Classic Games Today: Grid Wars

Grid Wars 1 and 2 are based on the Geometry Wars series, which uses the simple shooter formula originated more than two decades ago in titles like Galaga, Missle Command, and most importantly Asteroids. Geometry Wars was originally packaged as a minigame in Project Gotham Racing 2 for the Xbox, but is best known for its downloadable sequal, Geometry Wars: Evovled. Evolved was released for download on the Xbox 360 during the system’s launch period. When early adopters of the 360 found themself with a $350 peice of hardware and few games to play, they stuck to Evolved’s old-school point grabbing and pick-up-and-play style like lice on mice.

Avid fans even developed their own versions of Geometry Wars, focusing on emulating the mechanics on the PC. Yet, Geometry Wars’ newfound popularity caught Bizarre (parent company) and Microsoft’s eye, causing the rip-offs to be squelched to make way for a spattering of new Geometry Wars releases on all home platforms.

Well, not all of the Geometry clones were squashed. Grid Wars has picked up an underground following. Though the designers are not allowed to host a download of the freeware, it still floats across the internet for gamers to play.

So, download the freeware, damn the man, save the empire, yada, yada, yada, give it a try. And don’t let the screenshot intimidate you; Grid Wars is intuitive and fun for everyone!

(Scroll to the the third paragraph and click Grid Wars 2 or Mac to download the game for your specific platform)

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