Lumines

"Pure AWESOMENESS!"

The Synopsis

Welcome to Lumines, the next notch in the very creative, and colorful belt of Tetsuya Mizuguchi . What? Name doesn't ring a bell? If your not familiar with his work, he's the main brain behind the über-creative games Space Channel 5, and rarity REZ. Well, it's apparent Mr. Mizuguchi hasn't lost his touch, or vision. You've Probably heard people refer to this game as a simple Tetris clone, but such a description doesn't even begin to do this game justice.

Gameplay

In Lumines, there are 2x2 blocks. Each block can have two colors, in a multitude of patterns (for instance, 3 reds and 1 white, 2 red and 2 whites, or the block can have all four tiles be one color). You must take these tiles, and make 2x2 blocks of one color. But, due to a timeline that sweeps across the game board, you don't have to stop at a 2x2 square, and you can build upon that square until the time line fully passes it. You will get a combo multiplier bonus for every block you create before the timeline passes. The speed of the time line varies from level to level. Every once in a while, you'll get a tile that has a green dot in the middle of it. This tile will make all the tiles that are of the same color, and the ones that or in immediate contact with it, vulnerable to the timeline, and will get swept away by it. When you reach certain levels, the board will transform, complete with a new background, color scheme, and music (and movement sounds). The game will continue until you have no more room on the board, and your piece is above the line.

The Start-Up

The First time you fire up this game, you are Prompted by a "Log-In" screen, which requires you to create a profile by entering your name, and picking your avatar (or icon, if you will). There are many different icons to choose from right out of the gate, and eventually as you progress through the game, you can earn more icons to personalize your profile more to your liking. The in the menu, you're greeted with six items to choose from. There is 1 Player mode, 2 Player VS mode, VS CPU mode, Puzzle mode, Options, and Credits.

With-in 1 player mode, you have Challenge mode, and single skin mode.

When you play single skin mode you can choose to play the normal way, or with a time limit, with increments of 60 seconds (1 min.), 180 seconds (3 min.), 300 seconds (5 min.), and 600 seconds (10 min.). In the timed games, your goal is to rack up the most point possible, the allotted time that you choose. Lumines Features WiFi play via Ad-Hoc.

Playability- 10/10

This is a title that epitomizes the phrase "Easy to Pick up and Play, Hard to Master". When I first started playing this game, I found my self having fun immediately. The learning curve is practically non-existent. Now, the "hard to master" part. After a while you

need to start recognizing curtain patterns, and how some blocks go with others to maximize efficiency. You also need to develop the ability to decipher these pattern quickly, as the game gets faster, the longer your in a game. The better you get at recognizing these patterns, and reacting on them quickly, the longer you'll last, and that will lead to bigger scores to brag about to your friends.

Graphics - 7.5/10

While the visuals on this game are smooth, and vibrant, they aren't really anything to brag about. Let's just say, that if you wanted to show your friend the power of the PSP, and what it is really capable of, this wouldn't be the game to do it. In all honesty, these graphics could easily be achieved on the PS1. But, with all that said, they still look superb, and they match the overall theme of the game vary well.

Sound - 9.5/10

Sound. This is what truly separates this game, from any other puzzle game. Most of the songs in Lumines are Original, made for the game (with the exception of a few). Aside from the awesome sound track, One of the things that make the audio on this game so great is the fact that every move you make plays a note that is defined by the level your playing on. It feels like you are actually making music, and that really engrosses the player into the atmosphere of Lumines.

If you play this game with no volume, you are taking away half of the game.

Replayability - 7/10

The after a good while, the replay ability doesn't extend pass the desire to beat your (and you friends best score) best score. Bonuses include new level skins for use in Single Skin mode, and new avatars to use for you profile. While the bonuses are a bit scarce, if your competition level is high, you'll find your self constantly wanting to improve your best score.

Misses

This game doesn't go with out it's fault (they are small though). One of the things I didn't really like about his game, is the fact that every time you play Challenge mode, you have to play the same levels, in the same order. You can't choose which level you want to start off with, which makes the skins you unlock strictly a single skin game feature. I also think the omission of an infrastructure mode was a seriously bad decision. This game would have been a great to play over the 'net, and that definitely would've added a lot of replayability.

Final Verdict - 9.25/10

When it comes down to it, this is just an amazing game. It has addicting qualities, that will keep you coming back for more on a constant basis. This game is truly the cream of the early crop (so

far) for the PSP. I definitely recommend this game to, well, anybody.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/03/05