REVIEW

PS2 Review: Lumines Plus

Written by Aaron Auzins
Published March 03, 2007

Squares have never been seen the same way since Lumines hit the puzzle scene at the launch of Sony's PSP, and while it's surprising it took so long, the musical match up title finally hits the Playstation 2.

Lumines Plus for the PS2 changes only a sliver of the original Lumines release's content in 2005, but thankfully for Buena Vista (now Disney Interactive), the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes into fruition. With an injection of extra skins from Lumines II, Lumines Plus plays 99 percent identical to the original iteration - and that's initially a good thing, especially for gamers giving the series a first go, but not quite as much for those who already played the original to death.

While dropping squares of two colors down to form same-colored squares doesn't sound too appealing off the bat, leave it to the creator of Rez to work in the aesthetics that really drive a player's sense of sight and sound. When four identically colored pieces form a square, they do not disappear from play until a line panning from left to right sweeps over the piece with a speed reflected by the tempo of the music in any given skin (level).

Players clear each skin by activating blocks and combos to keep the music from looping, and once the track plays all the way through, game play transfers to the next skin. As with all puzzle games, getting through the songs and to the later songs requires skill and planning.

While waiting for the line to clear pieces from play, players can add even more pieces of the same color either on top or to the side to create combos for even more points. Special pieces with a blue jewel in the middle can be activated in a square and will also clear away every single piece of the same color that is connected either horizontally or vertically.

The most obvious piece of news to point out is Lumines Plus is not a sequel, off spin or new entry for the series - don't expect anything more than a special edition of the original Lumines. Aside from the addition of "Plus" on the title screen and nine extra skins from the portable sequel, the endless, versus, time attack and mission modes are exactly the same as the PSP version.

The game's skins not only feature a unique song to every stage of a player's progress but also a backdrop that represents the nature of tune, much like a rhythm game would. While the menus still feature the plain, bland silver background and staring at blocks isn't often too visually appealing, starting the game is the green light that puts the game's presentation into fruition.

Not only is each of the levels' backgrounds bright and "in your face," many of them feature busy streams of animations that just want to draw the eye away from the action. Truly, no two skins are the same and they really represent the charm of the game and along with the game's infectious music tracks (well, most of them at least), are the sole contributors of what makes the game's presentation so great.

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Aaron Auzins, better known as "nestlekwik," is an avid gamer and collector who resides in Ohio. He has written video gaming reviews for The Northwest Signal, The Disclaimer, personal Web sites, GameFAQs, BitSmack and on Sony's invitation-only Web log - The Gamer Advisory Panel.
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PS2 Review: Lumines Plus
Published: March 03, 2007
Type: Review
Section: Gaming
Filed Under: Gaming: PlayStation 2
Writer: Aaron Auzins
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