Customer Reviews

Lumines

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

When I purchased this game on launch day, I only knew one thing about it: It was made by the same guy who made REZ. Really, that's all I needed to know to part with my cash.

REZ is a hard to find shooter title for Dreamcast/PS2 that set itself apart by completely integrating the visuals and the gameplay with the music.

Lumines, although the game itself is completely different, also delivers big on this concept. Each action you take, rotating the falling peices, destroying a square of same-colored blocks, setting off a huge combo, all trigger unique musical embellishments and sound effects that go with the soundtrack for each level. This in itself would be enough to make a game engrossing, but the mechanics and hectic pacing of the game make it all the more addictive.

Lumines is a falling blocks game, but it is in no way a tetris clone. Squares fall in blocks of four, and come in two colors, arranged in the block at random. By arranging the squares into 2x2 blocks of like colors, a bar that moves across the screen will clear it. Squares can be as big as you want, and can overlap. Also, depending on the music for the stage, the bar may move faster or slower. There are also special blocks that will clear all blocks of the same color that are touching it. It sounds simple, and it is, but the most addictive puzzle games always are.

This game belongs with every PSP purchase.

I was a little leary of getting a "puzzle" game for the PSP, but I went with the reviews and lo and behold...I've played almost nothing else on the PSP! This game is great, it's addicting, if you listen to the audio through a set of headphones, the experience is almost all-encompassing.

It's just a well made game...to me, it's like an ultra-hip version of Tetris. It's the "Thinking Man's" game for PSP. :-)

Gameplay: 5 of 5
Controls: 5 of 5
Eye Candy Value: 5 of 5
Ear Candy Value: 5 of 5
Replay Value: 5 of 5
Overall Value: 5 of 5
Chances you'll be up into the wee hours with headphones on playing: 5 of 5

I'm a happy customer, definitely the best of the 3 games I've bought so far (Ridge Racer..very good too and Wipeout...gotta love it too).

Much like Tetris has become the standard puzzler for the Gameboy systems, Lumines defines puzzle games for the PSP.

GAMEPLAY:
Instead of building lines, as in Tetris, you build squares of varying sizes, similar to Puyo-Puyo or Super Puzzle Fighter. This basic gameplay, in and of itself, does nothing to distinguish it from the puzzler crowd, though no one has ever complained about the puzzle formula before. The catch is that a Time Line passes over the playing field at varying intervals depending on the song you are currently playing. Your blocks will not clear until the line passes over them. This allows you to build your blocks in size, build mutiple blocks or just plain scramble to get a block cleared before you get a stack that touches the top. The larger your blocks and the more blocks you get cleared per pass, the higher your score multiplyer. This adds another layer to the basic puzzle strategy.
In addition to the basic challenge mode (play as long as you can), there is a puzzle mode which asks you to build certain shapes within a time limit. This can be challenging and requires a lot of though to get some of the puzzles. There's also a versus mode which you can play against another PSP-owning friend, or against the computer. In this mode, the player clearing more blocks gains more of the screen, giving the other player less room to work with. This tends to unbalance the game, as someone who gets down early will have a hard time clearing blocks with little space to create them in. Overall, for anyone who has enjoyed Tetris, Puyo-Puyo or Super Puzzle Fighter, the basic gameplay will be familiar yet rewarding and will provide endless hours of challenge and entertainment for the new PSP owner.

GRAPHICS:
The game looks amazing, even considering its simple puzzle nature. The graphics are crisp, bright, and fit the high-tech feel of the PSP. As you progress levels the backgrounds and puzzle pieces change style and color. These changes are "skins" that you collect by advancing through the game.

SOUND:
The true defining element of Lumines is its sound. Each skin you pass changes the song played. The styles range from techno and rock to ambient sounds and something out of a Samurai fight scene. The music, by itself, is very good, and the constantly changing styles keep you from getting bored with any one tune. But what really pushes the sound above and beyond is that every move you make creates a corresponding sound in the music. So as you drop blocks and clear lines, you are essentially remixing the songs. Two people can play the exact same level and will have different sonic experiences. As the PSP itself has rather underwhelming audio output, it is highly recommended that the game is played with headphones to fully experience the audio component of the game.

OVERALL:
While every fact of Lumines screams quality, it is still a puzzle game. Its fun and extremely addictive, as should be expected from a good puzzler. You'll play it for countless hours, but in the end you've just been clearing blocks. In the field of puzzlers it stands among the best of the genre, and that makes it a great game, and a must-own for PSP owners.

I used this to downgrade my psp. Now i can do a lot more with my psp than before!

