It's only natural that developer Farmind would have looked to Lumines as inspiration for its new PSP puzzle game. After all, the swirling, abstract presentation of that title was exquisitely married to its gameplay, making for a unique experience that's tough to re-create. Puzzle Scape employs pulsing techno music and hallucinogenic artwork in much the same way, but the lack of artistic cohesion in each level makes the gameplay feel oddly disconnected from its presentation. It plays all right and can provide a few hours of mindless entertainment, but it lacks the addictive nature of the finest puzzle games and ultimately comes off as a pretender to the throne.
The gameplay itself is more reminiscent of Tetris Attack than Lumines. A row of colored blocks drops onto the game grid from above, and you combine the blocks into like-colored chains. To do so, you use a two-block-wide cursor to select adjacent blocks and swap their places. Rather than fashion rows or columns of like-colored blocks, however, you must create a two-by-two square to clear them from the screen. Doing so not only destroys the blocks in the square, but those of the same color attached to it. This lets you create a winding string of blocks that you can remove in one blow simply by sliding a single block into the chain to create the necessary square.
The single-player swapping takes place in either architect or artist mode. In architect mode you're given a series of objectives, such as creating a 15-block chain, or clearing 20 blocks of the same color. You earn a medal based on how quickly you meet those goals, which in turn unlocks new levels as well as the current level's artist mode. Artist mode is your standard scoring mode, where you play continuously until one of your columns reaches the top of the screen and there's no room for more blocks to fall.
Power-ups like the ability to remove two rows of blocks or slow down time are more welcome enhancements to the standard gameplay, particularly in the more difficult stages. Once you hit the seventh or eighth level within a given theme, Puzzle Scape gets pretty challenging, and it will take you a while to clear your goals and unlock artist mode, let alone earn that elusive gold medal. Not all of the power-ups are created equal, though, and it's frustrating to get nothing but slo-mo so often in the early levels when you don't need it, and wish for it and never get it in later levels, when blocks fall at a much faster pace. Others, like the one that randomly rearranges all the blocks, rarely have an effect on the game in progress and seem to be there just for the sake of being there.
It's all functional but unspectacular, so to add some zing, Puzzle Scape separates its levels into four artistic themes, such as flowers and machines. Each theme features 10 levels spiced with its own audiovisual motif. This is where the obvious Lumines inspiration comes into play, and where the game noticeably trips itself up. According to the packaging, the backgrounds are interactive, yet while a monster chain will have subtle effects on the abstract backdrop, your actions on the screen never tie in much with the supposed theme. The skins themselves are more like Windows Media Player visualizations than anything else, and while the block colors are different from level to level, their design never changes to match the mood. All of this results in a disconnection between the gameplay and the presentation. Rather than enhancing the experience, the imagery is just so much visual white noise.
The soundtrack is relegated to the same role: background music. There are no dramatic swells or music samples that tie in your actions with the beat of the accompanying tunes. It's too bad, because on their own, the production values are pretty good. The graphics are crisp and clear, and while they don't always feel unified, the whirling backgrounds are vibrant and attractive. The music features a variety of trance and house beats that are pleasant and rarely grating. You'll enjoy them while they last, though nothing stands out as particularly noteworthy.
Puzzle Scape redeems its mediocre solo gameplay somewhat with a surprisingly solid suite of multiplayer options. You can play co-op, which gives a second player a separate block selector--only this one selects and switches blocks vertically, rather than horizontally. In duel mode, two opponents share the same game board and compete for the highest score. Or you can take on up to seven more players (is this a likely scenario?) on separate game boards to see who can clear a predetermined number of blocks first. The multiplayer is enjoyable, but it doesn't have the legs to carry the entire game.
So what you're left with is an OK puzzle game that neither impresses nor offends. But by trying too hard to beat Lumines at its own game, it just feels like a weak effort by a developer who felt that techno beats and flashing lights were enough to distract us from its conventional design. Rather than combining its parts into a greater whole, Puzzle Scape diminishes them by keeping them disconnected. You can still squeeze some enjoyment out of it, particularly if you want to share it with a friend, but you're better served dusting off Lumines and enjoying the real thing.
