From the same minds that brought you the underappreciated, hypnotic, stylish Rez comes Lumines. In a launch lineup of unoriginal but solid games, Lumines is a stand out experience. The object is simple, the gameplay is challenging, and the game is hard to put down.
So what's the idea here? It's easy. Squares (composed of four mini-blocks) will fall from the top of the screen one at a time. To get points, you have to create squares of matching colors. There are only two colors but a variety of ways that a square can come out. Of course, you can create larger combination of squares for combos and more points. As you get more points, you will move on to new skins. A new skin does not change the playing field- your current field remains the same but the visuals and audio do change with each skin. The only gameplay aspect that changes with each skin is that the squares descend faster with each progressing skin.
Once you reach a skin, it becomes unlock for you to play at any time in the skin mode. The order in which you receive skins is the same each time. The game ends when you cannot achieve any more squares and your field is full. After that, you will have to start back at the first level… each and every time. That is one nuisance of Lumines but to some, it may boost the replay quite a bit. There are plenty of skins and avatars to unlock so this game can last a while.
The 2 player mode is nice. You battle another player on a shared field, each one with half the field as their own. The better your performance, the larger your share of the field becomes. The only flaw to this is that once you gain a larger portion than the other player, the battle becomes unfair as you have more room to score.
The background art is very nice and… well, there isn't much to this game graphically. The game does look rather simple with minimal animation and low key special effects. Everything looks clean and runs very fluidly. It's hardly a bad thing as the graphics do little to distract the player, especially since this is a puzzle game.
There are enough mesmerizing techno beats to fill an album and all of them are catchy. Some are better than others but all of them are great. The sound effects do their job fine and are very crisp.
A puzzle game may not be the most favorable choice for gamers but Lumines is one of the most stylish and unique games available on the PSP or any system for that matter. Great visuals, excellent soundtrack, and fun gameplay make Lumines a real exclusive in the PSP's lineup.
Final words: What Tetris was the Gameboy, Lumines is the PSP: a must have title.
-Vinny
Create an Account
Member Login