I've had Lumines since May. I'm still playing it. It's absolutely amazing. I can guarantee all the people who gave it under a 4/5 stars have never played it and are just making it sound like they played it. If you play it for one hour, you will become addicted. It's amazingly fun. Don't even try to say Polarium or Tetris is better. I also have Meteos and while it's good, it's nowhere near as amazing as Lumines. Meteos is more original, has a cool concept but is nowhere near Lumines in terms of depth, fun and addictiveness. I've probably played Lumines for more than 200 hours so far. And no signs of stopping. This is one of the best games I've ever played and hell, it's portable.

This game is one of PSPs best of 2005... and for a reason! It has it all. Eye-candy... ear-candy.... and for those of you who actually prefer a thinking game every now and then.... brain-candy. Luminies is a Tetris/BustaMove spin off. But it's not for your 7 year old. It takes a bit of brain power to play this game. But once you get the hang of it, it is throughly addicting. You will be up until 4am playing it, with your ear buds in, bouncn' to the beat. And this won't be one of those games you trade in after a month. I've played it for more hours than I care to admit to and it still hasn't gotten 'old'. It has become my 'old faithful' of PSP games.

Here is the deal. Picture a tetris game board. This board almost looks identical to Tetris....only a bit wider. The difference is...there are eye-catching skins in the background and ear-catching music playing in the background. Depending on what mode your playing in, you can win more of these! Just like tetris, every time you advance a level...they both change... along with the color of the pieces you are positioning on the game board. Trust me... your eyes won't get tired and your ears won't be screaming after 30 minutes. The game pieces are a cube made up of 4 small blocks that can each be one of two colors. So instead of different shapes to position together (Tetris)... in Luminies you always have the same cube, but the 4 colors that make it up can be positioned differently. (or they might all be one color!) You can rotate the cube just like in tetris. it also shows you what your next 3 pieces are going to be (just like Tetris). The idea is to get blocks of 4 colors together. The more you stack together at once...the bigger your bonus. There is also a line that goes across the screen to clear them out. The more you match up before the line comes across...the bigger your bonus. And occasionally you get a block that make all blocks of it's color that it is touching (think of a domino effect) disappear. The line's rate AND the drop rate of your current cube change to match the beat and level you are at.

And for those of you who are easily amuzed (that includes me). You get to create a player profile with a logo. The logo (which is normally a person or animal or creature) displays in the lower left corner of the playing board and it actually DANCES to the music. If your blocks start to get higher (because your not clearing them out) the little guy will actually look like he is getting nervous. On top of that... if you start doing well and get major bonus points...the little creature will look like he is excited for you. Small amuzments.... but a nice touch.

BOTTOM LINE? Luminies is Tetris only ALL GROWN UP.

If you don't like puzzle games... this game is NOT for you. If you want a game that requires no thinking and a monkey could catch on in 2 seconds...this game is NOT for you. If your a youngster...this game MAY not be for you (depends on the kid). As for the rest of you... buy it! You'll luv it!

I've seen a few variations of Tetris since it was first released.. well the first version I ever saw was on an Apple IIc that was a pirated and completely in russian.

Lumines is pretty simple, form 4 small blocks of the same color into a square by shifting, sliding and spinning 4 block combos that drop from the sky. Make high score, start over. You could add on that you can also play head to head with other PSP players or try a few of the other modes with specialized goals.
For some reason I get drawn into a cycle of playing one game after another cause I messed up just a little bit on the last one and could have done better.

Each time you last out a level (timed, so your not penalized by making bonus points like you did in tetris), you open up a new "skin" with a different song and visual background/blocks.

This was the third game i've bought for my psp so far and it is the most addictive. Even though its not as flashy or involved as some of the other titles, its definately packed with fun.

By far, the most common complaint I hear about Lumines is that it is a Tetris knockoff/clone/wannabe. And it is, sort of (and I'll be qualifying that statement in a few seconds). But if you like Tetris, isn't this a good thing?

The way I see it, every handheld system needs a good puzzle game. For whatever reason, Tetris is not currently available. Maybe because it is already available in so many other cheaper forms that they figured no one would be willing to pay $40 for it. Lumines has taken the skeleton of Tetris and built upon it to make a more complex puzzle game with awesome music and sound effects.

At first, Lumines seems kind of basic and simple. Each block consists of four bricks that are any combination of two colors. You have to place them to form blocks of the same color. What adds so much depth to Lumines is the timeline. A vertical line sweeps across the screen at differing speeds depending on the level, and clears the blocks you have formed as it goes by. After playing for a few minutes you realize that you can use the timeline to your advantage by adding more blocks and creating larger combos for bigger points. Once you get the hang of it, this game becomes just as addicting as Tetris.

