Across the universe, no matter the time period or location, delivering the mail is a rough job. Take the poor sap in charge of the space-based mail delivery station Meteor Mail, for example. (That's you, by the way.) That lonely technician has to fire packages from one end, then tweak the exact position of gravity orbs to thread each delivery through worm holes, asteroids, roving pirates, and other obstacles. But, if it were easy, we wouldn't have the delightfully challenging puzzle game that is Meteor Mail, so from adversity comes entertainment!

Your job in Squirrel Tech Enterprise's Meteor Mail is to deliver a mail sphere to its destination by placing and adjusting gravity generators to curve its flight path. Simply drag the globe-like structures from your inventory on the left, place them on the screen, then hit [space] to fire the package. The path will be drawn in red as the delivery is being made, and if it crashes (let's face it, it probably will crash), the action pauses and you can make some adjustments. By fine tuning the location and strength of each sphere, you can get the mail to where it needs to go. How else is anyone going to get the orange and yellow wool cap their mother knit for them?

Not all levels are so free with their gravity orbs. In many stages they have already been placed on the field and are locked down. All you can do is adjust their strength by clicking on each one, holding down the right mouse button, and nudging the mouse wheel up or down. Stronger values pull mail packages more fiercely, while weaker ones tend to be more forgiving.

Analysis: Meteor Mail is the sort of puzzle game that presents a streamlined front but still lets you geek out on some of the details. You only have one item to worry about placing — the gravity orbs — but you have to be precise in where they go and what strength they're set at. Having the previous shot's ghost path available while you adjust is quite helpful, but really it all comes down to developing a good feel for gravity. After some time, you'll just sort of "get" where the package will go based on the orb locations. Trial and error slowly erodes, leaving your honed skills to carry you through the last levels.

What's a shiny space puzzle game without a few extras? You'll spend most of your time in Meteor Mail staring at a 2D map of the environment, dragging and adjusting gravity orbs and using the hand-holding hint system if you get stuck. When you fire a package, though, you can switch on the Mail Cam option for a little visual treat. Instead of the flat map, you get to watch the mail as it flies through space, following it up-close in a 3D view of its twisty journey. You can't get as much done watching like this, but hey, it's cool, and that counts for something!

Meteor Mail is a simple but challenging puzzle game that falls on the casual side of the complexity fence. It's easy to get into, but it takes a certain amount of mastery to carve delicate paths later in the game. Good honest space-based fun!

Windows:
Download the demo Get the full version

Mac OS X:
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