Originally Posted by Taito
This post is for [another poster on another forum], and anyone else who's played Lumines and is quick to declare it this amazingly brilliant, revolutionary Tetris-killing experience.
But before I get started, let me list disclaimers so nobody dismisses my post as mindless trolling.
Is Lumines worth playing? Is it one of the best games available for PSP? Since PSP's only 3 months old (or a couple of weeks old in the US), yeah it is, but that's not a strong statement to make at this point. Is it a fun addictive puzzle game? YES! And you'd be hard-pressed to find a puzzle game that isn't fun and addictive. As a matter of fact, I got around to playing the game recently while I was waiting for Metal Gear and Wipeout to show up in the mail. But now that I have those two games, Lumines is all but dead to me.
BUT is it the greatest puzzle game since Tetris (as most-if-not-all game magazine/website reviews would lead you to believe)? Can it hang with the likes of Tetris Attack, Puyo Puyo and Puzzle Fighter? Is it incredibly deep and challenging with endless replay value? FUCK NO. And here are 5 (EDIT: No, 6!) reasons why:
1. The scoreboard is complete shit.
The scoreboard ONLY records your point scores in Challenge Mode. I was able to play the game up to level 255 without dying. My max delete combo is 30. I scored 5 'All Deleted' bonuses and more than 20 'Unicolor' bonuses in a single game. And I looped the game (played out all the skins in Challenge once, from 'Shinin' to 'Lights') in about 35 minutes. BUT I can't prove any of that without pausing the game at the right moment, breaking out my fucking camera and taking a picture of my PSP. Having a completely barebones scoreboard is just unacceptable in this day and age of video games.
2. 2-player VS Mode is shallow and not worth your time.
There's no counter mechanism in 2p VS. Puzzle Fighter has counters. Tetris Attack has counters. But Lumines doesn't, and because of that, it's a one-sided, 100% offense game. After 4 consecutive attacks to your opponent, it's all but impossible for the opponent to make any significant comeback without the winning player setting the PSP down and walking away. VS is dumb and broken with no depth whatsoever.
3. 'The move' is fucking broken.
When there's an exposed block sticking out like this:
X
Rotate and drop blocks like this,
OX
XX
Resulting in:
O
XX
XX
If you work this into your game, and can't loop Challenge Mode once in a month or less, you fucking suck at video games.
4. Emphasis on music breaks the game's challenge.
This is the main reason why Lumines has no credibility. The increasing block drop speed (ie. challenge) is stunted SPECIFICALLY so it's not impossible for a casual gamer to listen to all the music in the game. It is a novel idea to have licensed dance music in a puzzler, and I like the music and presentation in Lumines a lot. That said, the makers of the game want you to listen to 2-5 minutes' worth of 24 songs, which makes the game longer than it needs to be. Once you get used to Challenge Mode's early drop speed, the challenge during the first game loop flies out the window. You have to wait almost an HOUR for the challenge (drop speed) to pick up at the second loop. By the time the game gets really fast and unforgiving (in Square Dance III, after looping Challenge Mode twice) you've played for 2-3 fucking hours (unless you went really crazy with Unicolor and All Deleted bonuses). That's two hours of mindless deleting (especially when you do 'The Move') to the point of cramping the fuck out of your hands. For comparison purposes, you're certifiably a fucking ninja gaming master if you can stay alive in a regular game of Tetris for 2-3 hours.
5. You can't beat your high score of 999,999.
Granted this is a little hard to do and it does require practice, but once you score that high, the score locks down and you can't score any higher. And you can't record any of your other achievements (see reason #1). So after 999999, you're basically playing Challenge Mode for no other purpose than killing time.
6. No reason to play any of the other game modes after you master them.
I can whup the CPU's ass at VS Mode (and the difficulty level doesn't increase after you beat all the opponents), I know how to solve all the puzzles in Puzzle Mode, I already scored 999999 in Challenge. Why am I wasting precious battery life on this broken game?
That's all I have to say.
