Lumines VS. Meteos...

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 8:47 pm

Ever since I managed to max out the score on my copy of Tetris DX I have been hard up for a new handheld puzzler (these boring, uneventfull Fridays at work don't help matters.) Both of these titles look very cool but I was hoping for a little head to head comparison from someone who has put a little time into both. From what I have seen they seem to have similar gameplay mechanics (relatively speaking anyway.

) Your thoughts and opinions would be much appreciated.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 9:17 pm

I've not actually played Lumines (I don't have a PSP, and really couldn't justify the purchase of one right now either) but there are few similarities between Lumines and Meteos besides their developer. Lumines is intended more as a "get in the zone and play for hours" type game, where Meteos is a manic, high energy action game that rarely lasts more than three minutes at a time. I'm sure others can elaborate more on the differences between the two. I happen to quite like Meteos myaelf, and think it's one of the best games I've played all year.

Monkey_Man · Post by **Monkey_Man** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 3:31 am

Lumines is more stylish and slick, Meteos is more colorful, in my experience.

flux · Post by **flux** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 4:26 am

The biggest differnet between the two is the play times.

Lumines rounds can last for hours (I think it takes 4-5 hours to max out the score). The game play pretty much remains the same through each skin, except for a slower deletion bar or slightly faster blocks falling. It doesn't start out too bad. After learning the best way to play certain blocks, you can make a pretty big jump, as the difficutly doesn't ramp up too fast. When you lose, you can see it happening; you mess up a few block placements, and you see it building up towards the top helplessly. This game is good for someone who likes to sit back and put some time into a puzzle game. You have to be ready to play for hours and not beat your old score. I'd say if you were looking for the next gen Tetris, this is a better bet.

Single Meteos levels last usually 3-4 minutes. They are pretty hectic from start to finish. Each planet has its own gravity (some vertical explosions don't do anything, some ascend slowly and fall quickly, some need a double explosion to do anything), which keeps the game unique through each level. You come to hate and love certain levels because of the gravity. Usually when you lose, you have no idea what happened. About 3 minutes in, the blocks are just piling on, and its pretty hard to keep up.
This game is suited more for someone who likes quick, fast paced puzzle games.

Both use combo's in a somewhat similar way, both time your game, and both tell you how many you delete.

Personally, I like both. I play meteos more because it's convinient for quick plays. I like Lumines, but I have to be in the right mindset to sit down and play for 2 hours.

judesalmon · Post by **judesalmon** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 9:03 am

I prefer Lumines as I prefer to play games for more than a couple of minutes.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:30 pm

I own both a DS and PSP, they are both excellent games. I like Lumines better simply because the gameplay lasts a long time (as judesalmon said) and it is very challenging. And the challenge fluctuates in such a way that the game and music combine for a wonderfully stimulating and downright relaxing game.

Meteos is very good though. Yes it is shorter, more "bite sized" gameplay and nowhere near as flashy, but I will tell you this: it is THE most fun with a multiplayer game I have had since Bomberman. Get some friends together and you will have a blast raining down planetary destruction on each other in the game.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:30 pm

i just found out a couple days ago that i was mispronouncing both titles... heh

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 7:34 pm

captain ahar wrote:i just found out a couple days ago that i was mispronouncing both titles... heh

How are they pronounced?

tsunami0ne · Post by **tsunami0ne** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 10:45 pm

Meteos has more depth than Lumines and is way more challenging. I've already logged in 40 hours into the US version in addition to however much I played in the japanese version. I love the fact that I'm constantly discovering new things and figuring out new strategies for certain planets every day. I just got 620,000+ points on Brabbit in Deluge mode last week

Lumines looks and sounds nicer (as long as you can stand the music), but it's like playing Tetris at level 1. ZZZZzzzzz. Meteos has more colorful graphics and more "ambient" 10 second loops. I prefer Lumines music, but the "songs" in Meteos are starting to grow on me. The slowdown when playing against more than 2 people is pretty annoying in Meteos because it causes some input lag as well sometimes.

