Edit: Added a quick review of Meteos. Scroll down.
...But at least now I have some stuff to play on my DS .
Acting on PaCrappa's tip in another thread about a place called Recycle Me in Seattle, I headed out there. He wasn't kidding about the huge pile of SFC games there. I didn't really know what I would be looking for there, even though I did pick up a copy of Puyo Puyo Sun for $4 and change. Inquiring about some of the other stuff I've been looking for, I was referred to another import shop called Pink Godzilla Games down in the International district. Not being familiar with any good import shops around here, I decided to check it out. Not a bad little place, and I probably could have spent a fortune there. After getting to try it out, I ended up walking out of there with Meteos and Electroplankton, which should keep my DS occupied for a while. I probably paid a bit more than Play-Asia would have sold it for, but all in all the prices weren't too bad.
Meteos is turning out to be a little less import friendly than I might have liked, but it still quite a bit of fun. I might end up getting the domestic release when it comes out and selling this one off, but it's one of the best puzzlers I've played in quite a while.
Nobody ever said this was a cheap hobby, I guess...
I have no willpower(Electroplankton & Meteos reviews)
I have no willpower(Electroplankton & Meteos reviews)
Last edited by Vexorg on Sun May 29, 2005 7:18 am, edited 3 times in total.
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janrodricks
- Posts: 84
- Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2005 7:07 pm
- Location: Boston, MA
If you're going to go over there, they'd gladly let you mess with it. The DS has a surprisingly good sound system in it, especially once they hooked theirs up to the store's stereo system. It's not a huge place, but they do have a pretty good selection, and say they can get stuff on request. They have a website at http://www.pinkgodzillagames.com, and they're not hard to find (Sixth and King.) It appears that they have just about any DS releases
As for Electoplankton, it's the type of thing that I think I'd end up digging out about the time I find myself burned out on everything else on the shelf. It's basically not a game at all, rather a toy program. Some Modules work out better than others, but in the short time that I've messed with it, my favorite modules have been Hannebow (this one iIMO the best one of the bunch by far), Beatnes and Marine-Snow. The visuals are interesting, but by far, the main highlight is the sound. Again, you'd be surprised how good the DS sounds even on the built-in speakers, and if you hook this one up to a stereo, it sonuds absolutely incredible. A pair of heaphones (earbud style) is included the box, although I've not used these yet. It would have been nice if there was some capacity to record and save particularly cool sounding tunes you make, but I think they're trying to emphasize the randomness that creates the music somewhat. The game very import friendly (everything has English translations already, but you don't need anything translated anyway. My suspicion is that Electroplankton will eventually get a US release since translation would not be an issue, and they also had a downloadable demo available at E3 to people who brought their DS with them.
Overall, Electoplankton probably isn't the most exciting purchase you'll ever make, but it's a fun little toy program, and does a great job of showing off what the DS is capable of.
As for Electoplankton, it's the type of thing that I think I'd end up digging out about the time I find myself burned out on everything else on the shelf. It's basically not a game at all, rather a toy program. Some Modules work out better than others, but in the short time that I've messed with it, my favorite modules have been Hannebow (this one iIMO the best one of the bunch by far), Beatnes and Marine-Snow. The visuals are interesting, but by far, the main highlight is the sound. Again, you'd be surprised how good the DS sounds even on the built-in speakers, and if you hook this one up to a stereo, it sonuds absolutely incredible. A pair of heaphones (earbud style) is included the box, although I've not used these yet. It would have been nice if there was some capacity to record and save particularly cool sounding tunes you make, but I think they're trying to emphasize the randomness that creates the music somewhat. The game very import friendly (everything has English translations already, but you don't need anything translated anyway. My suspicion is that Electroplankton will eventually get a US release since translation would not be an issue, and they also had a downloadable demo available at E3 to people who brought their DS with them.
Overall, Electoplankton probably isn't the most exciting purchase you'll ever make, but it's a fun little toy program, and does a great job of showing off what the DS is capable of.
OK, I've had more time to spend on Meteos now (played it nonstop for several hours straight) and I have to say that this is turning out to be the game that has made my DS purchase worthwhile. As I mentioned in my previous post, it's not exactly the most import friendly game out there (All the menus, story and stuff is completely in Japanese, but I think it's mostly Katakana, so it shouldn't be too bad if you can read that) but after playing around with it and finding a FAQ on Gamefaqs I can find my way around the game just fine. I think there's still a few things I've not completely figured out yet, but those aren't too big a deal.
The gameplay is very simple to pick up, which is a good thing, because it gets hectic fast. You move blocks up and down in the columns with the stylus (you could use D-pad and buttons, but this would be far too slow to get good scores with.) Because the touchscreen is an integral part of the game, the DS is the only platform that a game like this could be effectivly done on. As you probably know if you've seen videos of the game, linking three similarly colored blocks will turn them into rockets, which can push blocks off the top of the screen. To clear large groups of blocks you're going to need more firepower, which you can get by adding more rocket blocks below, or making more in the stack currently being lifted by rockets. Once you get up in levels, you're going to find you have half the contents of the screen on rockets, and you can clear whole screens by making enough chains in the stack. There are different planets which you can play on, which have different combinations of gravity and thrust from rocket blocks. Some planets give you weak thrust but low gravity, some planets will shoot blocks up very quick, but will also have then drop fast as well. The gameplay is very chaotic at times, but the chain reactions can be quite impressive. Meteos is definitely an action puzzler.
