We Are Doomed was developed and published by Vertex Pop on Xbox One. It was released on April 17, 2015 for $9.99. A copy was provided by Vertex Pop for review purposes.

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Do you love the Geometry Wars series but just wish there was less to do? Well, then you’re in luck! We Are Doomed takes the same twin-stick shooter formula, the same polygonal graphics, the same wild visual effects, the same electronic style soundtrack, the same multiplier score system and adds…well, nothing really. But that doesn’t mean it’s not fun.

In We Are Doomed, you pilot a little polygon ship around a dark playing field with the left stick, while blasting away other geometric shapes with the right stick. This formula has become a genre unto itself ever since Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2005 (although the genre really goes all the way back to the arcades of the ’80s). It’s very fun and pretty addictive. But with so many twin-stick entries in recent years, these games really need some original ideas to stick out from the crowd.

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Here’s what I liked:

It’s fun — I started the review by putting We Are Doomed down, and below, I’m going to put it down some more, but it’s undeniably fun while it lasts. Here the twin-stick shooter formula is, in a way, boiled down to its essence since there are no extra goals for the player to worry about. Just shoot, shoot, shoot and don’t die. It’s challenging and addictive, and while most of that praise goes toward the genre itself, We Are Doomed certainly doesn’t do anything to ruin that fun.

Great music — Music is always important to me, especially in games like this where you’re going to be zoning out and just blasting away enemies for mindless hours on end. So I’m happy to say that the music in We Are Doomed is pretty great. The electronica soundtrack is smooth and relaxing, but with enough of a kick to keep you on beat while killing everything that moves.

We Are Doomed Review for Xbox One

Here’s what I didn’t like:

Nothing new — I’ve probably played a dozen or more of these kinds of twin-stick shooters, and We Are Doomed does absolutely nothing new. No new modes. No new power-ups. No new concepts. It’s exactly the same. Some might say that the wide but fairly short-range lazer weapon that you shoot sets it apart from most other games in the genre. Any feeling of that being different, however, wears off after a few minutes when you realize that you still have to approach the oncoming waves of enemies in exactly the same way as you always have.

Even less than before — While it’s one thing to do nothing new, We Are Doomed actually doesn’t even do most of the stuff that older games did. We Are Doomed has roughly as many modes as the first Geometry Wars: an endless mode and a challenge mode that saves your progress every 10 levels. That’s it. No mission modes. No alternate power-ups or ships or levels. It’s just the two simple modes that are roughly the same thing. It’s odd that the Vertex Pop would come up with a sort-of new concept for your main weapon but never expand upon it with power-ups.

Wrap-up

I basically had seen everything there is to see in We Are Doomed in the first 20 minutes. Could I go back and play it some more to try to beat my scores? Sure. But I still have plenty of content left to explore in Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions (plus the new expansion pack). So why bother? Unfortunately, We Are Doomed just doesn’t give me much of a reason to.

Score: Skip It