Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3424 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Released on: 2005-09-01
• Platform: Sony PSP

Amazon.co.uk Review
Every new portable console must launch with a new puzzle game and Lumines is the game doomed to be described as the PSP’s answer to Tetris. In fact, the game has very little in common with the Russian classic, despite looking awfully familiar.

The idea is that squares, made up of four multi-coloured smaller blocks continually fall from the top of the screen. You have to create single colour rectangles out of these squares, at which point they disappear when a vertical line, called the "timeline", passes over them. Your game ends if any block hits the top of the screen.

Like all puzzle games describing the gameplay is infinitely less interesting than actually getting hands on. Also like most other puzzle games, Lumines doesn’t look very good in screenshots -- seeing it in motion is a different matter all together as the backgrounds swirl and pulse with your actions. The music is even more in tune with your actions, rising and falling depending on how well you’re doing.

With a number of different game modes, including a wireless multiplayer option, what looks to be the new console’s least arresting title is actually its most playable and likely to remain a favourite long after other launch titles have been discarded. -- Harrison Dent

Manufacturer's Description
An original PSP launch title, Lumines is an addictive, hip, and stylistic musical puzzler reminiscent of Tetris that promises to transcend any puzzle game to date.

Creator of REZ, Sega Rally, and Space Channel 5, renowned designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi delivers a unique gameplay experience that gives players the chance to bust blocks while grooving to evolving musical scores of rock, techno, and pop grooves.

Customer Reviews

Addictive...
Being of the original Game Boy with Tetris era, I really wanted an addictive, simple puzzle game for my PSP. Fans of the Tetris and Columns kind of puzzle game won't be disappointed with this. It takes elements from both, but with a twist or two of it's own. Basically, you have to match coloured blocks, but you have to match four or more in a square, rather than just having them connected. After playing Columns for so long, it can be difficult to remember that just having lots of one colour block in a particular area of the screen isn't enough, and that you actually have to think about the shape it's going to make when your next lot of blocks drop. This makes the game more difficult, but also more interesting.
Too many new puzzle games, desperate to be original, make the game far too complicated to be fun, this one gets the balance just about right, and is the best variant since the Amiga game, Statix.
All in all, this game is beautifully presented, with simple, but polished graphics, and a superb soundtrack. An excellent take on a traditional theme, for me, this is exactly the kind of game handhelds were made for.

Wes
Great game. I haven't played a game like this since Tetris and when I bought the PSP Lumines fitted the bill for something simple and addictive. I didn't quite understand however just how adictive it would be. So addictive that even the nice soundtrack annoyed me - any song played over and over and over again will become annoying, but still I could not put the game down. It loses a point only because I have gotten into trouble by my wife for playing it too much and ignoring her?! Anybody buying this game will have a lot of simple yet challenging fun!

Tedious
I saw all the reviews for Lumines & everyone saying what a great game it was. I just found it tedious.

More and more of the same. Got bored, moved on to the next game.