As a game, Lux Pain is a massive failure. As a graphic novel, it is an interesting unique approach to a serious mystery.
Made for stroy driven gamers
Limited gameplay interaction
Should be treated like a graphic novel
Review:
Many games out there seek to maintain a balance between different types of game play for a variety of audiences. Lux Pain is not one of these. This isn't to say that Lux Pain is a terrible game, but it seems to only cater to a select type of story driven gamers. Those who like Siberia, Myst, The Longest Journey, and Dreamfall will probably enjoy this game. However, even they may be disappointed in the lack of interaction between the game and the player. The "gameplay" (and I use this term loosely) is made up of dialogs and mini "games" where you find the hidden symbol by scratching the screen with your pen before the clock runs out. There are no real puzzles and playing the game is more a kin to reading a graphic novel then an DS game.
The story itself is very interesting. Its a serious some what dark mystery and sucks you in even if your disappointed with the game play. It does lull at times, going off on tangents that really aren't related to the main plot, but these spots only increase your appreciation for the characters.
As GameSpot and other reviewers will tell you, the translation to English is terrible, however it's not really as bad as it has been made out to be. Yes it is noticeable, but you wont have to stop and reread the sentences as some of the reviews are making it sound. It's mostly little things, for instance if I turn on my game now and have a conversation with one of the characters... instead of saying "I should stop complaining and do something about it." Aoi says "There's no time to whine." and later on in the same conversation instead of saying "If I get lost and you happen to see me, please don't laugh." she says "If you find me lost, please don't laugh, ok?" It sounds a little funny, but you can easily understand the translation.
Overall, as a video game Lux Pain failed on a massive scale and deserves the low scores the critics reviews gave, but as electronic graphic novel it is worth the purchase. I would suggest anyone to at least try it out, but not to look at it as a game because you will be disappointed.