When Lumines achieves its goal of combining music and its associated visual style, with puzzle game play its really absorbing. Musical changes reward skillful play build atmosphere and push you to play better and unlock new tunes. However the games structure, particularly in the Main challenge mode, forces you to play the same levels in sequence each time to progress. The initially enjoyable music begins to grate, and has me reaching for the mute button after a couple of retries. Which unfortunately removes one of the major draws of the game. Though playing without the sound does reveal the underlying game play to be both fun and addictive with a slightly more relaxed pace than the majority of puzzlers I've played. The background imagery for each stages varies, normally complementing the music. There's quite a variety of music styles and backgrounds, and opinions will most likely vary do to personal taste, but I found a few strayed too near to the DDR stylings of a years ago. Particularly the "Shake you Body" track which I can't play through with the sound on. Stand out feature for me is the excellent vs CPU mode (Which I imagine is fairly representative of the Multiplayer). Which separates the game for me more from the competition than its musical interactions. The moving devide between your play area and that of your opponents bringing something new to the puzzlers. There is also a puzzle mode included where you are tasked with constructing specific shapes using the same 4x4 squares used in other modes. Another great addition to extending the lifespan of the game, but in this mode I found the loading times extremely intrusive, with you being kicked out to the main menu before you can retry a failed level. Lumines is a good solid hand held puzzler with a more relaxing take on the genre.
Other Helpful Reviews for Lumines: Oto to Hikari no Denshoku Puzzle
To tell you the truth when I first got the PSP I did not get Lumines ! I simply got a rpg (Popolocrois) and a racing game (Most Wanted) which I thought were the best at that time but I was wrong because there was still a... Read Full Review
Lumines is innovative and entrancing with good beats, keeping you playing for hours at a time. I picked it up and was absorbed with it instantly. Not too long later I had gotten the hang of it and was playing for hours. ... Read Full Review
