Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From the maker of REZ, March 30, 2005
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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.
|
|
|
61 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's got it all, March 29, 2005
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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).
|
|
|
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A true must-own for the PSP, October 16, 2005
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
