The launch of Sony’s Playstation Portable marks the release of a slew of great titles for the new handheld. Many great games are available, from WipeOut Pure - PSP Advanced’s review of WipeOut Pure can be read here – to THUG 2 Remix, and also many EA Sports Titles and Namco’s very own Ridge Racer. Many of these titles have names that are familiar to many gamers who have played Sony’s various consoles, which in turn will help them garnish more sales because of their namesake.

One title that is lost in the overwhelming familiarity of launch titles is a puzzle game. But, this isn’t just any puzzle game. Lumines - published by Ubisoft and developed by Q Entertainment – is one of the Playstation Portable’s strongest launch titles. Introducing a unique spin on the old-style gameplay of Tetris and other puzzle games, Lumines is a refreshingly remarkable experience that will not only satisfy your visual tastes, but also introduces puzzle mechanics and sound design that is unparalleled by any other Playstation Portable game to date.

Gameplay
Lumines is a very unique puzzle game in its own right, and delivers a refreshingly deep experience to players. More like a next generation Tetris than anything, Lumines offers addicting and rewarding gameplay and a spin on the Tetris puzzle formula. In Lumines, the main objective for the player is to stack sets of 2x2 blocks onto each other, with each block consisting of two different colors. Players match the colors of the blocks to gain combos and to make them disappear, offering points to the player depending on how many colors one has matched together to produce a 2x2 or larger square/combo. It may sound confusing, but it is as simple as can be, and very understandable to new players of the genre.

This is where Lumines draws the line between itself and puzzle games like Tetris. In Tetris, the players main objective was to create a row that spanned the entire screen that would make that row disappear. In Lumines, each piece that you set in the puzzle is a 2x2 square piece. Just like Tetris, players will set the piece upon the bottom of the puzzle and the pieces will eventually stack higher and higher. It is here where players will take control to match certain colors together in 2x2 squares to make them light up and to also produce combos.

When matching a certain block to another block, players need to make sure that they are matching the colors to gain combos. This is not like the aspect of Tetris that has you creating a horizontal line of blocks to make them disappear – in Lumines you are matching colors to their coordinated colors. When matching colors, you can gain combos by placing 2 individual blocks in a 2x2 square of one color to the same coordinating color blocks in another 2x2 square. When players match the colors, the 2x2 square will turn into a singular square as large as the 2x2 square and begin flashing. When this happens, the player has the option to lay more and more colors on the flashing square to produce a higher combo. When player produce one flashing square, they will receive 1 combo point. But when the player adds more blocks of the same color to the flashing square, one’s combo will go from 1-2-3-4 and so on. In order to achieve a high combo, players will want to rack their brain for ways to increase the combo before the refresh line moves over the flashing square or squares.

You might be asking what a ‘refresh line’ is. This is another unique aspect about Lumines that sets it apart from so many other puzzle games before it. When trying to increase your combo, a refresh bar will be moving across the screen. In order to keep your combo increasing, players will have to string together colors of blocks to increase the combo before the refresh line moves over them, which in turn will make the flashing square or squares disappear and make more space for more blocks to come, and it will also stop your current combo. The refresh line not only refreshes the combo, but at the top of the refresh line is listed the players current combo number.

After the player fills the screen to a certain extent – to where there is no more room for the current piece you are holding – the game is over. All of your combo points will be stringed together and tallied, and you will receive a score that shows how well you performed. In other words, Lumines can be played over and over again to achieve a higher score in all of the modes that Lumines introduces. Lumines also presents a unique gaming experience in how it transitions from one Skin to another after the player has gotten far enough into that certain skin. A skin is a setup that consists of different looking blocks than other skins, a different background, and a different song that matches both accordingly. This keeps the player feeling relaxed and the gameplay experience fresh for the player. Overall this is just another great aspect of Lumines that truly shines and provides a unique and engrossing experience.


The visuals in Lumines ooze with passion and artistic design

Refining old Tetris-style mechanics and adding more fun and addicting gameplay to the overall puzzle design, Lumines is a unique game that offers puzzle fusion mechanics in a set number of distinctive gameplay modes. Each mode contains different sub modes that introduce new aspects to the puzzle gameplay that Lumines delivers. There are 4 main modes in all, with various sub modes that can be played over and over again to achieve a higher score. There are many different single player modes, including the highly addicting Challenge Mode, Single Skin Mode, and a number of Time Attack Modes. Lumines also includes a Vs CPU mode, a 2 Player Mode, and a Puzzle Mode.

There is no doubt that the main draw to Lumines is its highly addicting Challenge Mode. When you first begin Lumines, you will create a profile name and choose from a character list that will be used in the various game modes. In the Challenge Mode, the player’s main goal is to play as far into the puzzle as they can, allowing the player to gain new skins or music. Once a player has traveled far enough into a certain skin without failing, the skin will change and the player will be set to assume the same task – to clear the screen and create combos for a larger point count. In doing this, the player will gain new skins and music that they can play in the Single Skin Mode.

The Single Skin Mode consists of a list of skins that the player can choose from. When playing in each skin, one can try to beat their previous score, or take in the aural and visual offerings of each skin. This is a nice addition to Lumines that lets player replay their favorite skins without having to play through numerous other skins to get to it, and also allows the player to achieve a higher score on the selected skin.

The Time Attack Modes consist of a 60 Second Mode (1 minute), a 180 Second Mode (3 minutes), a 300 Second Mode (5 minutes), and a 600 Second Mode (10 minutes). The player’s goal in each mode is to create as many squares as possible in the provided time period. In other words, players will race to produce fast combos before the time runs out.
This mode introduces more longevity to the fantastic gameplay that Lumines has to offer, and provides a great amount of challenge to those people that like to be put to the test in a set amount of time.