Lumines is a Tetris style puzzle game. It is based on the very simple concept of having to delete blocks so they don't pile up all the way to the top. When there is no more room to drop the blocks, the game is over. Admittedly, this is the only game of its kind I have played since Tetris. Tetris is one of the best puzzle games of all time. Can the same thing be said about Lumines?
Gameplay: The object of this game is to keep dropping the blocks as long as you can. A player has to keep deleting the blocks so they don't pile up to the top of the screen. Each block consists of 4 smaller squares of two different colors. The colors of the small squares differ in each block. Take a look at this picture before reading on. The blocks on the left side of the screen are the ones the player will be forced to drop next. Notice how the colors of the squares in each block are random. Deleting blocks requires a player to group the small squares into a 2x2 block of a single color. The block will turn bright until a timeline that moves horizontal through the screen passes by it. This will result in the 2x2 block being deleted. A player can always build off the 2x2 square. To do this, a player must put two squares of identical color adjacent to two of the squares ready to be deleted. A player can keep expanding the region that is ready to be deleted by doing this until the timeline passes. That said watching the timeline is a very important skill. There are also special blocks in this game that have a little bomb in the middle. When this kind of square is grouped into a same-color 2x2 block, all squares of the same color that are connected will be deleted. Learning how to play this game takes no time at all. Many new players will feel as if they have already played. Although it is based on a simple concept, Lumines has plenty of fun modes that will keep a player occupied.
In Challenge Mode, the skins will change when a player deletes a certain amount of blocks. Every skin has its own background, block colors, and music. The skins follow the same order every time in challenge mode. Every time a player gets to a certain skin for the first time, he/she will unlock the skin for single skin mode. Once a player gets to level 105, all the skins will be unlocked and they will have to start all over from the first skin. Almost everyone I have talked to has gotten better at this mode progressively. The improvement curve for it is incredible. My high score went from 35000, to 73000, to 133000, to 336000 in a time period of 2 weeks. This makes Lumines highly addictive, especially in this mode. However, once you get good, it gets annoying to keep playing in this mode because it will eventually take at least an hour to finish one game. Once you have unlocked all the skins, you will also feel as if there is nothing to play for. It would of been nice if there was a mode where the skins change in a random order, along with this mode where they change sequentially because it gets boring playing the skins in the same order every time.
Single skin mode is a pretty fun mode. Most players won't find themselves spending much time playing on this mode. Here a player can pick their favorite skin and play an entire game on it. A player can only select the skins that they have already unlocked in one of the other modes. Most of them will come from challenge mode but some of them come from player v. CPU mode. I think it is kind of boring just playing on a single skin, so I really didn't spend much time on this mode.
Time Attacks are another mode of play. The object is to score the most points you can in a set amount of time. Although it is not as enjoyable, this mode is convenient when a player doesn't have enough time to play in Challenge Mode or Single Skin mode.
Puzzle Challenges are another really fun mode of play. The object is to create figures with one color of the blocks. No blocks adjacent to the figure can be the same color. Once the figure is created, it will turn bright and the objective will be complete when the timeline passes and deletes it. Most of the time, the objective will be to create figures that look roughly similar to dogs, numbers, alligators, etc. However, sometimes a player will be required to do other things such as: deleting over 20 blocks with one pass of the timeline or clearing all of the blocks. I found this mode highly addictive until it got repetitive. After completing a ton of objectives, they will repeat the cycle and make you do everything x2(you will have to delete two dogs, two crosses, etc.). This repetitiveness made me lose interest in this mode eventually.
Playing against the computer is always a fun thing to do. In Player vs. CPU mode, a player will take on the computer in a competitive tug of war. The screen will start split in half divided by a line that will eventually move to one player's side. Each time the timeline passes, the dividing line will move to the side of the player who deleted the least amount of blocks. If you can successfully move the timeline so far to the computer's side that he is too choked up to drop the blocks, you will win. Just don't let the computer do that to you. This mode is very challenging. Even for great players, the computer is no push over. Players will have to take on opponents that get progressively harder and will have to take them on in the same order. Each CPU opponent has his own skin and character icon. Every time a CPU opponent is defeated for the first time, their skin will be unlocked for single skin mode and their icon will be unlocked for the player to use as their own icon. Unlocking skins in this mode is a lot harder than unlocking skins in Challenge mode. Overall, this mode makes the game a great challenge. This is a blast but imagine how fun it would be to take on a friend in this mode. This is what 2 Player vs. mode is exactly like. All you need to do is find a friend who owns a PSP and Lumines and you can connect with them wirelessly.
Graphics: Every time the skin changes, the color and texture of the blocks will change along with the background. There are tons of skins and a lot of unique different types of blocks. Some may just be simple one colored blocks but there are blocks that look like dice, diamonds etc. Every player will find some of the skins annoying and difficult to concentrate when playing on. There is a skin in Player vs. CPU mode that I just can't focus when playing on, which usually results in me losing to the computer. The screen is always flaring with color. This is why it might be wise not to play this game on full brightness. It might be too much for your eyes to take. I played it on full brightness and it resulted in me seeing falling two-colored blocks in my sleep.
Sound: The song will change with every skin. I really didn't like any of the music but I was so focused on the game, I really didn't pay attention to it. I think most the songs were annoying though. I haven't heard much worse music than I did on the skin “Shake Your Body.” Every skin you will be forced to hear a crappy song and then 3 minutes later, the skin will change and you will have to listen to another crappy song. I was fortunate enough to completely tune the music out in this game.
The sound effects will change on every skin too. A different sound effect will be there every time you rotate the blocks and every time you drop them. I really wish they didn't incorporate sound effects into the game for these actions. Needless to say, it is extremely annoying to hear sound effects every time you drop a block. Especially because you will drop over 100 blocks each skin.
Overall: Lumines has an extremely high replay value. It is good for 5 minute to 3 hour sittings depending on which mode you choose. I am glad to say this is the first game I bought for the PSP because I can imagine myself playing this game 5 years from now and still having fun with it. It is true that this game has quite a few flaws, but it is still highly addictive and fun. It is also a great challenge for everyone. Buy it if you own a PSP because it might be the best game currently out for the system.
+Highly addictive gameplay
+Always Challenging
-Puzzle Mode is repetitive
-Challenge Mode takes too much time
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9/10