Lumines is easier to get into and easier to max out the score. I don't own Lumines, but with the few hours I spent on it, it didn't feel like I was doing any planning at all. Just dropping blocks to make squares and getting lucky when I got that super special block to get rid of all blocks of a certain color. Meteos has a tougher learning curve. I gave a friend who never played it before a chance to try and he died within 30 seconds on the first planet in Deluge. I think on average, I would last 2 minutes when I had the Japanese version for a couple days. After playing the US version a lot, I can average around 4-5 minutes in Deluge.

So *I* think Meteos is better, BUT....

you say you need something to play on uneventful Fridays? I think Lumines might be more to your liking. It is much more relaxing than Meteos because you will die in Meteos a lot unless you are playing the oh-so-boring Star Trip mode. So unless you want your heart rate and blood pressure to double during work, LUMINES.

flux · Post by **flux** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 11:26 pm

Dylan1CC wrote:
captain ahar wrote:i just found out a couple days ago that i was mispronouncing both titles... heh
How are they pronounced?

Lumines is pronounced like Luminous (like, you'd pronounce the 'e')

I'm not sure about Meteos, though. I thought that was just like Meteor, but with an 's' instead of an 'r'.

Monkey_Man · Post by **Monkey_Man** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 12:13 am

flux wrote:
Dylan1CC wrote:
captain ahar wrote:i just found out a couple days ago that i was mispronouncing both titles... heh
How are they pronounced?
Lumines is pronounced like Luminous (like, you'd pronounce the 'e')

I'm not sure about Meteos, though. I thought that was just like Meteor, but with an 's' instead of an 'r'.

I pronounce them loo-min-ehz (like loom and pez), and mee-tee-ose (like meaty o's, if that was a cereal, and I hope to god it's not).

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 1:53 am

Thanks to flux and monkeyman for clearing that up a bit.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sun Jul 31, 2005 2:28 am

Meteos = Me te o su

mannerbot · Post by **mannerbot** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 2:32 am

I always figured that Lumines would be pronounced like "Luminous," but had never bothered to look up the katakana.

Now is Meteos pronounced "Meaty-o's" or "Me-te-o-su"?

judesalmon · Post by **judesalmon** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 8:46 am

tsunami0ne wrote:Meteos has more depth than Lumines and is way more challenging... but it's [Lumines] like playing Tetris at level 1. ZZZZzzzzz. Meteos has more colorful graphics and more "ambient" 10 second loops. I prefer Lumines music, but the "songs" in Meteos are starting to grow on me... Lumines is easier to get into and easier to max out the score. I don't own Lumines, but with the few hours I spent on it, it didn't feel like I was doing any planning at all. Just dropping blocks to make squares and getting lucky when I got that super special block to get rid of all blocks of a certain color.

You disqualified your statements by saying that you don't own Lumines and have hardly played it. Scoring 1,000,000 in Lumines is one of the hardest things you'll ever do in gaming.

Moogs · Post by **Moogs** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 11:38 am

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:Meteos = Me te o su

Maybe in Japan. Otherwise, no.

mannerbot · Post by **mannerbot** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 2:44 pm

yeah man

we call him godzilla here
get the fuck out with that gojira shit

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sun Jul 31, 2005 4:26 pm

I don't see how my answer is much worse than anyone else's. There's no "official" way to pronounce it in English (correct me if the game actually yells "meaty-o's" at you.) On the contrary, Meteosu is official (in Japan but oh wells) and ends all controversy. But I see you guys don't want to sound moronic

.

mannerbot · Post by **mannerbot** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 4:32 pm

Ok I finally got around to looking up the box art for the Japanese version of Meteos. It's definitely not "Meaty-o's," sorry America. We can fuck up the name like we did with everything else in our language though, no worries.

And Lumines is, sure enough, pronounced like "luminous."

Moogs · Post by **Moogs** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 6:11 pm

The katakana says "meh-teh-oh-su," but then they spell it Meteos in the English alphabet. So, yeah, it's "Meh-teh-ohs."

"Ru-mee-neh-su"

Lumines = "Loo-mi-nes." Basically, it's "luminous."

Or something..

mannerbot · Post by **mannerbot** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 6:22 pm

Man. What have we done to this thread.

