"The best puzzle game on the DS"

While many people may disagree, I feel that Meteos is definitely the best puzzle game since Tetris' 1989 release. Combined with a simple, yet addictive concept, an awesome soundtrack that will have you humming along the entire time you're playing the game, and about 150+ unlockables, Meteos is definitely the best DS game currently on the market. While it may lack Nintendo WiFi Connection compatibility, Meteos is a solid addition to anyone's DS library even if they are not a puzzle fan.

Of course, just telling you that the game is great probably won't do a whole lot of e above picture as an example. See the fire Meteos near the center of thegood. So, I will explain why Meteos is the game I claim it to be.

Story:

When you first boot up Meteos, you are treated to a stunning FMV (Full Motion Video) sequence that tells you the story in text on the top screen of the DS, and displays an amazing movie clip that goes along with the text on the bottom screen.

Once upon a time, the evil planet Meteo started sending out strange, planet crushing matter called Meteos out into the depths of space. These Meteos flew through space and landed on planets throughout the galaxy, thus destroying the planets. Planet by planet was crushed under the over whelming force created by the Meteos. Then, when all hope was lost, three identical Meteos that were hurtling towards another helpless planet somehow by sheer luck lined up with each other horizontally and fused together. The fused Meteos were then sent blasting out of the planet's atmosphere and right back into space! With this amazing discovery, the denizens of the remaining planets formed a defense strategy.

The Metamo Ark was then created. It was a huge ship that was made up entirely of fused Meteos! Inside it, were many buttons, levers, and computers. This was where all the survivors of Meteo's attack controlled the ship. One of the survivors then pressed a large, red button and the ship quickly sped off into the vast darkness of space to confront the evil planet Meteo.

Final thoughts on the story:

The story for Meteos isn't exactly all that great. However, Meteos is a puzzle game, and games in that genre usually have absolutely no story. Still, Meteos does have a pretty sub-par story... It's basically your same old cliched 'save the universe from total destruction' storyline. So I'm going to give the story a score that it deserves.

Final score for story: 5/10

Gameplay:

The way Meteos plays is absolutely brilliant. It retains the normal puzzle goal of clearing the screen of all the colorful little blocks, but it has many things that separate itself from the rest of the puzzle crowd.

When you are playing Meteos, you always (when you're not in the menu screen) have a 'bucket' on the bottom screen, while the planet you are fighting is on the top screen. What happens during the course of play is, many different colored Meteos that have many different symbols on their 'faces' fall down from the sky into this bucket. The Meteos usually fall down very slowly in the beginning, and as you are able to survive longer and longer, Meteos blocks start to fall down faster and faster until you just can't keep up and you face defeat. Now, you have to get rid of these Meteos somehow, right? Well, in order to get rid of those pesky Meteos blocks, you need to line them up using the stylus in a row of three, four, or five. However, you can only make a match with Meteos of the same color/symbol. To do this, you simply touch the Meteos block you want to move using the stylus, and you drag it up and down to make a match with other Meteos blocks of the same type. Though, you can NOT move Meteos blocks horizontally. After you have made a match, the Meteos that you just matched will ignite and shoot to the top of the screen with all the Meteos that are on top of it. However, the more Meteos that are on top of the ones you ignited, the less chance there is of the Meteos pile flying to the top of the screen and flying into space.

You can also give your Meteos pile a boost by exploiting the "secondary ignition". To use the secondary ignition, you simply make another pair of matching Meteos in mid-air, and viola!

The main object of Meteos is to defeat the enemy planet that you are currently fighting. To do this, you launch Meteos as fast as you can at your foe. When the Meteos that you ignite clear the top of the screen, they will fly off into your enemy's bucket. To lose, you must have a single (or more) column of Meteos pile up so high that they hit the top of the screen. When this happens, the column will flash in order to let you know that you must get rid of some of the Meteos in that column before another Meteos block hits that column and ends your game. To win, you must do the same to your opponent. When the Meteos you send off fly into your enemy's bucket, the AI of the enemy planet will try to send it back to you. However, if you're fast enough and are able to send off pile after pile very quickly, the Meteos will pile up in your enemy's bucket until they can no longer keep up, and they will lose.

Meteos has a wide array of different planets (32 to be exact) that you can play on. They each have their own width, gravity level, and speed. Width is the horizontal size of the bucket. The higher width a planet has, the more columns of Meteos blocks it can contain. The speed is what determines how fast Meteos blocks fall from the sky and into your bucket. Obviously, a planet with a higher level of speed will have Meteos falling down much faster than a planet with a low level of speed. Of these three, gravity is definitely the most important one. Gravity is how far your pile of Meteos goes when it ignites. If you are playing on a planet with a high level of gravity, chances are your pile will only go up a few inches and fall right back down. In order to have the pile clear the screen under these circumstances, you will have to dish out a few secondary ignitions. Though, when you are playing on a planet that has a low level of gravity, your Meteos will have barely any trouble clearing the screen. In fact, on one planet, the gravity level is so low that your ignited Meteos shoot up so fast, it actually looks like they just dissapear! These three aspects definitely separate Meteos from the rest of the puzzle games and it is what makes Meteos so great.

Like every other puzzle game, Meteos has a few different ways to play the game. I will explain them one by one. Note that these will be brief since I have already explained all the game mechanics in the above paragraphs.

