Lumines

"Although puzzle games are about as old as gaming itself, Lumines manages to push the bar, literally, to new heights"

Whenever anyone thinks of a puzzle game, gamer or not, Tetris for the Game Boy comes to mind. Since the original Game Boy was not as powerful as the NES, Nintendo developed Tetris and Super Mario that were simpler, but still fun. Tetris is the epitome of the saying 'less is more' and is still one of the most fun and addicting games of all time. Fifteen years have passed since the release of Tetris for the Game Boy, and Q Entertainment has followed suit with its release of Lumines for the PSP.

Puzzle games have progressed immensely since Tetris with new technology. There are countless pseudo-Tetris' on almost every console known to man. Rather than use the same old formula of deleting blocks to achieve a high score, Lumines takes the entire concept to the next level like no other game before it with the incorporation of music, "skins", versatile game modes, and original multi-player action. Like Tetsuya Mizuguchi's previous game, Rez, the music in the game specifically reacts to how the player moves the blocks on the screen.

Each block in Lumines is a two-by-two square. The shapes that make up the two-by-two blocks can have any combination between two colors. At firs,t the two playable colors are orange and white, and you try to stack these blocks so you can get at least one block with all four shapes of the same color. As you play, there's something called the sweeper which constantly sweeps across the screen. Once you form a cube of 4 shapes with a matching color, the object is to slam as many down to make a bigger and bigger block so more blocks can be deleted before the sweeper comes across.

The more blocks you delete in one sweep, the more your score multiplies. There are also special blocks that come around every once in a while that will delete any block of the same color that touches it. It feels very rewarding planning for one of these special blocks and, at times deleting the entire board of blocks by setting up all of the same color adjacent to each other.

There are a couple different modes in Lumines, including wireless multi-player, which detects another player with the game within 300 feet. The main mode is called Challenge Mode, which basically sees how far you can get before your blocks reach the top of the board. Challenge Mode works in levels or play areas called skins. Once you delete a certain amount of blocks in a respective skin, the skin changes and this is the equivalent of obtaining a higher level, where the speed of the falling blocks, as well as the sweeper, can change dramatically.

These skins change dramatically throughout the game. This can be very confusing at first and will throw you off, because most games don't radically change their interface in a instant. Each skin has a different musical track, differently colored blocks, and even more different shapes within the blocks. The shapes range from standard squares to round rubies or squares of cheese.

As you play more in Challenge Mode you unlock new skins which you can then play in Single Skin Mode, a timed run of how many points you can earn on a single skin. Each skin also varies in how fast the sweeper goes across, and you will have to change your strategy accordingly. When the sweeper moves slowly you can rack up massive combos before it comes across, but have to be careful not to stack your blocks too high. When the sweeper moves fast you have to resort to shorter combos.

The changing environments that the skins bring are what really make Lumines literally shine. The first and title skin of Lumines is named Shinin' and has a very trance-link techno tune playing. The blocks melt away with a great particle effect, and the vivid colors and trance inducing music really throw a party for your senses. To get the full experience of the music, headphones are highly suggested, and the ones that come with the PSP are just fine. Playing without headphones can be kind of a bummer, although this should not stop you from playing Lumines.

Lumines also packs a Versus CPU mode, which is basically multi-player, but with a computer opponent. Each player gets half of the board, and as one does better than the other, he or she obtains more and more of the board as their opponent is forced to work in a smaller section of the board. This mode takes a lot of practice to complete all 10 CPU players, but not without rewards. You'll receive new skins to play on with your friends, as well as character avatars.

There are also Time Trial modes where you are required to delete a certain amount of blocks in a certain time period, ranging from 60 seconds to 10 minutes.
Besides the above modes, Lumines also packs the toughest mode of all: Puzzle Mode. This mode is made for people who like a challenge, because not only are the goals hard to obtain, but very little instructions are given. Basically you are required to form shapes with the blocks in a very specific order to pass. Although Puzzle Mode can be a real pain in the ass, your overall skills grow immensely.

As you can tell, there are many different ways to play Lumines, and the promise of acquiring just one more skin will have you playing this game constantly. Although the other launch games out there probably show off the graphical capabilities of the PSP much better, Lumines still shines as the most original, and genuinely fun game that you'll come back to time and time again long after the novelty of playing PS2 ports on your PSP has worn off.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/30/06