I realize that Meteos is a game that has been out for a few years. I even played it upon the launch of the DS. But with Nintendo SA bringing out the catalog of games that were out before the DS Lite, of which Meteos is one, it’s well worth a revisit and a review.

Much comparison was made at the time between Meteos and Lumines, both being puzzle games from Q Entertainment and the incomparable Mizuguchi. Obviously the salient feature of the games was that one was on the DS and one was on the PSP, so this was the focus of any discussion regarding the merits of either. Those who owned a DS thought Meteos was best, while those with a PSP thought Lumines was best. It turns out that Lumines was the one that ended up on hundreds of platforms, while Meteos only got a DS update later in the form of a Disney version. It’s a little thought-of fact that Meteos wouldn’t be possible on other platforms because of its touch screen use (a mouse would not cut it), and while it might not be as ubiquitous as Lumines, it still offers excellent entertainment for the match-3 dropping-blocks puzzle fan.

The Evil Meteo must be thwarted!

You are the defender of planets. Meteos are falling from the sky, launched from the planet Meteo and you have the magic stylus of super that can move the meteos that are falling in vertical lines so that they match up with other meteos and spontaneously combust to send all meteos above them into outer space. Because you use the meteos that are sent to destroy you against your enemies, you might want to increase how many fall down by pressing one of the shoulder buttons of the DS. You can randomly flick your stylus around on the screen in the hope of matching different coloured meteos together, but that spoils the fun of defending the planet and makes for a dull game. Plus it doesn’t work that well, at least not as well as chaining explosions. Chaining explosions! This is fun. The idea here is to match up three meteos horizontally. When they explode they turn into a hard gray block which won’t explode again, but they shoot the blocks (meteos) above them into the air. On some planets they will fly off into space, while on others they will just do a bit of a high jump and start falling back down. While they’re on their way down you can prepare the landing spot by lining up some meteos of a colour that match ones in the falling columns. As soon as they meet up upon landing they will explode and send the whole lot up, flying a little higher this time. While they’re on their way down you can prepare the ground again, and again until the entire screen is going up and down as one giant mass of animated blocks. Another match inside the sprawling mass will send them off into outer space from whence they came! This is really fun.

If you’re playing against someone those blasted off Meteos will rain down on their parade and cause much teeth gnashing and ill will towards you. This is by far the most fun. For Nintendo the internet was only invented after Meteos was so you can’t do this across the Internet, but where is the fun in annoying someone if you’re not there to see them cursing the day they were born.

One planet to rule them all

There is a plethora of planets to defend against the evil Meteo. The main single player mode is the star trip mode, in which you defend a sequence of planets before fighting the planet Meteo. After each planet you choose a path to follow in a choice between planets, so you’re able to control the difficulty level. After destroying Meteo you get an entertaining ending and the credits roll, during which you can play a game of Meteos with tiny blocks. The various planets all have subtly different play mechanics – on some the playing area in terms of columns is small, while on others it is big, on some gravity is high, on others it is non-existent, on some horizontal matches are powerful while on others vertical matches have far more power. This keeps the game fresh by mixing up the approach you’ll need to take to be successful.

While you’re playing the game tracks every meteo you ever shoot into space, and you can use these to buy more stuff such as planets, soundtracks and all sorts of other extras. The planets are the best, but other special meteos are also worth unlocking because they give you an extra boost if they fall down while you’re playing. The soundtrack of the game is fantastic and is very integral to the whole experience, as expected from a Mizuguchi game. Each planet has a different music theme which adds to the overall feeling of being in a different world. The little meteo blocks also show lots of character – they are all animated in a different way with some looking like little alien creatures and others looking like normal blocks of blue stuff.

Meteos is a great example of wrapping a solid, enjoyable and unique puzzle-game mechanic in a full featured game framework (complete with varying plots!) and polishing it all with excellent music and animation. The combination makes for one of the best action-puzzle games on the DS and it comes highly recommended for those who like experiences like Tetris or Lumines.

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