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Hold on tight and don’t let go! Meteos has crashed onto the Nintendo DS and proves that touch screen is the way to go!
July 4, 2005 | 7:06 PM PSTby: Agustin Olvera
When you think of puzzle games, you only think of repetitive pieces or blocks that need to be stacked, aligned, grouped, or flipped together to clear the screen. It is customary for the puzzle game genre to be plagued with unoriginal carbon-copies of the same game, which has caused a decrease in the quality of the games. Meteos may not stray that far from this presumption, but it delivers it in such a unique, different and dynamic way that it has revived and challenged the norm of puzzle games.
It all begins with the story, the foundation upon which many puzzle games have been unsuccessful in intertwining with the purpose of the game. In Meteos, however, the story adds incredible depth and life to the game that gets you interested in the game and makes you want to play. A simple “evil something” storyline is all Meteos relies on to create a purpose for the falling blocks; that “evil something” being the planet Meteo. This planet has brought chaos and turmoil to the other planets, blowing them up and killing its inhabitants. Meteo destroys the other planets with blocks called meteos which rain down upon the planets’ surface and crushes all life in the planet. When all hope seemed lost, however, inhabitants of one planet discovered that upon matching three or more of the elemental meteos blocks, these would shoot right back up into the sky and send the meteos back into space. The planets got together and devised a final defense plan in an attempt to stop the evil planet Meteo from destroying the universe. Thus, utilizing the Metamo Ark warship, the fate of the entire universe lies in your hand, with your stylus. Many puzzle games would benefit from a story as unique and engrossing as the one Meteos offers. If you still need proof that the story is a quintessential factor of the game, just watch the amazing intro movie and you’ll be floored by the stunning, melodramatic presentation.
Now, the story is not the only great thing about Meteos; in fact, almost everything about it is top-notch. The way Meteos plays is simply the most fun you’ll have playing a puzzle game. With four different single-player modes, two variants of multi-player, and a ton of extras to unlock, it is no surprise that Meteos has an endless replay value, and that you’ll find yourself playing long after you beat it. The action is fast-paced and frantic, and the difficulty progression is just right. It isn’t simply a matter of launching meteos into space, as you need to take into consideration the planet’s gravity and other features that can both help you and hurt your game. Mostly everything about the game is customizable, from the difficulty, to the route you want to take, and even your home planet. The four single-player modes are as follow:
Simple: In Simple mode, you simply play a customized game with your own set of rules. You choose which planet you want to play on, whether you want CPU opponents or not, if you want to play a timed game or a stock (amount of lives) game, the difficulty of the world and your opponent, and the team you’re playing as.
Star Trip: This game mode revolves around the main story. You play in either a Straight route (seven consecutive planets), a Branched route (choose which way you want to go), or a Multi route (multiple planets against you and a mission you must complete). The difficulty setting is also customizable. At the end of each route, you’ll have to face Meteo and be able to witness different endings for each different Meteo planet you encounter.
Time War: This is simply a timed game where your goal is to go for the highest score. There are two variants of the time mode: one where you try to get the largest amount of meteos launched within the time allotted (two minutes, five minutes) and the other where you try to get the set amount of meteos (100, 1,000) launched in the least possible time.
Deluge: Deluge is a great place to revisit planets you’ve purchased in order to collect more meteos blocks that you may need. You simply select which planet to play in (each has different meteos that you can acquire), and play until you fail.
All of the game modes allow you to keep the meteos that you launch into space and use them to buy extras in the Fusion room. Depending on how many of each corresponding meteos element you have, you’ll be able to fuse them together to purchase planets, items, rare metals, and sounds. The items you purchase allow you to gain an advantage over your opponents as well as give yourself some help while you play. This alone adds immense replay value to Meteos as you’ll visit the Fusion room repeatedly in an effort to purchase all of the extras.
As far as graphics and audio go, Meteos is a pleasure to both see and hear. Each planet has a unique theme, background, and meteos block image variant that corresponds to that planet. The worlds are dark, gloomy, bright, colorful, and are all simply beautiful to look at. It is a great aesthetic presentation made even better by the corresponding music that goes with each planet. A calm, flowery planet has nice mellow music, while an industrious one has techno beats and rhythms; each planet has its own music and it allows for the game to be an atmospheric audio pleasure. Similarly to Lumines on the PSP and to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker on the Nintendo GameCube, Meteos synchs the music to your actions in the game. Launching meteos and creating combos alters the music pitch allowing the music to become more dynamic. A great addition is the ability to fuse your meteos in order to acquire the music from the game. You’ll be able to “buy” it, play it back, alter the rhythm, and have fun just simply listening to the great music from the game.
If you are not yet impressed by the great single-player experience that Meteos is, then let’s talk about the multi-player. No other game on the Nintendo DS released so far offers such a compelling, competitive, and seamless multi-player experience like Meteos offers. None of your friends have a copy of Meteos to play against you with? No problem. Meteos allows you to play with either a single DS game card or with multiple DS game cards. Do your friends blame their inexperience and the reason for your victories on the fact that they don’t have the game and haven’t practiced as much as you have? No problem. Simply send them a free demo of Meteos to their Nintendo DS and arrange a competition for a later time. With Meteos, there’s no reason not to play against your friends!
Multi-player adds even more replay value to Meteos and makes it a must buy. Having human players adds more fun and franticness to the already hectic game experience, and you’ll find yourself competing against your friends to claim yourself as the superior player. An added bonus is being able to keep the meteos you launch against your friends and buy yourself some more extras; this makes every game mode of Meteos worth playing over and over again.
