An interesting concept worth playing 15 min, then move out

User Rating: 4.4 | Lumines: Oto to Hikari no Denshoku Puzzle PSP
THere has been so much hype around Lumines that, even though I did not buy it right away, I thought a $15 used copy would be a good deal.

When you start the game, the first thing that strikes you is its presentation: it is vibrant! The techno music, the nice animations in the menus, neatly fin graphics overall.
THen you start playing. I cannot help link this to tetris, but the notion of having 2x2 blocks that fall down and the groups that get "cleared out" are rectangles of unified colour and at least size 2x2 brings in a refreshing way of thinking. Also they only get cleared when the progress bar that scans the game area from left to right hits them, which leads to additional funny combinations to make "before the blocks get cleared". Oh and there is a special square part that clears all contiguous squares of the same colour when you make it part of a unified block.
The other neat aspect is that the sound effects for your actions actually get integrated in the sound track. It is techno music, so it wokrs just fine.

However the tilt I have for this game wore off after 10-15 minutes through the game. The reason is pretty simple: all that changes between levels is the speed, the colours of the blocks and the music. But the gameplay is exactly just the same. And, to be honest, I have played tetris a good deal... so I just got bored pretty soon. I did try to come back to the game for another 2 30 min- sessions. But there is just not enough for me in this game.
The incentive to unlock new skins (=music, sound, block colours) just does not give me enough reason to keep playing.
It is a shame since I really appreciate the novelty and innovation.