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Meteos Review for Nintendo DS
Posted on Monday, July 04, 2005 @ 08:57:27 pm E.S.TBack in November of 2004, Nintendo released a handheld unto North America that bent the rules of gaming. The DS had two screens, but more importantly, a touch screen that could be used to manipulate the game to your liking. However, as title after title launched, only an abundance of mediocre and gimmicky games arrived on the DS. Eight months and almost 30 games later, Nintendo DS owners can finally get their hands on an innovative title that makes this little touch screen your new best friend.
Developed by Q Entertainment, Meteos is a sharp puzzle game which places the player in an epic story between the evil planet Meteo and the rest of the universe. How a puzzle game decides the fate of the universe is beyond me, but bravo for making it work, Q. As you guide your warship, the Metemo Ark, from planet to planet you must rescue the inhabitants from the Meteos falling out of the sky. How do you do that? Just simply line up three matching Meteos and watch as they fuse together and launch into the universal abyss. Work your way through space until you arrive at the final stage, and defeat the planet Meteo.
The frenzied and inventive gameplay of Q’s creation is unlike any other puzzler on Earth. Complete control is achieved with the sole use of the stylus. As Meteos form stacks on the ground, your stylus is used to move them around vertically, in order to line them up. Matching three or more of any color will initiate a launch. However, if your launch isn’t successful in completely soaring off the screen, you can set off mid-air reactions to give your pile of mineral an extra boost. Causing a Meteos clump to fall on matching colors also commences a powerful thrust, which makes developing strategies vital to your ultimate success. Also, each of the various planets has its own gravitational distinction, which adds depth when cruising through the levels. The more you play on any given stage, the faster the Meteos fall, making your fingers spasm in the final moments of a battle. Even manually increase the speed of the falling Meteos by tapping the bottom right of the touch screen, or holding in L or R.
Everything about the way you play this puzzle game is extremely solid and will keep you coming back for more. At least, almost everything - there is one small problem with the way you move blocks around. Rapidly swiping up and down on the touch screen can generate random fusions. This enables newbies to perform fairly well in the beginning of the game. However, once you get to harder stages and difficulties, this method no longer is effective. Using the “scribble” technique in multiplayer will have no results when playing with experienced players. Even with that being said, the gameplay is fast-paced fun that the whole family can enjoy.
Visually, this game has style. Everything from the planet backgrounds to the menus seem polished and appropriate. There’s even a brilliant opening CG movie with quality that you don’t even find in most console games. Each planet has a specific visual look that is present through the tiles, the environments and even the aliens. Though there’s nothing particularly dazzling about the graphics, they still seem fresh and proper. The style is very similar to Q Entertainment’s PSP puzzler, Lumines, in the sense that each world is sharp and distinct from one another.
There’s never been a better musical score for any puzzle game, possibly even any handheld game. The Super Smash Bros. Melee soundtrack comes to mind when playing Meteos. Each of the 32 worlds has its own custom soundtrack, including specific music and individual sound effects. And none of the background songs are hack jobs, either. I’ll be honest, I actually hooked my DS up to a 6.1 surround sound system and played through each song, just to listen to them through something other than the handheld’s speakers. (And don’t think I haven’t put the menu song on my iPod already.) Of course, the sounds aren’t a pre-recorded orchestra or anything, but they still make it easy to get completely absorbed into a far away world every time you play.
Meteos also contains some wicked replay value that will make you glad you carry your DS around with you. There are four main modes of single player gaming, each of which can more than hold its own. In most games, developers throw in “time trials” or “score attack” modes that are simply second-rate compared to the game’s main focus. Fortunately, Meteos is completely different in the sense that each way of playing is an original and fun way to play. In Simple mode you’ll set up a stock or time match against up to three computer opponents to battle for the win. Star Trip, for all intents and purposes, is the story mode of the game. This mode allows you to follow the main story arch, a branching story, or mission play. Time War lets you race against the clock for the best time of incinerating 100 or 1000 meteos, as well as two and five-minute battles. And if you feel like playing literally forever, Deluge mode is for you.
An incredible amount of unlockables in Meteos will have you playing for a boundless amount of time in order to obtain new things. Enter the Fusion room to “fuse” the Meteos into various Sounds, Items, and Planets. The Fusion system basically uses all the Meteos you’ve launched in-game as cash in order to purchase what you desire. There are 32 planets available, each with a matching sound set to fuse. You can create weapons for use in war when grabbing new items, as well. Meteos has the potential to rock out as much replay value as Smash Bros. Melee, especially since it’s so reminiscent of the classic GameCube title. Like Melee, Meteos also sports a nifty “Stat” menu, which clocks bizarre stats such as Total Power-Ons and number of Meteos launched. By excelling in certain statistical areas, you can earn special bonuses. While Meteos can be a pick-up-and-play game, it also can draw you in so far that you’ll end up playing hours at a time. I started playing Meteos at midnight a few nights ago and literally ended up falling asleep with the DS in my hands at six o’ clock in the morning, so take caution when playing.
Have any DS friends? Play Meteos together. In multiplayer mode, you can set up a 2-4 person battle with single-card downloading or multi-pak play. Single-card download play clearly doesn’t have the diversity that multi-card has, so it’s best to convince your buddies to pick up their own game. (It won’t be hard, just let them play your copy once.) Choose from Time or Stock matches, and even throw computer-controlled opponents into the mix if you’d like. Each player can play on a separate planet, so everyone’s strategy can become different, possibly throwing others off. When an opponent launches a large amount of Meteos, their Meteos can be directed to one or all of the opponents, making drained Meteos fall in on their screen. Play on teams to add to the excitement or try a three-on-one battle against an extremely difficult computer. Also, you’ll continue to earn Meteos for the Fusion room in multi-card play, which is a huge plus.
Overall, Meteos is one serious puzzle game. The next Tetris? It’s definitely good enough to be. With such solid gameplay, almost any fan of video games can have a great time with Meteos. The combination of excellent music and well-done visuals can put you in a trance and let you escape like you’ve never done with a handheld before. Even the plotline is better than Fable’s, so getting yourself immersed for hours on end isn’t difficult. Q Entertainment did a superb job with Meteos and proved to the world that they can make some great puzzle games. If you have a Nintendo DS, go buy this game. If you don’t have a Nintendo DS, buy one for this game. Review By: Dacvak - 1492 Reads
Meteos Review Scores for DS :
| Gameplay |
| 9.5 |
| Graphics |
| 9.0 |
| Sound |
| 9.5 |
| Replay |
| 10 |
| Overall |
| 9.4 |
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