Meteos first released on the DS back in 2005, and the 4 years since its release nothing has really attempted to challenge its success, so it was fairly certain that with the growth of the downloadable market smaller puzzle titles like Meteos would soon arrive.

It has been a while since the “line 3 blocks in a row” genre has really been utilised to its full potential, and we finally have a contender for XBLA’s best. But how does it fare, and has the 4 year long wait been worth it?

For those who aren’t too clued up in what goes into Meteos Wars you simply need to look at titles like Puyo Pop or even Tetris. Single blocks drop from the top of the screen and it is up to you to clear them out. Line up three or more in a row and watch as they turn into engines and push anything above it up and out of the screen (and down onto your opponent’s). The big challenge here is that you can only slide blocks up and down which definitely changes things up a bit.

You also have the added task of speeding up the rate at which blocks drop so you can get the upper hand on your opponent both in the amount of blocks coming his way, and also for score in case neither of you lose in each of the 3 minute rounds. But speeding up the blocks is only a good tactic for those who are already fluent in the creation of decent “rockets”. After all, if you already find the game hard, and can’t get a rhythm to lining up a few coloured blocks, having more rain down on your playing field isn’t going to help.

It’s finding a rhythm in Meteos Wars that many will find difficult. Sure, you might stumble your way through Mission Mode on Easy, or maybe even kick through a few easier AI controlled enemies, but simply attacking this title on Normal mode will either put you off completely, or challenge you into bettering yourself.

Creating a rocket is easy, pushing through the differing gravity found on different planets is another story altogether. Once your first rocket takes off and you see it slowly dropping back down you need to find a way to either push it up-screen with the help of another rocket, or start adjusting the blocks on the airborne rocket as it drops so that when it lands (and before the engine blocks turn back to coloured blocks) it creates another combo and another engine and powers back off your game table.

Nothing overly amazing about this title graphically, but the soundtrack clearly stands out. Each planet or enemy you come across has their own theme music, and each is amazingly crisp and downright funky, with one of my favourite sounding like the congested noise you’d find in a casino.

Multiplayer (via XboxLive or solo console) is where this game shines, but it seems not many people in Australasia have picked up the title, and anywhere else causes the game to lag fairly intensely.

Closing comments

There are a bunch of game modes, and, like most 360 titles these days, the ability to go head to head over XboxLive, but as mentioned before, you’ll either love or hate the game. The fact is, you will more than likely struggle through this game to begin with, and that will probably put you off. While there are tutorials on how to play the game, you will never feel like they’ve told you enough.

Learn to keep the blocks flowing at the highest speed and make use of the new special weapons when possible and you’ll start appreciating Meteos Wars for what it is. If you don’t have the patience to learn through failure then I’d recommend chucking it onto Easy until you get more of a feel for the title.