Lumines

"Must...stop...playing..."

Well I finally got my PSP and decided to get 3 games with it. This, Untold Legends and MGA. From what I had heard, Lumines was supposedly the best launch title and the system's killer app. Of course I was skeptical... hell it was a puzzle game that looked a lot like tetris on the screenshots that I had seen and I never liked tetris. I finally decided to pick it up over Twisted Metal on the benefit of the doubt and thank God I did. This game is amazing. Lumines is an unbelivably trippy and surprisingly deep game that I promise you will get addicted to.

Gameplay (10/10) - The game itself is almost deceptively simple... connect 4 blocks of the same color in a square and the "Timeline" will swing by and delete them from hence they came. Sounds simple right? Well it is... even though special blocks are thrown into the mix that delete all the blocks that it touches, (lets say you have a long line of white that runs throughout the screen and you delete the secret block which is touching the beginning of the chain and all of them will be deleted in a domino effect)the game is still very simple. It's the execution that actually makes the game so addicting... the timeline is genius, forcing you to try and connect as many blocks as possible within a 7 second time limit before the all powerful timeline sweeps through taking all of your combo with it in an instant... it's evil. Absolutely evil. I can't count how many times the timeline was just one second too soon and I didn't land a special block in time, which lead to my unfortunate demise. Even though there are only two colors the whole game (though they do change as the skin changes... more on that in a minute) making squares is much harder then you would think. The blocks fall in 2x2 squares that you can rotate to fit into your masterful combo or depending on the situation can royally screw you over, If you have played any version of Tetris or Puyo Puyo you should understand what I am talking about.

I'll admit it... that sounds like it sucks, but I haven't gotten to the most important detail yet. The way your actions actually effect the music and background. Remember when I said the game was trippy? This is where that comes in. The bigger the combo the more effects happen in the background and the higher tempo the song goes. This leads you to forget you are playing a game at all, and instead it seems as if you are controlling the music and backgrounds with your actions giving you one hell of a feeling that I can't accurately describe... you have to play it to understand. I have never smoked Weed or done any kind of drug but I assume it is something like this. Trust me, it's that good. The game is broken up into a few modes which i'll describe in their own sections

Challenge Mode - Challenge Mode is the meat of the game and the only way to unlock the majority of the skins. The "skins" change the entire look of the game and the music/background so that it almost looks like a different game. For example the blocks change colors, even the way they look do, from virtual blocks to graffiti squares, every look is unique. Challenge mode is a continuous game, that evolves as you play. The longer you play the more skins you will see.

Timed Challenges - You have anywhere from 1 to 10 minutes to make as many combos as you can. Quite fun if you don't have time to play challenge, and doing well in these are the only way to unlock a few of the skins.

Vs. CPU Mode - This mode is somewhat boring and the computer is either ridiculously easy or near impossible, nothing in between. The way this works is, the better you do the more territory of the screen you control. This means Vs. itself is very competitive, and the idea works very well but the computers are half-assed, which hurts this mode very badly. The only reason to play this would be to unlock the new skins exclusive to it.

Vs 2p Mode - Haven't tried this yet, but I can only imagine it kicks ass. The Vs. CPU with a good opponent has to at least be marginally entertaining.

Puzzle Mode - The mode is great, but very very hard. Instead of deleting blocks you try to make a design out of single color blocks. Sound easy enough, but since none of the pieces in the design can touch one of the same color it becomes quite a bit more difficult then it sounds.

Music (9/10) - Lumines is completely dependent on its music so this could easily make or break the game. Luckily most of the tracks are quite good (Every song that i've seen so far has been House or Techno)and even some of the worse ones aren't bad by any means. I give this a big thumbs up.

Sound(9/10) - The sound integrates with the music perfectly so they both get a 9.

Graphics(10/10) - The graphics are as good as can be for a puzzle game. Actually, Lumines goes the extra mile with some awsome effects and beautifully mesmerizing backgrounds, the game must be seen in motion to fully understand what I mean. Still screenshots do not do it justice.

Play Time/Replayability (10/10) - You will get addicted to this game. It doesn't matter whether you love puzzle games, or completely despise them, this game will suck you in. The game is like a drug addiction, you will play it once and be kinda "meh" but then you give it a second shot and from that point on you can't stop. I've been up till the early hours of the morning two days in a row because of this damned game and I see another long night tonight. Trust me, I'm not exaggerating... it's that good.

Gameplay - 10
Music - 9
Sound - 9
Graphics - 10
Play time/replayability - 10

Pros

Addicting as crack gameplay
Beautifully animated backgrounds
A good 2 player mode
Some great music

Cons

A few bad songs
Addicting as crack gameplay (see how I did that? I'm sneaky... <_<)
bad computer AI

Buy or Rent - Buy this. I don't care if you don't have a PSP, buy it then buy this.

Closing Comments - The natural evolution of the puzzle game and one of the best games ever made in terms of refined gameplay. You must get this now.

Final Score - 9.5/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/05