- Nov 27, 2001
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Well, I decided to break this post into two separate topics:
Lumines II
Well, I finally broke down and purchased this game finally. I did it out of the hope that it wouldn't be as bad as I expected and that it came with a demo for the second game that I'll talk about. It seems that the first reason faltered.
Lumines was a hit puzzle game for the PSP and is now released on XBOX Live with a port coming to the PS2. The game featured a unique style of combining a set of 4 same-color blocks where any group would be counted in as many 4-block patterns that you could create from it. These blocks would be removed by a line that goes across the screen in relation to the tempo of the song playing.
As much as this sounds like a lot of other puzzle games, it added a bit of challenge as sometimes the blocks dropped fast and the line was slow or vice-versa. If you create a set of 4 blocks and the line only hits 2 of those blocks, only 2 are removed (this is one "feature" that most Lumines clones fail to implement). The movement, rotation, placement and combo creation also spawns noises or sound effects that relate to the song being played. You're essentially creating your own techno-ish song.
Lumines only real downside is the fact that it features a similar style of gameplay as Tetris. Now, this may not seem horrible, but you need to remember what system this was first featured on: Sony's PSP. Lumines in its Challenge mode is not very portable as (for example) it takes me about 40-50 minutes to finally lose. I've walked around store blindly following the person in front of me while playing Lumines... almost ran into a few people hehe, but I think they'd understand if they played
.
So, after all this... how did Lumines II fail? Lumines II was TRL-ized. The game features artists such as Blackeyed Peas and Gwen Steffani. To some, this may not seem bad and I thought that even I could ignore the music, but it's simply very hard to ignore the somewhat poor selection of pop-culture songs. I was playing challenge mode last night and this obnoxious Slipknot-esque song came on. Sure, I'd listen to Slipknot maybe if I was in that mood, but I'm trying to play a puzzle game, and that screaming sure did sound poor coming out of the PSP speakers.
Although, the music videos do one thing that Lumines would try to do with some skins... distract you with visuals. The skin "Shake yo' body" from Lumines was exceptionally good at that, with tons of visuals popping up in the background trying to draw your attention away from the puzzle, but the videos are almost an extreme form of this.
Fortunately, Q? Entertainment didn't completely alienate anyone over the age of 12 and they included standard skins of the Lumines flaire that made the series what it is.
Next time, I really hope Q? does not include these horrid songs again as some songs just contrasted horribly.
Every Extend Extra
Now, unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to purchase this game yet. It seems the only store around me that carries it is Electronic Boutique, so I'll have to go up there tonight to get it. However, I have had a chance to play it for the PC and PSP (demo).
Every Extend Extra (also called EEE), started as a PC game called Every Extend 2 (codename SGX2) and is a freeware game. The PC version, in my humble opinion, was a bit more fun and definitely had a better song than the PSP version did, but the gameplay is essentially the same.
The game involves you manuevering and blowing up bombs to destroy floating block things in large combos. You also have to use these combos to hit mini-bosses and bosses to destroy them. But be aware, you must actually blow yourself up and not get hit, or you lose time and a bomb from your "Stock." The game requires quick calculation to find the best point to blow yourself up to start a huge chain reaction blowing up as much as possible.
I'd recommend checking out the PC version of this game as it's free and fun. It seems to only have 1 stage (I've only played Light so far, but Heavy might be a different stage), but the stage is mucho fun and much quicker to complete than Lumines.
Conclusion
Anyone have any opinions on these games or the original Lumines? Heck, even Lumines Live! for the XBOX 360.
Lumines II
Well, I finally broke down and purchased this game finally. I did it out of the hope that it wouldn't be as bad as I expected and that it came with a demo for the second game that I'll talk about. It seems that the first reason faltered.
Lumines was a hit puzzle game for the PSP and is now released on XBOX Live with a port coming to the PS2. The game featured a unique style of combining a set of 4 same-color blocks where any group would be counted in as many 4-block patterns that you could create from it. These blocks would be removed by a line that goes across the screen in relation to the tempo of the song playing.
As much as this sounds like a lot of other puzzle games, it added a bit of challenge as sometimes the blocks dropped fast and the line was slow or vice-versa. If you create a set of 4 blocks and the line only hits 2 of those blocks, only 2 are removed (this is one "feature" that most Lumines clones fail to implement). The movement, rotation, placement and combo creation also spawns noises or sound effects that relate to the song being played. You're essentially creating your own techno-ish song.
Lumines only real downside is the fact that it features a similar style of gameplay as Tetris. Now, this may not seem horrible, but you need to remember what system this was first featured on: Sony's PSP. Lumines in its Challenge mode is not very portable as (for example) it takes me about 40-50 minutes to finally lose. I've walked around store blindly following the person in front of me while playing Lumines... almost ran into a few people hehe, but I think they'd understand if they played
.So, after all this... how did Lumines II fail? Lumines II was TRL-ized. The game features artists such as Blackeyed Peas and Gwen Steffani. To some, this may not seem bad and I thought that even I could ignore the music, but it's simply very hard to ignore the somewhat poor selection of pop-culture songs. I was playing challenge mode last night and this obnoxious Slipknot-esque song came on. Sure, I'd listen to Slipknot maybe if I was in that mood, but I'm trying to play a puzzle game, and that screaming sure did sound poor coming out of the PSP speakers.
Although, the music videos do one thing that Lumines would try to do with some skins... distract you with visuals. The skin "Shake yo' body" from Lumines was exceptionally good at that, with tons of visuals popping up in the background trying to draw your attention away from the puzzle, but the videos are almost an extreme form of this.
Fortunately, Q? Entertainment didn't completely alienate anyone over the age of 12 and they included standard skins of the Lumines flaire that made the series what it is.
Next time, I really hope Q? does not include these horrid songs again as some songs just contrasted horribly.
Every Extend Extra
Now, unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to purchase this game yet. It seems the only store around me that carries it is Electronic Boutique, so I'll have to go up there tonight to get it. However, I have had a chance to play it for the PC and PSP (demo).
Every Extend Extra (also called EEE), started as a PC game called Every Extend 2 (codename SGX2) and is a freeware game. The PC version, in my humble opinion, was a bit more fun and definitely had a better song than the PSP version did, but the gameplay is essentially the same.
The game involves you manuevering and blowing up bombs to destroy floating block things in large combos. You also have to use these combos to hit mini-bosses and bosses to destroy them. But be aware, you must actually blow yourself up and not get hit, or you lose time and a bomb from your "Stock." The game requires quick calculation to find the best point to blow yourself up to start a huge chain reaction blowing up as much as possible.
I'd recommend checking out the PC version of this game as it's free and fun. It seems to only have 1 stage (I've only played Light so far, but Heavy might be a different stage), but the stage is mucho fun and much quicker to complete than Lumines.
Conclusion
Anyone have any opinions on these games or the original Lumines? Heck, even Lumines Live! for the XBOX 360
.
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