Meteos: Disney Magic

Meteos is the best puzzle game available on the DS. This is a bold claim considering the number of quality titles in the DS library, but anyone who has managed to find a copy can attest to its brilliance. Certainly, at its core Meteos is another game about blocks falling from the top of the screen, but it's far more interactive than Tetris and much more frantic than Bejeweled. It's also about to get a new release in the form of a Disney-themed update, so here's the lowdown on what we know so far.

While the original had dozens of worlds, each with unique artwork, music, and physics, the update takes a cue from Kingdom Hearts by utilizing Disney universes and characters in their place. Confirmed series include Winnie the Pooh, Pirates of the Caribbean, Nightmare Before Christmas, and more. The good news is that this will make guessing the physics of a location a bit easier and help differentiate between locations, but considering the limit imposed by Disney franchises available it seems doubtful that the list of arenas will be as extensive as the original.

The other two major updates will directly affect the gameplay. First, and most significant to the puzzling, blocks can now be moved both vertically and horizontally. This seems like a bad idea until you realize that as good as Meteos is, it doesn't have quite the same staying power as Tetris DS, and that's largely because the game is somewhat limiting in the long run. It's frantic and fun, but the ability to set up combos is mostly dependent on luck rather than skill. The allowance to move meteos sideways could be just what the doctor ordered in terms of added strategy.

Updating an already great game is a touchy endeavor. Tetris DS is a great example of adding content while keeping the charm of the original while the various updates to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise have run it into the ground. Kingdom Hearts has been successful as a Disney project, but there is plenty of room for Meteos: Disney Edition to fall through the cracks. The announced design changes show that the developers have their thinking caps on, but the rest of us will have to wait until February 27th to see how things turn out.