Here are some customer reviews of
Lumines
: I was a little leary of getting a "puzzle" game for the PSP, but I went with the reviews and lo and behold...I've played almost nothing else on the PSP! This game is great, it's addicting, if you listen to the audio through a set of headphones, the experience is almost all-encompassing.
It's just a well made game...to me, it's like an ultra-hip version of Tetris. It's the "Thinking Man's" game for PSP. :-)
Gameplay: 5 of 5
Controls: 5 of 5
Eye Candy Value: 5 of 5
Ear Candy Value: 5 of 5
Replay Value: 5 of 5
Overall Value: 5 of 5
Chances you'll be up into the wee hours with headphones on playing: 5 of 5
I'm a happy customer, definitely the best of the 3 games I've bought so far (Ridge Racer..very good too and Wipeout...gotta love it too).
At first I thought that this game was going to not hold my attention - now when I am not playing it my son is...totally addictive...as a matter of fact it my turn so I can't type more.
Do you remember the thrill you had when Tetris first came out? If you were one of those who grew insanely addicted to Tetris then this is the game for you. This is, by far, the best and only must have game for the PSP at launch. If you own a PSP, go pick this game up.
Like Tetris, blocks will fall from the top of the game and it is your purpose to get rid of them. Blocks fall in a 2X2 block with varying patterns of two different colors. You have to make at least a 2X2 square of one color for it to vanish. A bar sweeps past the screen slowly and as it passes the same color blocks you've created, it makes them vanish. Now comes the insanely addictive part. To rack up points, you want to cause combos by having more than one set of blocks vanish in a bar sweep. The more you get rid of, the higher the combo and the higher the magnifier.
There will be a moment when you hit your groove and things are moving naturally. The colors will change, the skin will change, the music will change, things will start to move faster. And, that's when you might notice that every time you rotate the block, move the block, or put the block down there is a musical note etc that adds to the soundtrack. Soon you will be moving blocks, hearing the music and it just fits. Never before has a game mirrored music with gameplay so perfectly (with the exception of Rez which was created by the same company).
Then there's the 2 player mode which is a blast. It sets up two areas on your screen, one for each player. It starts with the areas having equal area, but as one person gets more combos than the other, the winning player gets a larger area and the losing player gets a smaller area until one person takes over. It's a blast, frantic and exciting to play.
A good handheld system should have a good time-waster; something to keep you busy and that you can pass so much time playing that you forget things around you. This game does just that. It's deceptively simple to begin, but the depth in it is amazing. It's like Tetris, easy to play, hard to master. I think the best compliment I can give this game was that I was at an airport the day after I got this game and I didn't care that the plane was delayed an hour+ because I was having too much fun playing Lumines so I could play one more game.
Bottom Line: if you own a PSP and like games like Tetris, you need this game.
 I liked this game but after the frist level I started to find the game a little boring
Now that you have your shiny new psp, you may be fighting over which game(s) you should get. Although you may be surprised, at this point, Lumines may be quietly stealing the show as the most stellar of the launch titles. Lumines you ask? Read on to find out.
I will flat out say that I have not been a fan of the puzzle genre since the days of super nintendo and the sega genesis. The different variations of tetris (especially yoshi's tetris attack) columns, and the original puyo puyo games always suckered me in. Yet, the years went by and at best there were only medicore puzzlers available. I began to ignore the genre altogether.
However, when I heard that the creator of Rez, (one of the most underrated niche games I've ever played which has a cult following)Tetsuya Mizuguchi, was behind this game I knew I had to have it. Other than wipeout pure, there was no game other than Lumines which really excited me at launch. And Lumines certainly does not dissapoint. It is a game with great charm that will provide countless hours of fun, even if you don't "get it" right away. The simplicity adds to this, rather than deters. This game has become the new tetris in my eyes.
The music is hit or miss and primarily house/techno but when you get into the game, landing down your blocks on the beat is a rewarding experience regardless of your preference of the song. It is not necessary at all to like the music in order to appreciate the gameplay, although it certainly adds to the value of the package as a whole. The game is essentially compromised of making 2x2 blocks of squares that are the same color. There are only two colors available but 6 combinations of squares that mix these colors. You can see the next 3 blocks you will have falling, so you can learn to plan your moves in advance. There is a line that "sweeps" side to side across the screen which will clear any and all like colored squares which you have formed. It's simple in theory, but is much harder than you'd imagine. Eventually, you will be racking huge combos with easy and super "chain reactions" reminiscent of the older columns games will occur. The greatest part of lumines is that if you have a square on the edge, the square will split in half and fall until it either lands on other pieces and or hits the ground. No suspended pieces like tetris left you with. The games's innate charm is undeniable. This is pure and simple gameplay at its finest.
There are 3 modes to this game essentially, and the primary mode is challenge mode. In challenge mode, you go through "skins" and the objective is to stay alive as long as possible and build a score as high as you can. There are "levels" and "skins" to the game. Levels are not the same as skins. Skins are the songs that play behind the background and every time the skin changes, the two different colors of the blocks will also alternate. Levels are based upon the score you receive. Early on in the game, every 4 levels you pass will unlock a new skin. The transition is seamless, however, and never interupts the gameplay.
Vs. CPU is another mode where you are essentially splitting a screen with the computer but trying to squeeze the computer into the corner. The better and better you play, the further and further you will minimize the computers playing field. This is also the same (and only) mode that the 2 player game utilizes.
And puzzle mode is the final mode. This mode is different from the others as you primarily try to form shapes with the squares you get WITHOUT clearing the squares. There will be an image at the start depicting what it is you are trying to form.
And then there is a time attack mode where you can choose from any of the skins you have unlocked and play that single skin (wihtout switching) without transitioning. Try and clear as many blocks as you can within the time limit! This mode is not really a "mode" however, as you do not progress through the game at all, you only tinker with what you have already obtained via the other modes.
If you want to unlock all the songs of lumines, you will need skill, dexterity, time, and patience. While everyone will get a lot out of the game, to unlock the final skins takes immense talent. There are 38 skins to unlock + the original skin Shining which you start the game with bringing the grand total to 39. Most of the skins are unlocked by progressing in challenge mode, and a handful are unlocked through the other two modes. Some skins are only unlocked by bringing your total playtime to a certain amount. However, some of the "final" skins to obtain are obscenely difficult. The hardest skin to unlock is without a doubt Water, Flower & Lights which requires a seemingly obscence score of 999,999 points in challenge mode to unlock. However, stick with the game and you'll persever, and who knows, you may just be able to reach that steep plateau eventually.
A great pick up and play title, Lumines is my personal favorite launch title along with wipeout pure. I have played several of the others and most have not left me overly impressed. Also, many are tried and true games that we've played before (although Wipeout also does fall in this category). This is the most original and creative of the launch titles by far The goal of getting a high score for pride has returned with avengence. And even if you are not skilled at the game at first, a) you will get better and b) you will have a blast regardless. I admit, as of this writing, I am only "decent" at Lumines. Yet, I am loving the game. Give this game a chance, and you may be surprised by what you find, even if you typically do not enjoy puzzle games. This one is highly reccomended.
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