I can't talk about Lumines without mentioning the music. If you have ever played the game 'Rez' for PS2, you should have an idea of what the music was like as the same guy did the music for both games. The music changes in each level and becomes interactive with the way you move your blocks. On all my other PSP games, I turned off the music to save battery. It would be a crime to do this with Lumines.

Bottom Line: If you enjoyed Tetris, because believe me I've played Tetris as much as anyone, you will not be disappointed with Lumines.

Okay so a lot of other reviews will focus on things like the amazing music, flashy graphics, rotating skins, and so forth. But the fun of Lumines is mostly in gameplay, which requires a lot more skill than tetris ever did.

Everybody's going to compare this game to Tetris because it has four-part pieces that fall onto the screen where you place the pieces in order to get points and clear blocks. Let me be clear in saying that this is ALL they have in common. Clearing lines in tetris is easy, and the only skill involved is being able to move the piece fast enough before it falls.

Lumines is a whole new kind of game. Each piece is a 2x2 block where each little block is one of two colors. Your goal is to make squares of 2x2 blocks that are the same color. This sounds easy enough, but it isn't, always. Not only can you make blocks of 2x2, but these blocks can overlap each other, so a block of 3x2 works, or any other combination of shapes where the 2x2 blocks can be found. This means there's a lot of strategy in laying down a block in order to maximize the number of cubes it makes.

What's also innovative about this game is the "timeline" which scrolls across the screen, clearing the cubes you've made. That's right, a cube doesn't disappear as soon as you've made it.. it takes a few seconds, which allows you to stack multiple pieces together to form more and more overlapping cubes before the timeline swipes them away. but if you don't do it quick enough, you'll only get part of your cube cleared and be left with the rest.

The skill and strategy involved with dropping each piece in the right place at the right time is immense, and takes far more brainpower than tetris ever could. That's what makes this game so fun.

Another little feature I will mention about the skins, some of them seem designed specifically to be harder to see, so that placing the blocks isn't as easy as it was with other skins. On other levels the timeline will move slower or faster, further changing the dynamics of the game (you'd think a slower timeline would let you create more blocks, but if you've got a full screen it can be a nightmare waiting for your screen to open up).

I should point out that there are a few annoying bugs in Lumines that, for instance, won't save your scores all the time. The instructions are also pretty unclear about the details of the vs. modes, where you can attack your opponent (which moves the border of your screen over one, giving you more room to work and your opponent less), but they don't tell you exactly how to attack. Finally from what i've read, you cannot score higher than 999,999 which is a bit ridiculous for a system of this level. Hopefully someday there will be a Lumines 2 that fixes these problems, but in the meantime this game is good enough for me.

Do you remember the thrill you had when Tetris first came out? If you were one of those who grew insanely addicted to Tetris then this is the game for you. This is, by far, the best and only must have game for the PSP at launch. If you own a PSP, go pick this game up.

Like Tetris, blocks will fall from the top of the game and it is your purpose to get rid of them. Blocks fall in a 2X2 block with varying patterns of two different colors. You have to make at least a 2X2 square of one color for it to vanish. A bar sweeps past the screen slowly and as it passes the same color blocks you've created, it makes them vanish. Now comes the insanely addictive part. To rack up points, you want to cause combos by having more than one set of blocks vanish in a bar sweep. The more you get rid of, the higher the combo and the higher the magnifier.

There will be a moment when you hit your groove and things are moving naturally. The colors will change, the skin will change, the music will change, things will start to move faster. And, that's when you might notice that every time you rotate the block, move the block, or put the block down there is a musical note etc that adds to the soundtrack. Soon you will be moving blocks, hearing the music and it just fits. Never before has a game mirrored music with gameplay so perfectly (with the exception of Rez which was created by the same company).

Then there's the 2 player mode which is a blast. It sets up two areas on your screen, one for each player. It starts with the areas having equal area, but as one person gets more combos than the other, the winning player gets a larger area and the losing player gets a smaller area until one person takes over. It's a blast, frantic and exciting to play.

A good handheld system should have a good time-waster; something to keep you busy and that you can pass so much time playing that you forget things around you. This game does just that. It's deceptively simple to begin, but the depth in it is amazing. It's like Tetris, easy to play, hard to master. I think the best compliment I can give this game was that I was at an airport the day after I got this game and I didn't care that the plane was delayed an hour+ because I was having too much fun playing Lumines so I could play one more game.

Bottom Line: if you own a PSP and like games like Tetris, you need this game.