Star Trip:

Star Trip is basically the 'story mode' of Meteos. During Star Trip, you travel to many different planets and defeat them all until you eventually make your way to the final confrontation with Meteo. The cool thing is, there are many different paths you can take to get there. Each time you defeat a planet, you will get the option of going to the planet south or north of you. There are actually 12 different Meteo's and you must experiment with the paths to reach them all. There are 12 different endings and they all come from one of the Meteo's. There is also another mode for Star Trip that has you do missions during your fight. One planet will challenge you to win in a set amount of time, while another will challenge you to launch a set number of Meteos before you win. However, if you win the fight, but fail the mission, you will be forced to go towards the planet south of you.

Deluge:

Deluge is a mode that pretty much tests how long you can go before you lose. As you go on for a longer and longer period of time, the game will gradually get faster and faster until you just can't keep up and you lose. When you lose (and you will), your highscore and the amount of time you were able to survive will be recorded. You can then try to beat your highscore and see if you can survive for a longer period of time. This is the best mode to practice on as it will make even an expert sweat from the dizzying speed the game can reach.

Simple:

Simple is a mode where you can set up a game with one, two, or three computer controlled opponents. You can set up the game by setting how many lives each planet has (you lose a life if your planet is defeated) and you can see who can deplete all their opponent's lives first. You can also set up a game against yourself by simply setting a set period of time that the game will go on for. You can also use this against computer controlled opponent's to see who can get the highest score in that period of time.

Time War:

Time War has two ways to play. One is 100 Meteos War, where you try to launch 100 Meteos in as little time as possible, and 2:00 Time War, where you try to get the highest score possible in exactly two minutes. There is also 1,000 Meteos War and 5:00 Time War, but those are pretty much the same except for the fact that they are harder and you will have trouble even beating them.

Fusion Room:

This where all your fused Meteos go. To fuse Meteos, you must simply launch them into space. You can use your fused Meteos as 'money' in order to buy new songs, new items, and even new planets! This is how you unlock everything in the game. However, to unlock an item for fusion, you must obtain the required amount of fused Meteos.

Wireless Multiplayer:

This is how you can set up a friendly Meteos game with your friends (or enemies). If you and a friend both have a DS and copy of Meteos, you can play against each other wirelessly. Though, you can also do this with a friend that has a DS, but doesn't have a copy of Meteos. You can also wirelessly send a demo of Meteos to someone who doesn't have the game.

Final thoughts on gameplay:

Amazing... Meteos is an amazingly addictive game, and it accomplishes this by making a concept that is simple on paper, but is really complex when you are actually playing the game. It has many different modes to keep you occupied and it really never does get boring. You don't play it because you want to unlock a new planet or gadget, you play it because it's fun. That's very rare in games today... Great job Meteos!

Final score for gameplay: 10/10

Graphics/Sound:

Meteos has some of the best graphics that have ever been on a handheld. Each visual style for the planets fits the mood very well along with the sound. It's great that each and every planet has it's own visual style. One planet will have Japanese symbols on it's Meteos, while another will have disco symbols on their Meteos. The sound and graphics work perfectly to make sure that you're immersed in the game. The backgrounds are especially nice because they look like actual paintings. The game is an absolute joy to look at.

And the sound... My God. The sound is absolutely amazing. The only game that can even compare is Earthbound. Each planet has an amazing soundtrack that creates the exact mood that the planet wants to give. On one planet, the Meteos blocks fall down very slowly, and the music that is playing in the background is a very calm and relaxing tune. The really awesome thing about the sound, is that when you ignite Meteos, a short sound clip would play. Now, this may not seem like much, but when the background music actually changes to go along with the sound clip, it actually sounds like you're creating your own song by launching Meteos pile after Meteos pile. One thing I don't really like about the sound, is that it is way too soft. Do yourself a favor, and get some high quality headphones to play this game with. The DS speakers just do not give the game justice.

Final thoughts on Graphics/Sound:

Perfect... Just perfect. The visuals are extremely pleasant to look at, and the sound that goes along with your actions is just amazing. There's no really no other way to describe it. The game is absolutely beautiful in motion, and you would need to be playing the game to really enjoy the music.

Final score for Graphics/Sound: 10/10

Replay Value:

Meteos is a game that you can play for hours and hours, days and days, and just never get bored. It is one of the most addicting games ever created. It has over 150 unlockables and it makes you want to just keep playing so you can unlock everything. Even after that, you likely won't get bored. You'll constantly be trying to get higher scores and getting to be as good as you possibly can be. Meteos is a game that will keep you entertained for years, and possibly even forever.

Final score for Replay Value: 10/10

Final thoughts on Meteos:

... Outstanding. Meteos is definitely one of the most addicting games ever created, and it accomplishes this by giving you a concept that is simple on paper, but very complex when you actually pick up the game and play it yourself. Looking at screenshots and video's does not give the game justice. You need to play it before you can judge it. Heck, this game should be REQUIRED by law to play! The sound and graphics are amazing, the game will keep you occupied for a very long time, and it's just plain fun. I was expecting an average puzzle game when I bought Meteos.... I was wrong, dead wrong.

Final score for Meteos: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/19/07