Meteos: Disney Magic is a “Disney-fied” version of the original Meteos game on DS.
Probably the biggest difference here is that you’ll be playing your DS rotated 90 degrees. There’s even a “lefty” mode for those of you who are left-handed. And so now you have even more space to launch those blocks and create more combos!
Disney Magic takes the Meteos gameplay and adds the ability to move blocks horizontally, which takes a bit away from the strategy but makes the game a lot easier. The rest remains basically the same, except now you have all these famous Disney characters to go with it. In the Story Mode, someone has messed up all the Disney storybooks in the library, so you are charged with helping Jiminy Cricket and Tinkerbell straighten them out. Sure it’s a bit far-fetched of a story, but it doesn’t matter! You begin with the easy level and work your way up to help solve this “mystery” and get things back to normal.
Each level has certain conditions to fulfill in order to complete it, such as launching a certain number of blocks, or scoring a particular number of points. When you complete a level, your score is calculated with bonus points from either not using a special ability, or clearing the entire board (pretty tough to do!).
Like the original Meteos, blocks fall from the top of the screen and you have to match three blocks vertically or horizontally to “launch” them upwards. If the blocks build up and reach the top of the screen, it’s game over. You also have a special ability gauge that fills up (though, you get bonus points if you don’t use it), which can do things like speed up your blocks so they launch faster, make the blocks drop slower, or allow you to move blocks side to side if you’re in expert mode and can’t move blocks horizontally. Gravity also works differently in different levels, so sometimes groups of blocks go way up when other times they lazily move upwards.
Then there are special blocks that can help you match and launch: The “Wild Block” which works like a wildcard. There’s the “Rocket Block” that you tap twice to launch and it takes two other blocks on either side of it with it, no matter what color. Then there is the “Replacing Block” which looks like a spray-paint can that changes the color of one type of block to another, to make it easier to launch many blocks at once!
Each level you clear unlocks new parts of the story, which you can view in a separate menu outside of the game. It also unlocks new levels in Challenge mode, where you can play as long as you can until you get tired of it, or if you select “Time Attack” or “Score Attack” you play until the time is up or score as many points as possible in a certain amount of time.
You can also play against the computer in Versus CPU, where you play in Survival mode (play until you can’t play no more) or Time Mode where you have to beat the computer in matching as many blocks as possible. You can also play Multi-player, plus you can transmit a trial version to a friend with the DS Download Play function.
All in all, a really neat title for the Disney fan. Famous characters make their appearances, taken from The Little Mermaid, Pirates of the Caribbean, Nightmare Before Christmas, Winnie the Pooh, The Lion King and Cinderella.
The music is very cute and light, and the blocks have fun little graphics on them – I especially liked the little fuzzy alien heads in the Lilo and Stitch theme. The artwork is very nice and colorful, and I think that having the DS rotated helps with the graphics, and letting there be more blocks on the screen than in the original game. Enjoy this puzzle title with your kids as well, I’m sure they’ll be pleased with it!
Special thanks to Billy Grove and Disney Interactive for providing a copy of this title.