Gaming Meteos

[Semjaza]

I'm not sure how much everyone knows about this game. It was recently released in Japan I believe, but the US release is still somewhat up in the air (although I think Nintendo's site has it listed for April).

It's a new puzzle game. Different colored blocks fall from the sky and you have to drag them around vertically (horizontally isn't allowed) to match groups of three or more. When you match a group, little rockets appear and push the matched blocks and everything on top of them up and off the screen. However, if there's too many blocks on top of the rockets, they won't make it all the way... you'll have to make combos.

It's hard to explain, but I think videos show off the idea pretty well. This one is just a bunch of short clips of different levels put together:

[url]http://media.gba.gamespy.com/media/695/695613/vids_1.html[/url] (follow the instuctions on the page to get it)


I really like the graphics, personally. I think they're more than adequate for a puzzle game and the speed is pretty insane at times. Sound is hard to judge from a crappy video, but from all I've read it's some of the more impressive quality stuff on the system. The game seems to have a variety of modes and supports up to four players through linking.

Famitsu gave it a 38/40, so I think we're in for a pretty great game.

[IMG]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/069/reviews/922233_20050311_screen001.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/069/reviews/922233_20050311_screen005.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/069/reviews/922233_20050311_screen014.jpg[/IMG]

[James]

[color=#B0251E]I played the demo for this ages ago and at first I wasn't sure how I felt. But after about twenty seconds, I thought "Wow, this game is amazing". Once you get into the rhythm, you realize that you've been playing for fifteen minutes without even thinking -- I mean, it just eats away the time. It's addictive.

The demo itself with the mouse was fun enough, but I can see this game being even better with the touch screen and the inclusion of more detailed graphics (as opposed to the simple blocks on white background of the demo).

But considering that I enjoyed the demo quite a bit, I'm definitely getting the DS version. This is one of my personal most-wanted DS titles and I'm not even really a puzzle game fan.[/color]

[Semjaza]

From what I've played of that demo, it's just a really cheap substitute. It looked pretty bad, the combos weren't implemented properly and just a host of other issues. The real thing is obviously fifty times more polished and such, but it just seems so much better produced in every aspect that I can can't really farily compare them lol. The basic idea was in the demo, but definitely doesn't have a lot of the things going on that I saw in the game... even just in terms of basic gameplay.

I've read a lot of English impressions recently and they all seem incredibly positive. Even more glowing than ones I've read of Lumines on the PSP, which are both from the same guy.

[James]

[color=#B0251E]Yeah, I had assumed that if I enjoyed the barebones demo that much, then the game itself is a total no-brainer. I'm really looking forward to it.[/color]