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The most anticipated Xbox Live Arcade game finally hits the server. Lumines was considered one of the all-stars of the PSP launch thanks to its combination of addictive gameplay with an insanely stylish presentation. Lumines Live! On Xbox 360 has the same gameplay and style that the PSP version have, but it’s a bit pricey at 1200 Microsoft points ($15).
Lumines Live! includes several gameplay modes. The primary gameplay mode is the game’s challenge mode. In this mode you begin with a set song and skin and you’ll unlock additional song/skin pairs as you reach a certain number of points. Unlocking these skins then lets you play them in any order via the game’s edit skin mode. The game also includes a time attack mode in which you have to score as many points as possible within a certain time period. You’ll also find task-oriented mission and puzzle modes, which are equally addictive.
As mentioned above, Lumines Live! plays very much like the PSP game. The game begins with an empty screen with two-color four-square pieces falling. Your goal is to match these squares to form a box of four squares of the same color. As you try to assemble these squares a timing bar moves across the screen with the music playing in the background. All of the squares you’ve assembled during the time it moves from one edge of the screen to the other will disappear. Of course, if you manage to get several boxes during this time, you’ll earn bonus points. Like all great puzzle games, the gameplay in Lumines is simple to learn yet difficult to master.
One of the best features of Lumines Live! is the game’s Xbox Live functionality. It supports two-player matches online. The multiplayer mode is very addicting. In this mode, the game splits the empty screen in half with one timing bar moving across the screen. At the end of each turn, the player that scored the most points gets to win a little bit of the opposing player’s playing space until they eventually control the entire screen. Technically, the game performs fine online with very minimal lag.
You can actually also play the multiplayer mode against the computer in the game’s vs. CPU mode. Incidentally, this is also where the biggest complaint against the game comes in. The 1200 point download only includes the first level. If you want to get the rest of the levels, you’ll have to purchase an advance challenge pack that costs 600 points ($7.50). The pack adds 20 skins to the game, increasing the total count to 32. It’s disappointing that given the power of the Xbox 360 and all of the claimed benefits of downloading games that you would end up paying more for Lumines on the Xbox 360 than the $20 PSP launch title.
Lumines Live! is undoubtedly a great gameplay with top-notch graphics and spectacular graphics. As long as you go into the game knowing that you’re going to be spending 1800 points ($22.50) to get the entire experience, you won’t be disappointed once you get the entire package. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Oct 20, 2006
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