How do you follow up one of the best puzzle games of all-time? A game so great that it scored our first (of only two to date) perfect 10? Simple, keep everything that made the game great in the first place intact, and throw a ton of new modes and options into the mix.
Keep in mind, I’m basing what I know of the original on the opinions of others, as I never experienced the simple bliss of the original game. Since the gameplay is essentially the same though, I can say one thing for certain…my colleague J. Michael Neal was right about the difficulty level. You’d think that with every piece being a 2x2 block, with only different color patterns to differentiate each one, this would be a simple puzzle game. Connect the colors, make some combos, and enjoy the music and flashy graphics.
But it’s not. The first few hours (days…weeks…there’s a reason why this review is late) with Lumines II, I too wondered why I was such an idiot that I couldn’t make simple squares out of two-colored blocks. Slowly things began to click though, and, well, I still haven’t quite mastered it. But it has me hooked enough that I plan to, and that alone is a pretty strong testament to the addictive nature of Lumines II.
What makes it so difficult is that, first of all, you have to worry about the timeline. The timeline moves across the screen, and “tags” groups of blocks to eliminate as it crosses them. So even if you have a group of colored blocks, they won’t be erased until the timeline passes over them. This gives you time to add additional blocks to the combo, but it can hurt you as well if you’re dangerously close to the top of the screen. Supposedly this timeline moves in correlation with the music, keeping pace with the tempo depending on the song playing in the background. It didn’t really seem like an exact match between the line’s speed and the song to me though. There’s also the fact that dangling sections of each 2x2 block fall down to the next level, and when you have both colors on a side, this complicates things rather quickly. So careful planning is a must if you want to get far in the game.
As I alluded to before, Lumines II is crammed with gameplay modes and features. In single player, you’ve got Challenge Mode in three classes (beginners, intermediate, advanced) where you simply try to last as long as you possibly can. Then there’s Skin Edit mode, where unlocked skins can be “mixed” to create a custom playlist and set of stages. This can then be shared wirelessly with other nearby PSPs. In Skin Edit, there’s the single lap, where you can select up to ten skins with the goal being to score as much as possible within that limitation, and endless lap, where you can of course play endlessly. The rest of the modes should be self-explanatory: Vs. CPU, Time Attack, Puzzle (puzzles similar to the original, or so the manual tells me), and Mission. Mission in particular is…different, as you’re tasked with creating a variety of shapes with falling blocks.
Multiplayer lets two players battle wirelessly in Duel mode. Duel mode finds the screen split in half, with each player’s section of the screen growing the better he or she performs. Best part is that the game supports Game Sharing, which has been sadly underutilized on Sony’s portable to date. Combined with the Skin Edit sharing, this makes Lumines II’s wireless support excellent by PSP standards, but of course some Infrastructure play would’ve really been great.
Other features include the built-in sequencer, which lets you edit your own background music. You start by choosing from four base music types, then add your own music, sound effects, and select up to four skins. This isn’t particularly robust, but a nice addition that some people will undoubtedly enjoy messing around with. Keeping with the whole customization theme, you can also edit your avatar, the layout of the H.U.D., etc.
Q? Entertainment also beefed up the music list this time around, featuring mainstream artists like Black Eyed Peas, Hoobastank, Gwen Stefani, Missy Elliott, and Beck among lesser ones. The soundtrack definitely keeps the game moving, although some pretentious players will probably balk at the fact that Lumines has gone mainstream and mostly turned its back on the Japanese pop tunes found in the first game.
Bottom Line:
For new players like myself, Lumines II is an easy recommendation to make. For returning fans though, the lack of any sort of changes that really impact gameplay may be a tad disappointing. On the whole though, Lumines II is probably the best puzzle game on the PSP, but not as special (hence the lower score) as the first one was.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
|
| 8.4 |
Posted: 2007-04-23 16:24:30 PST