Lumines 2 has enough flair, style, skins and additions for new players and veterans alike.

User Rating: 8.7 | Lumines II PSP
By Pork_Lord | Review Date:
When a gaming console is released, there is always a title in the launch line-up that crosses the line between a game, and a tech demo. Nothing blurred that line much more than Lumines. Featuring both an excellent example of the PSP’s audio/video capabilities, the game itself was furiously addictive and fun, a significant step for puzzle games. Almost 2 years later, Lumines 2 is hitting shelves world-wide, bringing more of the addictive gameplay many have learned to love. Lumines 2 features a variety of new modes and variations, yet the game itself is completely unchanged. The same mechanics apply as original Lumines; four-square blocks will fall into place, each consisting of two pieces of two different colours. It’s your job to arrange and place these blocks in a manner that will create a nice 2x2 (4 piece) square of the one colour. Depending on the song’s tempo, a bar of varying speed will move across the screen eliminating all of these 2x2 blocks you’ve created. This means that all your 4 colour squares will remain, until swept up by the songs tempo, allowing all kinds of fast combos. Seem easy? As you stare at your first checkerboard of a construction, you’ll learn the game can take some time to master, down to being able to slam and arrange blocks faster than your brain can recognize. Then it’s mastering the skill of eliminating 20 blocks in one sweep.

The main appeal of Lumines was always its skins. Music would seemingly morph around your block building, with vibrant backgrounds and colours to fit the theme of the song. Now, Lumines 2 features full video backgrounds, up to some skins featuring actual music videos (Featuring clips from Black Eyed Peas, Chemical Brothers, Junior Senior, etc.) Some of these skins work really well, flow smoothly, and can be described as just “nice”. Ambient light animations in the background are a great accompaniment to the feast the rest of your senses take. Some skins… don’t work too well. Having full motion videos in the background can be very distracting, and the only way you’d ever see or make out these videos is if you weren’t paying attention to the actual game at all; and not all people like Gwen Stefani. The amount of new skins is overwhelming, featuring bizarre, ambient and visually intense combinations.

Like most puzzle games, Lumines tended to suffer from “burst-play addiction”. As addictive as the game is, extended play sessions could really tend to drag out, as you find yourself playing it for a few games, stopping, only to find yourself playing it again an hour later. In a well-fit effort to combat this, Lumines 2 features a variety of new modes. The older ones are all still in :-

Challenge mode, the single player game with 3 difficulties (each featuring their own set of skins).

Vs. CPU mode, for the competitive fast-paced edge against the CPU

Time attack mode, getting your highest score possible in the timeframe; And Puzzle mode (involving making shapes with certain coloured blocks). These were always a great selection of modes, but whatever you do, you’re still throwing down coloured squares, and can get repetitive. Now there’s new additions, which include :-

Skin Edit Mode, where you can create your own playlist of skins you’ve unlocked, which is great for when you’ve unlocked everything. Hate Black Eyed Peas? I know I do! Out they go, leaving you with just the skins you enjoy. Mission mode is very similar to Puzzle Mode, but has you clearing a series of scenarios, such as making at least one column empty in a sea of blocks.

There’s a duel mode for friendly player vs. player action, while it was in the original Lumines, this time it has some new battle modes.

If you’re looking for a break from the main game, the best way to go would be the sequencer.

The sequencer allows you to create your own tracks and skins. This is done by selecting things such as the tempo, notes, beats, and giving it a name. It would have been nice to be able to select the visual background to your track, but such feature is unavailable. The tracks you make can’t be too long, and are mainly intended to be a quick skin to be added in with all the others. And there are a lot of others. When comparing Lumines 2 to the original, the most significant upgrade is the sheer mass of new video skins. The new game modes are great, and make this sequel a worthy purchase for those who already own the original. For those who don’t, Lumines 2 is a highly recommended starting and finishing point. Its colourful vibrancy is something most people shan’t resist.

86%

The good – More wonderful skins than you can throw blocks at.
A bunch of new modes to revive the old.
Demo of Every Extend Extra included.

The bad - Some distracting skins
Extended gameplay sessions can get repetitive.

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