

Along the way, the player’s drone also increases in power and effectiveness as the different types are unlocked using your wealth of geoms. Some provide extra firepower, some collect up nearby geoms and some act as a defensive satellite, and it’s a valuable skill for players to be able to select the appropriate drone for each planet. One way or another, there’s a great deal of scope and necessity for increased experience before progressing – another commodity usually only found in far more complex and involved games.

But, all hidden depths aside, Geometry Wars Galaxies is still the hottest casual game to hit the current generation of consoles. It expands the scope and definition of the “casual game” to new levels; providing the kind of exhilarating, engrossing experience and refined, simplistic, yet infinitely profound play mechanics of pinball, pool or darts – traditional games that have become the sole focus of their own genre.

Geometry Wars Galaxies represents a universe of dichotomies – extreme casual gaming, a minimalistic epic and a priceless bargain.