Universal Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved (by Activision Publishing, Inc.)

I don’t really agree with auto-fire just being for newbies, or making things easy. It depends how you’re using it. Remember auto-aim only activates if you take your finger off the aiming stick. If you just leave your finger off the aiming stick the whole time and let it fire for you, then sure it does make things easier. However I don’t think that’s the way it’s intended to be used. Rather it’s intended just to compensate for one of the disadvantages of using touch controls compared to a controller, which is that you have to let go of the aiming stick to hit a button, like the bomb button. With a controller you don’t need to stop firing to release a bomb because you just use a trigger, which doesn't require taking your thumb off the stick. With touch controls you need to let go of the aiming stick to hit the bomb button. Since the main time you’d ever use a bomb is if you’re in a tight spot, that’s the worst time to have to stop firing, so auto-aim compensates for that by firing automatically while you hit the button. If you only use auto-fire when hitting the bomb button and keep your finger on the aim stick the rest of the time, then it doesn’t offer any real advantage over using a controller without auto-aim.

As evidence that this is the intended purpose of auto-fire, I’ll point out that when you use a controller, the auto-fire option is disabled. If the developers were just trying to dumb down the iOS version they would have let controller users have auto-fire too. But it’s clearly just there to help make touch controls more comparable to controllers.

 

It's true that auto-fire is on by default, but it's not a one-stick mode. As soon as you touch your other thumb to the screen it will switch to manual fire mode, where you have to do the aiming. So you can choose at any point whether to play in one or two-stick mode must by whether you put your thumb on the aim stick.

Agreed with all your other comments. It's an amazing game.

 

Looks a lot like "Vertex Blaster" which came out around 3-4 years ago, how do they compare to eachother? Anyone?

 

man - vertex blaster was beautiful. Used to play it witj iCP (iControlPad) and then iCade and I think it was updated for MFi recently too. This just has more modes - with adventure, classic and bonus modes, but Vertex Blaster is still a little beauty (with GC leaderboards).

 

Wow, wouldn't think of that! Thanks for a great advice, I'll definitely try it even thought I'm absolutely satisfied with the controls on default settings. So far I didn't have an urge to use manual stick for aiming, it works just flawless on automatic. I guess the twin-stick option is just for hardcore players because I can't think of any advantage to play the game that way.

 

This is phenomenal, playing on iPad Air with my Stratus XL.

Amazing port.

 

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The advantage of controlling both sticks vs letting the computer control the fire stick is the same as the advantage of controlling one stick vs letting the computer control both sticks. There's no advantage in terms of scoring higher since the computer could almost certainly do a better job of dodging enemies than you. The advantage of controlling the ship movement yourself is just that it's fun to do so. Same for aiming.

This isn't meant as a dig at all. I'm all for games having very configurable difficulty levels, and think it's great that the game has an auto fire option. I personally probably won't take advantage of it much, though not because I think there's anything cooler about not using it, but just because one of the main things I really enjoy about twin stick shooters is the mental exercise of controlling movement and aiming separately.

 

This is a perfect port. No compromise on visuals at all, looks amazing and controls well even without a gamepad.

Unfortunately, the iCloud functionality doesn't work at all. It's as if it's not even enabled, as it doesn't show up under iCloud storage or in the list of games that are allowed to write their documents folders to iCloud. It's a huge shame because this is a perfect portable game but also looks phenomenal on a tablet at home. Hope the devs can fix it.

Oh, and minus the Facebook leaderboards. That's a truly baffling design decision. Dunno why they didn't tie into Game Center.

 

I've got a potentially stupid question: did the ps3 version have drones and special attacks (like mines) too? I bought it when it came out but perhaps didn't play enough of it to unlock these features. I play most of my games on my phone and ipad. Definitely loving this on my iphone! #

 

Any chance of this hitting the Japanese AppStore by the end of next week?

My money is just itchin' to be spent on this game!

 

This game is just phenomenal and earns its 5 star reviews. $4.99 well spent. Here is my gameplay video on it! Off to play some more heh.

 

DEADLINE

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Yep it's same drones and supers as the console..

 

Have asked about this, publishing side is dealt with by Activision tho so I don't have an answer just yet

 

I am still impressed and I got used to the controls (even the buttons - although I would prefer a double tap).

But the Auto-Aim-Option bothers me. Some levels are too easy with auto aiming. There should be at least separate highscore-tables (non-Facebook).

I could turn it off (which I do) - problem is: I could turn it on when I have failed. A solution might be an "expert"-campaign where you are not allowed to do so (that would also include own high scores).

Nonetheless: GW3 is one of the very few games that deserve a perfect 10.

 

Give that a day or two and i reckon it will be a challenge on the high score tables. There's lots of subtlety and tactics to using the right drone and super combo

 

I kinda wish there were tilt controls to this. This game would be a lot of fun to play like Tilt to Live, especially with the auto shooting.

 

Tried that, seriously not fun