Closing Comments
Whether you’re a solo gamer or have friends with a Nintendo DS, you simply can’t go wrong with Meteos. The beautiful graphics, synchronized and suitable music, and the great time you will have playing it all warrant a purchase. Some will argue that at times, simply rubbing the screen will cause unbelievable combos and easy victories. However, the game design and extreme difficulty settings are what this “feature” were made for and you’ll find that rubbing aimlessly will not guarantee you a victory; Meteos proves it can be one difficult little monster.
It all begins with the story, the foundation upon which many puzzle games have been unsuccessful in intertwining with the purpose of the game. In Meteos, however, the story adds incredible depth and life to the game that gets you interested in the game and makes you want to play. A simple “evil something” storyline is all Meteos relies on to create a purpose for the falling blocks; that “evil something” being the planet Meteo. This planet has brought chaos and turmoil to the other planets, blowing them up and killing its inhabitants. Meteo destroys the other planets with blocks called meteos which rain down upon the planets’ surface and crushes all life in the planet. When all hope seemed lost, however, inhabitants of one planet discovered that upon matching three or more of the elemental meteos blocks, these would shoot right back up into the sky and send the meteos back into space. The planets got together and devised a final defense plan in an attempt to stop the evil planet Meteo from destroying the universe. Thus, utilizing the Metamo Ark warship, the fate of the entire universe lies in your hand, with your stylus. Many puzzle games would benefit from a story as unique and engrossing as the one Meteos offers. If you still need proof that the story is a quintessential factor of the game, just watch the amazing intro movie and you’ll be floored by the stunning, melodramatic presentation.
Now, the story is not the only great thing about Meteos; in fact, almost everything about it is top-notch. The way Meteos plays is simply the most fun you’ll have playing a puzzle game. With four different single-player modes, two variants of multi-player, and a ton of extras to unlock, it is no surprise that Meteos has an endless replay value, and that you’ll find yourself playing long after you beat it. The action is fast-paced and frantic, and the difficulty progression is just right. It isn’t simply a matter of launching meteos into space, as you need to take into consideration the planet’s gravity and other features that can both help you and hurt your game. Mostly everything about the game is customizable, from the difficulty, to the route you want to take, and even your home planet. The four single-player modes are as follow:
Simple: In Simple mode, you simply play a customized game with your own set of rules. You choose which planet you want to play on, whether you want CPU opponents or not, if you want to play a timed game or a stock (amount of lives) game, the difficulty of the world and your opponent, and the team you’re playing as.
Star Trip: This game mode revolves around the main story. You play in either a Straight route (seven consecutive planets), a Branched route (choose which way you want to go), or a Multi route (multiple planets against you and a mission you must complete). The difficulty setting is also customizable. At the end of each route, you’ll have to face Meteo and be able to witness different endings for each different Meteo planet you encounter.
Time War: This is simply a timed game where your goal is to go for the highest score. There are two variants of the time mode: one where you try to get the largest amount of meteos launched within the time allotted (two minutes, five minutes) and the other where you try to get the set amount of meteos (100, 1,000) launched in the least possible time.
Deluge: Deluge is a great place to revisit planets you’ve purchased in order to collect more meteos blocks that you may need. You simply select which planet to play in (each has different meteos that you can acquire), and play until you fail.
All of the game modes allow you to keep the meteos that you launch into space and use them to buy extras in the Fusion room. Depending on how many of each corresponding meteos element you have, you’ll be able to fuse them together to purchase planets, items, rare metals, and sounds. The items you purchase allow you to gain an advantage over your opponents as well as give yourself some help while you play. This alone adds immense replay value to Meteos as you’ll visit the Fusion room repeatedly in an effort to purchase all of the extras.
As far as graphics and audio go, Meteos is a pleasure to both see and hear. Each planet has a unique theme, background, and meteos block image variant that corresponds to that planet. The worlds are dark, gloomy, bright, colorful, and are all simply beautiful to look at. It is a great aesthetic presentation made even better by the corresponding music that goes with each planet. A calm, flowery planet has nice mellow music, while an industrious one has techno beats and rhythms; each planet has its own music and it allows for the game to be an atmospheric audio pleasure. Similarly to Lumines on the PSP and to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker on the Nintendo GameCube, Meteos synchs the music to your actions in the game. Launching meteos and creating combos alters the music pitch allowing the music to become more dynamic. A great addition is the ability to fuse your meteos in order to acquire the music from the game. You’ll be able to “buy” it, play it back, alter the rhythm, and have fun just simply listening to the great music from the game.
If you are not yet impressed by the great single-player experience that Meteos is, then let’s talk about the multi-player. No other game on the Nintendo DS released so far offers such a compelling, competitive, and seamless multi-player experience like Meteos offers. None of your friends have a copy of Meteos to play against you with? No problem. Meteos allows you to play with either a single DS game card or with multiple DS game cards. Do your friends blame their inexperience and the reason for your victories on the fact that they don’t have the game and haven’t practiced as much as you have? No problem. Simply send them a free demo of Meteos to their Nintendo DS and arrange a competition for a later time. With Meteos, there’s no reason not to play against your friends!
Multi-player adds even more replay value to Meteos and makes it a must buy. Having human players adds more fun and franticness to the already hectic game experience, and you’ll find yourself competing against your friends to claim yourself as the superior player. An added bonus is being able to keep the meteos you launch against your friends and buy yourself some more extras; this makes every game mode of Meteos worth playing over and over again.
Closing Comments
Whether you’re a solo gamer or have friends with a Nintendo DS, you simply can’t go wrong with Meteos. The beautiful graphics, synchronized and suitable music, and the great time you will have playing it all warrant a purchase. Some will argue that at times, simply rubbing the screen will cause unbelievable combos and easy victories. However, the game design and extreme difficulty settings are what this “feature” were made for and you’ll find that rubbing aimlessly will not guarantee you a victory; Meteos proves it can be one difficult little monster.
November 20, 2009
