"It doesn't get any better than launching rocks into the sky."

You've played Tetris. You must have. If you didn't, you've at least seen it, right? Then you've at least heard of it. Alright, good. Tetris is arguably the game that created the puzzle game genre, or at least made it well known, and made something as simple as stacking blocks addictive and fun. This formula has been copied and modified in many puzzle games since, some being as good or better than Tetris, while some manage to be worse, or a simple knock off.

Meteos is a puzzle game for the Nintendo DS, developed by Q Entertainment, who also developed Lumines for the PSP. It manages to separate itself from other puzzle games by not being a Tetris clone. The falling blocks are there, but that's it. Everything else it has completely separates itself from other games in the genre, and may quite well be one of the best puzzle games ever. It also takes place in space. Awesome.

Story [5.5/10]
You have to give Meteos credit for even attempting to have a story, since it's a puzzle game. But considering the story, some elements of the gameplay will actually make sense. Simply, an evil planet, Meteo, is launching blocks called, for whatever reason, Meteos. The people of each planet discover that lining up block of the same colour will make them launch upwards, so they use this to their advantage, by launching blocks back at Meteo to destroy it. Yay!

Control [9.5/10]
The control is pretty much perfect. Why? Because it's so simple that you can't really find anything wrong with it. You'll use the stylus to slide the blocks in each column up and down, by putting the stylus on the block and sliding up and down. The L or R buttons are used to increase the speed of falling blocks, by holding down the button. Letting go will return the speed to normal.

So if it's pretty much perfect, why the 9.5? For whatever reason, if you're playing without a stylus, you'll need to improvise, or use the clumsy button controls. The D pad will be used to move the cursor around, and the A button is used to swap blocks. This doesn't work too well if you want to move blocks a long way, or move a good number of blocks in a short time. The button controls sacrifice the precision and speed needed to play this game well, so stick with the stylus.

Gameplay [9.5/10]
Where Meteos, shines, and where any puzzle game should shine. Like many puzzle games before it, blocks will fall from the sky. Like many puzzle games before it, you will have to move the blocks around. Like many puzzle games before it, you'll need to match coloured blocks. Like many puzzle games before it, the goal is to clear the screen.

Sounding pretty unoriginal isn't it? Don't worry, that's the simply the core of this puzzle game.

First off, instead of falling in squares, Ls, Zs, Ts etc., the blocks in Meteos fall down one by one, all alone, separated from other blocks. Also, blocks will continuously fall, weather or not you're actually doing something. You won't control the blocks while their in the air either, you'll have to wait for the blocks to land before you can do anything with them. You'll use the stylus to slide a single block up or down in a column, while there is no horizontal movement at all.

The objective is to launch Meteos off the screen, and I mean literally launch them. Sliding the Meteos around, you'll need to line up a minimum of three same coloured Meteos, either horizontally or vertically, which will cause them to ignite, and launch upwards and off the screen.
This is where gravity kicks in. In Meteos, taking place in space and all, each level is a different planet, and each planet has different gravity. In some planets, the Meteos may launch with relative ease and be off the screen in one or two ignitions, some may allow you to get rid of Meteos instantly, some may take 3-4 ignitions to get rid of them, and some may not even leave the ground on the first ignition.

While Meteos are in the air, you can continue to slide blocks in that group that is in the air, to launch them again while they are in they air, to get rid of them. And you'll keep doing that throughout the levels of Meteos. Sometimes, you'll be up against an opponent. This makes the game a little more frantic. When you or your opponent launch Meteos off of your planet, they will land on the opposite planet. You could have a completely empty screen one minute, and completely filled the next. There is, however, a small view at the left side of your screen, which will show you what your opponent is up to. You can have up to three opponents at any time, or none at all.

There are 30 different planets, which are all unique and have different gravity. They also drop different Meteos. When you select a planet, there are coloured bars that show how many Meteos it drops. The bigger the bar, the more of that coloured block is dropped. This comes in handy if you want to get bigger combos. What isn't shown, however, is gravity, so you'll have to play test each level to see the gravity differenes.

Meteos also has a good amount of gameplay modes to keep you occupied.

