Wednesday 4 April 2012

Lumines

Gamespot score:9.0(Editor's choice)

my score:7.0

(+)Pros:-Simple and addictive gameplay,-1P mode can go on for a deviously long time while you just keep on playing,-smooth difficulty curve,-vs CPU is a blast,-great soundtrack.

(-)Cons:-Lacking in modes,-mission mode's objectives are stupidly unclear,-lack of any tutorial whatsoever.


Gameplay time:10-20 hours



Welcome to one of the most over rated games ever other than call of freakiing duty. I started on Lumines not too long ago, and judging from score from users and professional gaming sites, I assumed it was going to be amazing. But seriously, unless you are an insane tetris addict, Lumines isn't all that amazing. Its a good game, but its definetely not 9.0 material. For something thats more like a tetris on steroids, Lumines gets too much praise thats more than its worth. It has some pretty damn good endless block clearing with its 1P mode, and the Vs CPU is just a ton of fun, but other than that, Lumines is actually one of the puzzle games I didn't really love alot. Maybe its just because all of the damn reviewers of this game god damn love tetris, or are experts at them, because to me, Lumines is just a tetris game on major steroids.



Blah. No story in this one, its just like Djmax. You play and play and play until you get sick of it, no questions asked. In Djmax, you had a ton of songs with a variety of difficulties and MVs, for this one its just endless tetris. I guess you can't really compare the two eh.

Make blocks disappear while the timeline runs on.

Gameplay in Lumines is really simple, but its addictive. You are given two types of coloured blocks, and you are to link blocks of a single colour to make them disappear. Blocks always come in square formations of 2 x 2, which makes things easier. The combination of the colours or locations of the colours in these 2 x 2 formations are random, and sometimes formations of 4 same coloured blocks may show up, allowing for instant clears and free points. As the blocks pile up in the rectangular tank you are given, you are to make them disappear ASAP so you have more space for future blocks to come in. When the height of all the stacked blocks exceed the maximum height of the tank, you lose the game.

Its that simple. You can accumulate the number of coloured blocks and finish them off all at once with the next incoming group to get more points, or just clear them ASAP just in case you don't have space and are scared to die. In 1P mode, you do this endlessly for as long as you survive, and this is incredibly fun. Music plays as you continue your endless block clearing, and the music is damn good mind you. Having a mix of different traditional and genres of music really mixes things up, and as the background changes and a new music combined with a change of mood take place, you are inspired to just survive and continue playing. You can dump hours into this mode, just to unlock the next scenery and play on to unlock some more.

The backgrounds combined with the music set up for some
pretty good atmosphere while you play.

Luckily even for me, a non-tetris player, the difficulty curve is smooth enough in 1P mode, and gradually playing on is quite satisfying. This is also the case in other modes, which one of the great key points of this game. Unlocking different music and sceneries through 1P mode is awesome, and when you're done with that mode, you'll probably already get your money's worth (seeing as this game is freaking 7 years old already), but to me, thats not why I play Lumines. Vs Cpu mode is a godman blast, its where you fight different AI controlled opponents that are represented by different avatars.

In Vs Cpu, the opponents you fight are fun to play against. While they don't really have unique play styles individually, as you advance though different opponents, they get tougher and thier AI plays smarter. Its a blast to speed through AI opponents and finally meet your match, then you can fight against him or her as many times as you want until he or she falls. That feels satisfying, and from them on every opponent becomes even harder. Same with the mission modes, subsequent missions become harder more difficult to achieve. Thats however, where the problem starts....



The amount of modes is just saddening.....

First off, mission mode's objectives are so unclear it makes me mad. Especially the first one, making a cross or some shit. How the fk am I supposed to know what it means? I only cleared it through the help of youtube videos. Also, there are no tutorials in this game. I know its an easy game to grasp, but there are stuff like score inteprations or the timeline mechanic that actually need to be explained, but nope. Plus, the lack of modes. Look above. 1P mode will last you the longest, puzzle mode is mostly a pain, and Vs cpu unfortunately ends. Unless you have tons of friends to battle against theres not much to do here in terms of variety.

Lumines is fun, but lack of modes, a tutorial and some unclear mission objectives for puzzle mode overall downgrade the package. Its an easy 4-5 hours in 1P mode if you're enthusaistic about the game, but other than that and Vs CPU, theres not much to go around. Lumines is a decent puzzle game that gets way too much love IMO (Picross 3D was way better).



Happy gaming.