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The sequel to the PSP launch’s all-star delivers. Lumines II doesn’t have the same novelty that its predecessor had, but it does have plenty of new songs and manages to keep up the same top-notch gameplay that its predecessor had.
Lumines II 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. Challenge Mode now includes three levels of difficulty but they all play pretty much the same. You do you get different skins at the various difficulty levels though. If you only have a few minutes to play you can participate in the game’s mission or puzzle modes. Mission mode is a collection of 50 progressively more difficult challenges. The tasks aren’t particularly difficult and it’s possible to beat many of them in under a minute. The game does have some particularly hard challenges though. In puzzle mode, you’re shown a picture and then you have to replicate this with the blocks you’re given.
The gameplay in Lumines II is almost identical to its prequel. 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.
As good as the singleplayer is Lumines II really shines in multiplayer. In Duel, you face another player, although they need to have their own PSP and a copy of the game. 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. You can actually also play the multiplayer mode against the computer in the game’s vs. CPU mode.
Lumines II is still as visually stylish as the first game was. Q Entertainment redid the menus and UI, making everything look very good. The game features 60 skins, which are combinations of music, backgrounds, and block styles. The backgrounds are usually some sort of art although the game does have the occasional music video. Likewise, the game’s music is just as good. The soundtrack has a bigger pop, hip-hop and rock influence this time around. You’ll find artists like Black Eyed Peas, Gwen Stefani, and Missy Elliott. The sound effects provided by the moving blocks fit in with the background music extremely well.
Lumines II is undoubtedly a great game with top-notch graphics and spectacular gameplay. While the game isn’t quite as novel considering that this technically the third game in the series, it’s still one of the best puzzle games available. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Nov 25, 2006
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