Moogs · Post by **Moogs** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 6:35 pm

Well, to get back on track, I prefer Meteos over Lumines. Although, that's putting it lightly, cos I hate Lumines for being so dull and boring and underwhelming. Even the music is boring.

tsunami0ne · Post by **tsunami0ne** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 6:39 pm

judesalmon wrote:
tsunami0ne wrote:Meteos has more depth than Lumines and is way more challenging... but it's [Lumines] like playing Tetris at level 1. ZZZZzzzzz. Meteos has more colorful graphics and more "ambient" 10 second loops. I prefer Lumines music, but the "songs" in Meteos are starting to grow on me... Lumines is easier to get into and easier to max out the score. I don't own Lumines, but with the few hours I spent on it, it didn't feel like I was doing any planning at all. Just dropping blocks to make squares and getting lucky when I got that super special block to get rid of all blocks of a certain color.
You disqualified your statements by saying that you don't own Lumines and have hardly played it. Scoring 1,000,000 in Lumines is one of the hardest things you'll ever do in gaming.

I've always wondered about that. A lot of people I've seen on gaming forums have claimed to have done this and even some magazine editors have maxed out the score in Lumines. Have you gotten 500,000+ points in any of the single levels in Meteos? Should your statements be unqualified too?

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 8:46 pm

Wow, thanks for all the feedback. It really sounds like each game compliments the other if you know what I mean. I currently own neither handheld but with the upcoming release of the new Castlevania as well as that bizzare looking surgery and lawyer game (both getting U.S. releases woo!

) I will probably end up playing meteos first. Both games sound like thier worth owning.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sun Jul 31, 2005 9:41 pm

I <3 this thread. So much controversy, yet nobody really flamed. I'm settling for "Meh-teh-ohs" and "Loo-mi-nes" like Moogs said. "Meaty-o's" made me laugh for about half a minute.

mannerbot · Post by **mannerbot** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 10:11 pm

Well yeah, I mean Elixer, Recap, Black Mariah, etc. weren't involved. It shouldn't be so surprising that there wasn't any flaming.

Really though Meaty-o's is so silly. lol

flux · Post by **flux** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 1:05 am

Jon wrote:Wow, thanks for all the feedback. It really sounds like each game compliments the other if you know what I mean. I currently own neither handheld but with the upcoming release of the new Castlevania as well as that bizzare looking surgery and lawyer game (both getting U.S. releases woo! ) I will probably end up playing meteos first. Both games sound like thier worth owning.

That surgery game looks so awesome. I was surprised to hear it got a US release.

judesalmon · Post by **judesalmon** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 9:56 am

tsunami0ne wrote:I've always wondered about that. A lot of people I've seen on gaming forums have claimed to have done this and even some magazine editors have maxed out the score in Lumines. Have you gotten 500,000+ points in any of the single levels in Meteos? Should your statements be unqualified too?

My best scores in Meteos are all around the 400,000 mark, but I've played both games combined more than yourself, so that's why I would consider myself better suited to compare.

Meteos is a superb game, to be sure, however, I prefer Lumines. Your preference to Meteos is okay too. I just felt that calling Lumines 'easier' considering that you had hardly played it was not a qualified statement.

Also, many people may have maxed Lumines, considering how long it's been out that's not a surprise, but I assure you, it is not easy.

peeveen · Post by **peeveen** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 4:04 pm

I love Lumines ... I give it 9/10. You have to get it.

I owned Meteos for a few days ... hated the game, but I will admit that I really could not get to grips with it. I found I could get out of most tight spots just by wildly rubbing the stylus all over the place than by applying any kind of thought. After a stream of disappointingly naff DS games, Meteos was the final nail in the coffin ... sold the game and the console.

tsunami0ne · Post by **tsunami0ne** » Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:20 am

judesalmon wrote:
tsunami0ne wrote:I've always wondered about that. A lot of people I've seen on gaming forums have claimed to have done this and even some magazine editors have maxed out the score in Lumines. Have you gotten 500,000+ points in any of the single levels in Meteos? Should your statements be unqualified too?
My best scores in Meteos are all around the 400,000 mark, but I've played both games combined more than yourself, so that's why I would consider myself better suited to compare.

Meteos is a superb game, to be sure, however, I prefer Lumines. Your preference to Meteos is okay too. I just felt that calling Lumines 'easier' considering that you had hardly played it was not a qualified statement.

Also, many people may have maxed Lumines, considering how long it's been out that's not a surprise, but I assure you, it is not easy.

Well, if that's the case then my statements are disqualified.