Lumines

"Even Those Who Disliked Tetris May Find Themselves Enjoying This Game..."

And I, am one of those Tetris-Haters. A title like this shouldn't even be fun on my standards! It's rare that a genre such as this becomes so perfected, so smooth and beautiful, that someone like me who only enjoys Bemani-made puzzles gives it a 10! So if the fact that even me, someone who hardly enjoys any kind of blocked-based puzzles loves it, doesn't appeal to you, then continue reading.

• Concept - 10/10 At first, dropping a couple blocks and matching them into squares and other polygons seems a bit bland, but it actually is fun. You may also have noticed that if you actually play, the background music gets much more livelier, as apposed to when you don't even try. That's what makes such a simple concept so deep and an engaging. When you start making gigantic matches and learn how to make great use of special blocks, your andrenaline may start pumping. It's just so satisfying to watch so many blocks disapear with a starry flash. Hell, don't be surprised if one day, you start getting nostalgic and what not.

• Graphics - 9/10 2-D gamers rejoice! These are by far, THE sexiest 2-D graphics I have ever seen. And I thought Ristar looked smooth! What really make the graphics rule are that the resolution on the system itself. So pump up that brightness setting, and be prepared to see some of the most colorful settings you may ever see. Actually, in away, it may seem like the just pasted the thing onto the bottom of the screen! 2-D doesn't get any better than this.

• Sound - 10/10 This is where the game really starts to excel. So Dance Dance Revolution fans, rejoice. Because you're gonna love what you hear. I gurantee it. You see, there are different "Skins" to choose from (even the "Single Skin" select screen has a little DDR of it's own - rectanggular pictures with titles rock), and every skin affects a couple of things: how the blocks look, the background, and most importantly, the music. There is a wide array of music genres to choose from. My personal favorite would have to be the "Puzzle Mode" theme. Sadly, not all genre's are covered, so don't expect to here any Nas or Hendrix.

• Entertainment - 10/10 I think the topic title pretty much covers this section...

• Replay Value - 99999 -- err -- 10/10 All I can say is: Oh. My. God. What. The ****. Bar. Bee. Que. The replay value is the equivelent of crack that entertains for hours on end and doesn't leave any symptoms other than the "Lumines Effect". You'll probably be playing this title for hours, stop and get some refreshments, and play until the battery auto-stand-bys. My current record is 7 hours...sad, but that's just an example of how amazingly exceptionally extremly kick-ass and long lasting this game is. If I could, I'd give the score for replay value a 99999999999999999999999999/10. But I can't. So yeah.

Rent or Buy? Definately buy. If you rent this game, you'd probably be wasting more money than you should renting this thing every week. If you buy, you just pay those $40, and play until your PSP explodes. Word.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/22/05