Official
Japanese Website
Platform: PSP
Genre: Puzzle
Number of Players: 1 - 2
A curse on
those people over at Ubi-Soft. . . but, not necessarily in a completely
negative way. Puzzle games have always been one of those genres in the
gaming industry that can either be highly addictive or lackluster, and
wouldn't you know it, the first one that comes out on the PSP happens to
be a little more than addictive. I never really intended on buying a
puzzle game for the PSP, but the guys at the game shop insisted that it
was getting high marks from reviewers. Okay, sure . . . . I'd give it a
try, and that was a fatal mistake.
Lumines
is the next generation of puzzle game, the next in line to suck away
your time and leave you wondering exactly where your day, and your life
for that matter, went to. It's such a simple concept as well, and that's
really part of the attraction. The idea is as follows: you will have a
two-colored block (sometimes a single color) that appears on the top of
the screen. All you need to do is make a square of the same color to
eliminate it via the scrolling time line. Each square is broken up into
four squares, which can fall into whatever area is around them. Some of
these will also have numbered square that will eliminate a series of
blocks that are touching (this is set up by the matching color) but when
you reach the top of the screen, it's game over. It seems easy, and in
fact it is, but again, it's probably the most addictive puzzle game to
come along since Tetris.
It does get a little more interesting though. As you move further
through the stages, the colors change, the blocks move faster, and your
eyes glaze over. Add in a techno and trance soundtrack and that's really
all it takes. You're hooked as bad as a fish and there's no feasible way
to put the game down. Trust me on this. One night, I simply was going to
play a quick game around midnight, and when 4 AM rolled around, I
finally stopped playing.
Lumines features a few different modes of game play. Continues is just
your endless puzzle feature that robs you of any life you have. You can
either go through different skins (backgrounds) and music or choose a
single skin. Puzzle Mode on the other hand will have you making
different shapes in order to move further into the game, and it's not
necessarily simple either. A small cross was simple, and so were a few
other shapes, but when it got to the dog . . . that took a little more
effort. Thanks to the PSP's wireless capabilities, you can also play
against a friend or choose to go up against the computer.
There is still a little more to Lumines however. Scores, beating
computer opponents, and so forth will unlock different skins as well as
character faces. When you start the game you can actually make a profile
for yourself, allowing you to brag about your high score to everyone
else that plays. There has been a awful lot of trash talk at my home
recently after my wife picked up the game. "Oh, I have the high score
now." "Look at that, another high score." Just remember, the memory card
can be formatted.
There
may not be a lot of depth to Lumines, but the fact is that it's just
about the most addictive puzzle game I've ever played in my life. I have
to chuckle a bit, keeping in mind that in Japan, Bandai released the
game and dropped the ball here by failing to grab it for US release.
We've all heard stories from those claiming to be abducted by aliens and
finding missing time on their hands. I'm not attributing that to extra
terrestrials however, and I have a pretty good idea that Lumines is to
blame. This should be at the top of your list if your planning on
picking up a PSP, but be warned: you will find that time just disappears
and you will forgo things like eating, sleep, close friendships and so
on by playing this.
Now if I could just find a support group to give this game up . . .
-mike-
