Anyone remember Meteos? If you think back on that DS classic fondly, you might want to check out Mini Meteors [$0.99], a new iPad-only release. I'll just say that you'll find a few similarities between the two.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, let me elaborate. Mini Meteors is a fast-moving match 3�style puzzle game. Unlike your traditional match-3, you can only move blocks up or down. The lines you create can be vertical or horizontal, but you can't move blocks side to side.

The blocks rain down from the top of the field like falling meteors, and you need to move quickly to clear them before they fill up a column. Matching three or more blocks of the same color launches them upwards, along with every block above that match, and anything that flies off the top of the field is cleared. If you're feeling really good about your skills, you can speed up the falling blocks, but be careful�leave your columns at the top of the field without being launched and you'll lose.

Mini Meteors has two modes: Classic Mode and Mission Mode. In Classic mode, you keep playing until you die, and the game gets harder the longer you survive. Mission Mode mixes things up a bit. You'll need to defend the planets in our solar system (including Pluto!) for 2, 3 or 5 minutes. Some planets have more gravity, so matched blocks launch slowly or have less lift. Others get hit with faster meteors. Generally, each planet is harder to protect than the last.

Mission mode also introduces items that can be collected for Game Center achievements. I'm not sure why you find a stick, leaves and a wood house on Jupiter, but they give you bonus points and you'll need to collect all of them to fill out the achievement list. Each planet also has its own background image and soundtrack.

That's not quite enough variety, though. Each level feels a bit different, but you need to beat its 2, 3 and 5 minute versions to progress. When you finally move on, you'll find a level that looks pretty much like the one you just left. It seems like a bit more could be done with creative block designs. That could also help offset the lack of a colorblind mode, something a few members of our forums have requested. A few achievements that aren't just "collect X" would also be nice.

Mini Meteors isn't the most elegant or original game I've played, but it is a good take on gameplay that I haven't seen before on iOS. It's colorful and fun, and I� foresee some great competition on the planetary leaderboards once a few more players pick it up. I wouldn't hold my breath for an iPhone version�the touch controls are precise with the screen real estate of the iPad, but they'd probably be a nightmare on the iPhone without a stylus. But if you're in the market for something a little different than the average match-3 on iPad, you should definitely take a look.

Ever felt like stomping your way all over Paris or San Francisco? Zilla has you covered in Demolition Dash [$0.99 / HD]. Smash and run action will take you all around the world, to eight major cities where you'll rip down trees, kick pigeons, blow up billboards and destroy the military forces that try to stop you.

Zilla is our hero, a rather small monster with a great big roar. Following the model of other run 'n guns, Zilla runs full-speed ahead in one direction while you control jumps with one hand and roars with the other. Roaring is Zilla's only attack, but it's super effective, destroying everything in range. Demolition Dash isn't an endless runner, though. Zilla climbs out of the water, runs, jumps and smashes through each of the game's 24 stages, and dives back in at the end�if you survive that long.

Little Zilla is up against an impressive force. Police squads, vans, helicopters and tanks all get in the way, and the only way past is to roar them to pieces. Run into one of them or miss a jump and a chunk of Zilla's tail gets knocked off. Lose all three tail pieces and the next hit is game over.

On top of making it through each stage alive, there are additional challenges to master. Each stage has its own secondary goal, so sometimes you'll need to hunt down 30 helicopters, and other times you'll be gunning for a high score. There are also Game Center leaderboards for each city and 11 achievements to earn. You can improve your score by earning demolition combos and by making smart use of the game's three power-ups: chili peppers that give you mega roar, wings that let Super Zilla fly, and stars that bring out the GodZilla in our little dino friend.

Other than the adorable Zilla, it's the artistry of the game's eight cities that really makes Demolition Dash shine. Each city gets custom buildings and trees, a background featuring a major landmark, and its own arrangement of the game's theme. Clearly a lot of love was put into the music, and it paid off�I just wish as much thought had been put into the rest of the auditory experience.

I turned off the game's sound effects during the second or third city. With Zilla crashing around and roaring every few moments, police squads shouting and sirens blaring, the sound turned into a mess. The audio quality is great, but I was sick of hearing it. Thankfully you can toggle sound effects and music separately.

I also found myself wishing for a quick level reset option. Things get kind of crazy in later levels, and it sucks to lose lives early on. The only way to restart and get back into the action is to quit back to the menu and wait through rather lengthy loading screens. My 3GS struggled a bit with some of the busier levels, making this a bigger problem when I would die early to frame rate drops. A freshly reset phone performed better, though not perfectly, and the newer devices play Demolition Dash smooth as silk. It also looks gorgeous on Retina screens.

Demolition Dash should be getting an update next month to add Endless Run mode, which seems like it will be a perfect fit. Open Feint support and stat tracking are also planned. Weirdly, the game currently gives players a code that can be redeemed on the developer's Facebook page for a discount on t-shirts or web storage, if you're looking for value-added features.

Smashing up cities and making mayhem with Zilla is great fun. Our forum users are enjoying it so far, too. So if you're looking for a little destruction in your life, Demolition Dash is a game you'll want to play.

The Chromanoids are invading the solar system. You, the Captain of the human fleet, must take charge and shoot them out of the sky before they arrive. With such a classic premise for an entertaining arcade game, Chromanoids™ [$0.99] starts out great.

The game is loosely based on Missile Command. You have a central weapon at the bottom of the screen, and alien attackers fly at it from all directions. Tap to fire missiles and interrupt them before they destroy you. The trick is in the timing: your missiles take time to reach their destinations and the alien ships are also moving, so without the right amount of lead time the missiles explode harmlessly behind the attackers. The aliens also get trickier as you progress, shielding, swerving and phasing to slip by your defenses.

There's a score of games on the App Store that follow that formula, but Chromanoids™ goes further to differentiate itself. The Chromanoids are all different colors, and your missiles can only hurt matching colors. Below your weapon are three primary color panels. Before launching a missile, you need to tap the correct color to fire. The attackers are quick to adapt, so you'll soon be mixing colors on the fly. It's a twist that makes the game much more challenging and a bit more fresh.

The game has five modes to hold your interest. Story mode gives you 25 waves punctuated with cute dialog cuts. Armada mode is harder and faster. Depleted mode stacks the odds further against you, so your shots are smaller but your score gets higher. Ultradrive mode rewards accuracy. Red-Shift mode does away with the color matching mechanic so you can blast away freely. Chromanoids™ has enough variety to keep any arcade fan happy. And if only Hothead Games had been equally generous with its payment model, I'd completely recommend it.

As a freemium game, Chromanoids™ would be very reasonable. You get 75 credits to start, and it costs 25 credits to continue playing after you use up your first few lives. You earn credits slowly through daily play, or you can buy them at a generous 1000 for $0.99 or 4000 for $1.99 You can also pay for powerups, but you can earn them in regular play.� So if Chromanoids™ were free, it would be an easy recommendation. But it's not, and it's not an easy game, so you're going to need to hit Continue a few times.

Unfortunately, this also makes the Game Center leaderboards sort of meaningless. Since you can pay to keep going without losing your score, there's no way to know if you're competing against people who are skilled or just have deep pockets. Maybe this is an attempt to be super faithful to classic quarter-pumping arcade games?

At least Chromanoids ™ is a good homage to those games in every other way, with stylish retro art, a campy storyline and good sound. If Hothead Games decides to drop it down to free at any point, I'll have an easier time recommending it. You'll probably only ever need to spend an extra buck or two, so if you're fine with that, it's a good buy. But if you're put off by paying for extras in a paid game, you might want to give this one a pass.