"Blowing up Planets is strangely satisfying."

Blowing up Planets is strangely satisfying.

Why? Becasue it's fun to do so, and Meteos makes it easy for you to do your uber-planet conquering on the go. No planning, unexpected flaws, etc. Just good, clean, fun. Even if your mother objects to the fun-ness of planet blowing-upping. (made up words are fun!)

Anyways, on to teh review.

Story: 8/10.

The actual story isn't too epic.

Evil planet launch phantasma-blah blah- matter at other planets, then they luckily discover how to defend, etc.

That's pretty standard.

But what's not are the endings.

I don't want to spoil much, but let's just say there are 8+ different endings. Some are funny.
Some are standard.
Some make you feel unaccomplished.

It really depends on what you do in the game. In one mode, there are 7 different paths you can take, each with somewhat different diffuculties, and all with different endings. For example, taking the "easy" route gets you a bad ending. And of course, taking the "Hard" route will provide the best ending.

Overall, they make the story more intresting.

Graphics : 8/10.

2-D, mixed in with some 3-D graphics, I believe.

Each "home planet" has it's own graphic style; the blocks, the background, the planet, the residents themselves, they are all different.

Although some planets share the same blocks, it doesn't really detract from the score, as they always fit in with the planet.

The backgrounds and blocks are crisp and clear, and the colors of the blocks don't blend in with the background, making it hard to tell them apart.

However, the "3-D" graphics are a bit iffy at times. A BIT blocky, but not TOO bad.

Here's the reason of 8, though.

Slowdown.

This happens when you have a lot going on, and it really affects the gameplay. It'll of course slow down, but I've had other things happen. Like strange lines through the blocks, flashes, etc.

But luckily, this doesn't happen a lot.

Sound: 10/10

Simply put, the sounds and music in this game fit each area PERFECTLY. The Ocean planet with it's Caribbean beat, the fire planet with the quick beat, and the Bog planet with it's strange tribal chanting. Each area has it's own music and sounds for the blocks being launched. They always accompany the music, and make the game seem a lot more interactive.

Just great.

Gameplay and Control: 9/10

Alright, the meat of the game.

The goal is to line up three blocks of the same color in a row to boost them up past the top of the screen. Now, you can only move blocks vertically. Plus, the blocks you boost may not reach the top, because you have other blocks stacked on them. So, you need to execute mid-air combos, further boosting the blocks, or as they shall be further referred as, "Meteos." You can flick other meteos at the rocketting meteos stacks to form combos, but most of the time you'll use the meteos already in the stacks.

Each planet has it's own gravity and little things you have to watch out for, which makes things VERY intresting. In one level, you have to execute up to 5 combos just to get the meteos out of the atmosphere to launch at the other planet. You'll soon learn the rules of each planet and stuff, but the fun is still there.

Now, once your meteos on the ground reach so high that they are beyond the planet's atmosphere for a few seconds, it's game over. Same to your oppotent. The meteos you launch go directly to your oppotents field, which creates a mass of Junk Meteos, that soon return to normal. After one person gets the other to super nova (the game over), they win. Simple.

And those meteos can be used elsewhere, too. The game tallies them, and you can use them to fuse new planets, meteos, sounds, and items. (Items are used by tapping them. They'll appear on the field.) The different planets make the game funner, as you can earn the required meteos to your favorite planet, and use all the time in multiplayer and such.

There are a few modes: Simple lets you create simple games, Star Trip lets you pick 1 out of 3 routes to take, each with it's own rules. Multiplayer is either one-card or multi. They're a blast. And then you have Deluge, where you play till you lose.

One cool feature is the ability to send a demo of the game to someone who has another DS. Very cool.

The controls of the game are great. You can use the d-pad to move the meteos, or the touch-screen. The touch screen is funner, but it may give you a hand cramp.

My main gripe about the controls are the meteos themselves. The size of them is sometimes a bit too small, and you'll move another block instead. This only happens with touch control, but that's the one you'll mainly use. :\

Overall: 9/10. Buy it before it destroys you.

Do it. Now. This game is the first must own of the DS, along with Kirby: Canvas Curse.

Blast Off!
~~~~~~~~~

-Great sound.
-Great graphics.
-Humorous endings.
-Massive variety.
-Gigantic mass of unlockables.
-Excellent replay.

S-S-S-S-S-S-SUPER NOVA'D!
~~~~~~~~~
-Meteos are a bit too small.
-Slowdown.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/05