Meteos is one of the most unique and addicting puzzle games out there, and a top-notch title for the DS.
+ excellent presentation
+ fun, addicting gameplay
+ lots of variety within the few offered modes
+ awesome soundtrack and sound effects
+ offers a lot to keep you coming back for more
Negative:
- not enough variety of game modes
I used to not like puzzle games much. I was kind of indifferent towards them, because I hadn't played many before and didn't really care to give one a try. But when my friend showed me Meteos, I suddenly was addicted to a puzzle game. Why is that? Because Meteos is, quite simply, one of the flat-out best DS games for its excellent presentation, addicting and fun gameplay, and overall quality.
Meteos has a story, and for a puzzle game it might be kind of odd but it doesn't get in the way at all. The evil planet Meteo has been destroying planet after planet by shooting millions of blocks called Meteos at them, making them explode in dazzling supernovas. Then the residents of the universe get smart and form an alliance to stop Meteo by giving them a taste of their own medicine, and that's where you come in.
The game has a few different modes, but the gameplay is basically the same in each of them. Star Trip takes you through the story, where you can play it at three different lengths and see tons of different endings depending on where you end up, which is a neat way of doing the story. Deluge is where you play to survive as long as possible, Time War is a game with set limits of time or Meteos, and Simple is the mode for playing a regular stock or timed game. Each mode will occupy almost equal amounts of your time with the game, which just shows that effort went into every aspect of Meteos whether the modes differ much from each other.
Gameplay in Meteos is at a glance quite simple, but underneath the surface lies a challenging and addicting puzzler. Blocks (Meteos) are constantly falling from the sky onto the bottom screen, and you have to use the stylus to align three in a row vertically or horizontally, and you can only move the Meteos up and down (side to side would make it way too easy anyways). When three are aligned they ignite and everything on top of them shoots up into the air, where you keep aligning more together to keep launching the blocks until they hit the top screen, where they are flung into outer space. There are a lot of techniques to learn to improve the way you play, and just how much you can do with a single bunch of launched Meteos.
That said, the gameplay of Meteos is quite inventive and fun, and even 50+ hours and almost 4 years later I still enjoy it. But it doesn't end there- tons of planets are available to play on too. Each planet has their own likelihood of the appearance of certain Meteos, different gravity effects, and such. This makes for a lot of diverse gameplay even though the core remains exactly the same all throughout. The game does inspire you to play it a lot, though, between the four main modes and working to buy all the sounds, planets, and stuff with the Meteos you launch (they basically work as currency to fuse into new stuff). Unfortunately, the gameplay is basically the same in all the modes with little variation outside of the planets, but the planets create enough variety to keep you coming back for a long time anyways.
Meteos isn't only a fun game to play; it's also impressive both in graphics and sound. The visual style for each planet is pretty different, which keeps the game fresh as there are really a lot of planets. The animated cutscene at the opening of the game is pretty spectacular by the DS' standards as well. The graphics don't pay a lot of attention to detail for the most part, but the simplistic style that varies so much just fits the game perfectly.
And if the graphics aren't good enough for you, the sound might blow you off your feet (although I don't think I've heard of anyone who regularly plays a DS standing up). The opening cutscene really makes a strong first impression with its graphics and sound also; the effects are really cool and the music is just plain epic. Then you get the title screen and the main theme is simply awesome. The sound effects and music during gameplay are pretty strange and quirky, but they give the game a very unique feel. The sound gives Meteos its uniqueness more than everything else, in my opinion, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Multiplayer is also an option in Meteos, and it's pretty well done. You can play on a limited amount of planets with single card download play or have the whole thing if you have multiple game cards. This is basically Simple mode with human opponents, and it can get really fun and fast paced just like the rest of the game.
Meteos is a truly excellent game. Even after 50+ hours of gameplay and almost 4 years of owning the game, I still enjoy it. It's so much fun to play, and the overall quality of the whole package really puts it over the edge. It remains one of my favorite DS games to this day, and that will probably never change.
Gameplay: 9.5
Camera & Control: 9.5
Graphics: 9.0
Sound: 10
Value: 9.5
FINAL SCORE: 9.2/10