Earlier today, Sony lifted the curtain on its PlayStation Plus selection for the month of July, confirming Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved‘s place on the roster of software to be available on the Instant Game Collection from July 7.
That’s the PlayStation Vita version of the twin-stick shooter, and now developer Lucid Games has confirmed that not only will the handheld version run at a buttery smooth 60 frames-per-second, but that Dimensions Evolved will support co-op on the same device much like Nidhogg.
Getting the Vita to support the former feature, though, proved more difficult than expected for the studio – though the fact that Sony’s portable device has a sub-1080p display helped greatly.
However, the complex shaders and lighting wizardry that was used to define the vibrant Geometry Wars world on PS4 was a bit too much for its sibling to cope with, so we had to deploy some developer tricks to achieve similar results, and after a few months, we had something that not only looked spot-on, but also maintained that all-important frame-rate.
Moving on, Lucid confirmed that the Vita version of the game will support no less than 12 modes, including some fan favorites like Pacifism and King. For a full run-down of what to expect next week, check out Activision’s blog post for details.
On the topic of same-Vita co-op, here’s what Lucid had to say:
In the end, we came with a unique two-player co-op format in which players sit opposite one another and play the game simultaneously on the same screen. Player 1 uses the D-Pad to move and the nearest analog stick for shooting, while Player 2 uses the other analog stick for moving with the face buttons to shoot. This combination might seem strange at first, but it’s actually easy to pick up, so you can sit together with your buddy / partner / enemy on the sofa and share a little light Vita relief.
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved will launch alongside the remainder of Sony’s PlayStation Plus games for the month on July 7.
