It's often said that the best and most addictive games are also the most simple. Take Pong, Pac-Man, or even Mario for example, there's hardly a person out there (excluding infants) that can't figure out the controls after a few moments. That's because they're quite simple, perhaps even intuitive. The challenge comes from the game itself, not fighting the controls. It's what many consider to be the golden rule of quality games: simple to learn, difficult to master.

It's this mindset that seems to have given birth to Geometry Wars. The controls here are simple, the left analog stick moving the ship, the right analog stick firing in whatever direction its pointed, and the triggers setting off one of the player's few bombs, which destroy all on-screen enemies. All the action takes place in a simple rectangle, so there's never any worry about environmental obstacles.

Facing a never-ending onslaught of enemies, players are tasked with surviving as long as they can. No missions with various objectives, no storyline to follow, just simple survival. The longer they survive, the more powerful the sole weapon becomes, the higher the score multiplier, the more points they earn, the more bombs and lives they earn, and the higher the number and variety of enemies they face.

With both simple controls and simple gameplay, Geometry Wars is unsurprisingly easy to pick up and play. Because of this, it's also incredibly addictive, the simplicity of the whole ordeal fueling a mindset of "just one more game, I can do better this time." There's also set of Leaderboards, ranking a player's top score against both those on their Friends List and the whole of Xbox Live, which likewise provides incentive for achieving a high score.

A variety of Achievements are also provided by the game, some rewarding players for their skill, some rewarding them for attempting new gameplay styles. For example, if it wasn't an Achievement, how many of us would attempt to survive the first 60 seconds of the game without firing? But since the Achievement offers what sounds to be such a simple challenge, I was practically obligated to fulfill it.

Though the gameplay is essentially unchanged, Geometry Wars offers two modes: Retro and Evolved. The main difference between these lies with the visuals, with Retro appearing rather simple and always showing the entire rectangle on-screen. Meanwhile, Evolved zooms the camera in a bit, scrolling with the player's movements to display about 2/3rds of the rectangular play area at a given time. Evolved also brings with it the added benefit of a much more advanced appearance, including bright neon colors and distinct animations for each type of enemies, that no doubt results in it being the more popular of the two modes.

The only problem with Geometry Wars harkens back to its simple nature. As the game restarts at the same point at the beginning of every session, more advanced players may grow tired of playing through the initial simple waves and waiting for a more difficult set of enemies. This can be a frustrating experience, especially if one runs out of lives just as the game starts to get challenging again.

Geometry Wars is available through the Xbox Live Marketplace on an Xbox 360, with the full version runs priced at 400 Microsoft Points (currently $5). As with all Xbox Live Arcade titles, a free trial version can also be downloaded through the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Helpful Hint: Firing in the same direction the ship is moving will help to avoid running into enemies, a common cause of death.