You get the usual modes for a puzzler: Star trip (story mode, which is available in either linear form or with a branching path), various endless modes (with or without CPU opponents,) Time attack modes (2 minutes and 5 minutes, or time to clear 100 or 1,000 blocks), and Wireless multiplayer, although I don't know anyone else with a DS to try this with right now. As you progress through the various modes, the number of each type of block you clear is kept track of, and these can be used to "buy" unlockables (additional playfields and characters for score attack, Additional special blocks, or items in the sound test.) Some content is also unlocked by completion of Star Trip and a couple of items are time unlocked.
Overall, I think Meteos is an excellent game, and will end up on the must-have list for the DS once the US version comes out. The visuals and sound are excellent, and the gameplay is addictive. I highly recommend it.
The gameplay is very simple to pick up, which is a good thing, because it gets hectic fast. You move blocks up and down in the columns with the stylus (you could use D-pad and buttons, but this would be far too slow to get good scores with.) Because the touchscreen is an integral part of the game, the DS is the only platform that a game like this could be effectivly done on. As you probably know if you've seen videos of the game, linking three similarly colored blocks will turn them into rockets, which can push blocks off the top of the screen. To clear large groups of blocks you're going to need more firepower, which you can get by adding more rocket blocks below, or making more in the stack currently being lifted by rockets. Once you get up in levels, you're going to find you have half the contents of the screen on rockets, and you can clear whole screens by making enough chains in the stack. There are different planets which you can play on, which have different combinations of gravity and thrust from rocket blocks. Some planets give you weak thrust but low gravity, some planets will shoot blocks up very quick, but will also have then drop fast as well. The gameplay is very chaotic at times, but the chain reactions can be quite impressive. Meteos is definitely an action puzzler.
You get the usual modes for a puzzler: Star trip (story mode, which is available in either linear form or with a branching path), various endless modes (with or without CPU opponents,) Time attack modes (2 minutes and 5 minutes, or time to clear 100 or 1,000 blocks), and Wireless multiplayer, although I don't know anyone else with a DS to try this with right now. As you progress through the various modes, the number of each type of block you clear is kept track of, and these can be used to "buy" unlockables (additional playfields and characters for score attack, Additional special blocks, or items in the sound test.) Some content is also unlocked by completion of Star Trip and a couple of items are time unlocked.
Overall, I think Meteos is an excellent game, and will end up on the must-have list for the DS once the US version comes out. The visuals and sound are excellent, and the gameplay is addictive. I highly recommend it.
Vexorg wrote:Yes, the US release is scheduled for June 25th. Electroplankton doesn't have a US release date yet though.
Indeed. I hope Electroplankton does come out here. Though if it doesn't, how import friendly is it?
Also, Another Code 2 Memory is coming to the US in the fall. So hurray for that.
Now if they'd only give us Band Brothers...
RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!!!!!!
I'd have mentioned PG too if I'd known that you didn't know. Oddly enough I found out about that place from Kaneda's stepdad. They were at Video Hop getting some K-1 tapes and noticed it. He said that Kaneda really liked it and bought a Famicom along with that Akira RPG. That sounded pretty good so I went there the same day. I really liked it. Any place that you can walk into and leave with a FC and a stack of cartridges is very cool indeed. They have a decent selection for the modern systems and a slightly less decent (but still pretty good) selection of older stuff. Plus both of the guys working there were very nice and even made sure to give me the pro deal on my PCE Adventure Island because I used to have a shop myself. Respect.
I do have some slight issues though. The first is the pricing on the used stuff. I'm lucky that I got a discount on my Adventure Island because they wanted $30 for it! Yikes. I think Kaneda paid something like $100 for that Akira game. Again, yikes. The second issue is one of knowledgability. It's one thing to know that Final Fantasy 6 didn't come out in the states and that you can make money off it or the release dates for the next big title, but really knowing what's what in import action gaming takes special dedication. I shouldn't have expected them to know this but I was a little dismayed when I asked about Super Wagyanland and they'd never heard of it. Okay that's old and obscure. How about something new? I asked about Tian Xing: Sword of Destiny by From Software which came out in December I believe. Same deal. They never heard of it.
Small gripes aside, I really like the place. The fact that there is once again a proper videogame store in Chinatown warms my heart and I really hope those guys do well.
Pa
I do have some slight issues though. The first is the pricing on the used stuff. I'm lucky that I got a discount on my Adventure Island because they wanted $30 for it! Yikes. I think Kaneda paid something like $100 for that Akira game. Again, yikes. The second issue is one of knowledgability. It's one thing to know that Final Fantasy 6 didn't come out in the states and that you can make money off it or the release dates for the next big title, but really knowing what's what in import action gaming takes special dedication. I shouldn't have expected them to know this but I was a little dismayed when I asked about Super Wagyanland and they'd never heard of it. Okay that's old and obscure. How about something new? I asked about Tian Xing: Sword of Destiny by From Software which came out in December I believe. Same deal. They never heard of it.
Small gripes aside, I really like the place. The fact that there is once again a proper videogame store in Chinatown warms my heart and I really hope those guys do well.
Pa
It's nice just knowing where there's an import store around here, especially since they appear to have all the major DS and PSP releases from Japan on hand. Nintendo seems to be really slow with getting decent DS releases to the US (Did I mention that Meteos absolutely rocks? I can't stop playing it.) There used to be that Famcom place here in Redmond, but it's gone now, and my suspicion is that they had to send in a Hazmat team to clean it up afterwards. I did also see a bit of cluelessness too. I asked about Radiant Silvergun since I'm looking for one now, and I got something of a "You know, you're the fifth person to ask for that, maybe one of these days we should probably figure out what it is" answer, but I'll definitely have to head back there every once in a while. I suspect with time they'll get better at knowing what's what.
