Welcome to DS on DS. This is where I'm going to be taking a look at the Nintendo DS and all of it's games. And when I say all, I mean it. I will be going from Scribblenauts to Petz Catz Clan. From Planet Puzzle League to Grey's Anatomy.  Every Friday, I will write a review on the game I have chosen for the week.

This week I am going to be taking a look at Meteos.

This week, I decided to dig into the depths of releases of Nintendo DS games past, to review a game from June 25, 2005.  It's one of the games that helped move the DS up near the top of my list of the all-time best systems (it has since made it to the number one position on that list, but that is a different discussion for a different time).  I am talking about Meteos, a block-matching puzzle game revolving around planetary destruction.  

Meteos is, to this day, one of the single best games on the Nintendo DS.  It was made by Q Entertainment, who also developed Lumines, Every Extend Extra, and the co-developers of Peggle on the DS.  That is a pretty good resume for a developer to have, especially when the games have turned out to be really, really good.

The story behind the game is that a sentient planet, Meteo is trying to destroy all of the planets in the universe by hurling Meteos at them and stacking so many on the surface that the planets are crushed under the weight.  It is discovered that if three Meteos of the same color come in contact, they will ignite and hurl themselves back into space.  The life forms on the different planets decide to fight back and destroy Meteo.

In Meteos, your blocks fall randomly from the top of the screen into the playing field (or as the game calls it, your "atmosphere"), and it is your job to match three or more of the same tile.  This is done by only being able to move the tiles vertically.  I know this sounds very limiting, but it really adds a great level of difficulty to the game.  You can do this with the stylus or the d-pad, but using the d-pad is extremely impractical due to the speed of the game and how slowly the d-pad moves the cursor.  This is just a game where you really do need to use the stylus.  When you make a match, the matched blocks ignite and launch upwards and out of your atmosphere.  Once the go past the top, they are hurled at the opposing planets.  There are also items that will fall on your playing area that range from rockets to bombs, and in some of the levels, they are almost needed.

Each planet (32 in all) in the game has a different environment that comes along with it.  This doesn't just mean that they look a little different from each other. They each have their own gravity, tile sets, atmospheres, soundtracks, and even how the blocks will launch.  Some planets will only let you launch blocks of the screen in columns, others in rows.  There are a few where you have to chain more than four launches in a grouping of blocks before they will make it off the top of the screen.  Some of these levels are extremely frustrating, but they are so much fun that it doesn't bother you as much as it would in other games of lesser quality.

All of the blocks that you launch off of the top of the screen are given to you after you pass a level, and can be used in turn to delve into the plethora of unlockables that this game offers.  You can unlock more planets, items, and the completely awesome soundtrack.  The soundtrack in this game alone is almost worth the price of the game.  The score hits all of the genres, like jazz, techno, and rock.  There is even one that I would classify under "spooky", but only because it sounds like something from a horror movie.  Incidentally, it is also my favorite theme from the game.  This is one of those games you will want to play until you have every single thing unlocked, then you will keep playing just because it is so damn fun.

The game also has a multitude of endings, varying depending on which branching path you take in the story mode.  This is another great reason to play through the game multiple times.  All of the endings are pretty good.  The best one?  The Giant Fork.  

Since the game is nearly five years old, you can find it at an extremely good price (a quick Google search turned up prices for a used copy of $8.00 USD).  I would suggest that if you came across this game for you to purchase it without hesitation.  You won't regret the purchase one bit.  It's also getting something I haven't given any game yet: a perfect score.

Final Score: 10/10

If you want to read any of my past DS on DS reviews, you can find links to them all on the Official DS on DS Blog.