His reaction time bordered on the prescient. He showed absolutely no hesitation when a stream of marauding shapes blocked his path; he carved a swath of destruction in front of him that provided just barely enough room to squeeze through. And he had an almost unshakeable confidence in his own survival. After being whittled down to his final life, he managed to continue for another 900,000 points before finally succumbing to his own mental fatigue.
Nonetheless, it was possible to emulate some of his style, and it was by playing in his example that we were able to transcend our frustration and demolish our personal bests. We quickly adopted his circuitous path: always at least a few ship lengths from the edges of the grid and always traveling counterclockwise. And we found the simplest solution of destroying black holes on sight was also the most effective. Each time one spawned in his path, K4rn4ge would rush headlong into the abyss, coming within microseconds of a crash before it disappeared with a satisfying "pop."
Separately, we each broke through the half-million doldrums and continued to climb. We had, at long last, reached the final chapter of Geometry Wars.
***
Past 500,000 points, you begin to see clearly the forces that underlie the game's single-minded vocation. Dozens of iterations of self-contained AI multiply into hundreds; individuals slowly meld into swarms. You no longer have time to reflect when determining your route. A moment of hesitation is all it takes to be engulfed by the herd.
Between spawns, it becomes increasingly difficult to clear the screen of enemies: They're replaced faster than you can cut through them. Your circular route results in a malignant mass of shapes that gradually huddle in your wake. You're both their shepherd and reaper until the swarm begins to overtake you and you're forced to clear the screen.
Learning to function under such duress means being able to block out every piece of information that isn't an immediate threat to your survival. You have to reserve every ounce of mental energy twitch evasive maneuvers; attempt to glimpse at your score or your number of remaining ships and it could precipitate a quick and dirty end to your run. Your own barely perceptible moments of self-doubt are as hazardous to your long-term success as the enemy AI. If you're lucky, you'll score just enough points to be able to replenish your dwindling supply of ships and bombs.
It was thanks to K4rn4ge's desire to immortalize himself as the Once and Future King of Geometry Wars that we were able to achieve respectable high scores of 2-3 million points. They were nothing compared to his best. But even if you're K4rn4ge, the game has to end sometime.