The first mode is labeled as "Simple". This is just a quick pick up and play mode. You'll set your opponents, if any, amount of lives, or time limit, difficulty level, CPU level, teams, if any, and the planet you will play on. This is a good mode to practice against CPU with, just don't expect to go anywhere maxing out all CPU levels, maxing the difficulty level, and setting all opponents against you.

The story mode is labeled "Star Trip". There are three routes you can pick. The length and mission difficulty changes with each route. The missions in Star Trip consist of launching a certain number of Meteos, or defeating your opponent in a certain time limit. You're still fighting an opponent, these missions are just extra. Completing or failing a mission will change the way you progress through the route you pick.

Next up is "Time War". In this mode, you simply pick a time. One planet is assigned to each time. Once the game starts, you have a time limit, and your goal is to launch as many Meteos as your can.

The mode you'll probably spend most of your time on, is "Deluge", which is the "last as long as you can" mode seen in many falling block puzzle games. You'll pick a planet, and play until you die. Some planets will be harder than others, but you'll always be coming back to see if you can last longer than before.

There's also a nice number of unlockables in the game as well. The Meteos you launch will be added to a "bank". You can use the Meteos you've launched to purchase new planets to play on, music from the soundtrack, or items.

The items are mostly for when you're facing opponents. Some will help clear your screen, which means you'll want to keep them, while others may block your screen with smoke, so you'll want to launch those at your opponent. You can turn certain items on or off in the options.

This items are most useful in the games multiplayer mode. You can play with up to four players using single card or multi card play. Single card play only gives you a mere 4 planets for every player to use at once, while multi card play allows all players to choose their own separate planet, which will allow you to cater to your skills in the game. Playing multi card play will also let you keep track of your win/loss record against the players you've faced.

A minor flaw with the whole thing, is scribbling can get you out of tight situations. This doesn't work too much though, as the stylus may not register the random directions your scribbling might go, and you likely won't want to mess up your screen.

Meteos has all the gameplay options a good puzzler needs, and then some.

Graphics [8.5/10]
Meteos opens up with a gorgeous FMV, with well detailed ships, planets, and of course, explosions.

The planets themselves are all varied. Each of the 30 planets has a distinct graphical style. The planet shape, size, and colour differ from planet to planet. When playing, each planet has different backgrounds, and different shaped blocks with different patterns and colours. Some blocks are solid coloured, some are shapes like Triangles, Circles etc., and Meteo has blocks that look like the inhabitants of the planets. Each planet looks nice and colourful, and everything is easy on the eyes, and looks great, although not pushing any hardware.

Sound [9/10]
Just like the graphical style of each planet, the sound varies from planet to planet. There are loops going on in the background while you play. There are three variations of each loop, which the game will cycle through depending on how many Meteos on your screen. The closer you are to death, the faster or more intense the loop. Instrumentation is also added at times.

When you launch Meteos, a small sound sample will play as well. This is also different from planet to planet. Depending on the launch depends on the sample. Vertical and Horizontal launches play different jingles, and combo launches will also play a different jingle. All these little things come together and add the experience, and the atmosphere of each planet.

The menu music is also one of the best menu themes on any handheld, and sounds incredible on headphones.

Each planets "soundtrack" can be unlocked by purchasing it with Meteos.

Overall [9.5/10]
Pros
+Innovative, addictive gameplay
+Not a Tetris clone
+Excellent replay value
+Plenty of modes to play
+Plenty of unlockables
+Great graphical style
+Great soundtrack
+Fun multiplayer

Cons
-Single card play is restrictive
-Scribbling makes it a bit easy to get out of tight situations
-Tetris purists may not like the gameplay style

It's hard to find anything that's really wrong with Meteos. It's an excellent puzzle game for the Nintendo DS. It has excellent replay value, it's great fun playing multiplayer, and has an great soundtrack and graphical style that varies, so things never get old.

The people who won't like Meteos are people who don't like puzzle games, or Tetris purists who will just want to stick with fitting different shaped blocks into empty spaces. Everybody else will find an excellent puzzle game that's fun to play at any time, for any amount of time.

-This game's score has been rounded up to 10 for GameFAQs-

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/09/07, Updated 10/31/07

Game Release: Meteos (US, 06/28/05)