Lumines: Electronic Symphony - PlayStation Vita

Dare I say Vita's best game? At its current amazon price of $10, I'm going to say 'yes' this is the best game on Vita. Now before you flip out and say what about Uncharted, here me out. I believe the Vita's overall goal is to deliver high quality games with console quality graphics and sound that deliver short and concise gameplay experiences that one can quickly jump in and out of off on the fly. Lumines: Electronic Symphony delivers just that!Lumines: ES is just a puzzle game. The goal is to create similar colored blocks, with 2x2 blocks being the simplest shape that earns you points. Think Tetris with the creation of lines, however thats where the similarity between Tetris and Lumines ends. Lumines ES is just as much about the music as the blocks themselves. There is a vertical line that passes from left to right across the screen; your goal is to create blocks which are erased as the vertical scrolling line passes over the blocks. The movement of the vertical line (called the time line) is dependent on the song of the stage. As the tempo of the song changes so does movement of the vertical line. The tempo on some songs changes drastically so it can throw off your game.Now for a more traditional breakdown of the gameGAMEPLAYThe gameplay is very addicting. It appeals to casual gamers, Facebook mini-game lovers and hardcore gamers the Vita is aimed at. The game modes are voyage, zone, duel, stopwatch, and playlist. I'll only talk about voyage as it's the main game mode. Voyage is where you play through the entire game by going through every stage/song. You unlock songs/stages as you beat the song/stage in voyage or as you level up from earning XP (max rank is level 50). My only complaint is that voyage is the same order of stages over and over and that you will have to beat the game in one setting, something I haven't been able to accomplish yet. I wish you could resume from the stage you failed instead of having to start all over from the beginning since there are 30+ songs/stages in the game. There are avatars, which give you different abilities during gameplay, which is a first for Lumines games. The abilities vary from many things such as temporarily pausing the Time Line, giving you a shuffle or chain block, temporarily increasing the wait time for a block, etc. The avatars also have dueling abilities that do numerous things to your opponent in versus mode. I have yet to play the game against another person but the abilities sound like they would be fun.TOUCH SCREENLumines: ES uses the rear touch pad to build your avatars ability meter. Depending on your skill level you'll be tapping the rear touch pad like a maniac or rarely using it. You can use the front OLED screen to completely control the game, however it's best to just use the buttons as some songs are just too frenetic for touch screen only controls.GRAPHICSGreat graphics which surprised me actually, the HD visuals are slick. The backgrounds of the stages are constantly changing and pulsating with lights while you play and those provide eye candy for this puzzle game.SOUNDI have to talk about the music of the game. The music is great and as you play through the game it really is an electronic symphony. I recommend you play this game with some headphones so you can truly enjoy the aural experience that is Lumines: ES. Also there are several cool sounding stage specific sound effects that occur when you move the blocks as well as cool sounding jingles for earning bonuses.REPLAY VALUEThis will vary from person to person but this game provides great replay value to me just because of the music. I enjoy playing some stages over and over again just because of the music. Some Lumines prodigies will reach the max level and unlock everything quickly and for them they might run out of things to do. I'm just an average player so I've had plenty of the fun with the game. However I do wish they would at least release some new stages/songs as DLC, I think that would be awesome.

Lumines: Electric Symphony is an ok puzzle game, but I have played much better. While this game seemed very challenging to me which should have held my attention for a long time while I attempt to perfect my technique and achieve higher scores, the fact that there is only one shape to each block (square) and only two colors for each level, the mechanic of flip the block and match the color got old very quickly for me. There just aren't enough mechanics or game modes to keep me entertained for any period of time. This issue is amplified by the fact that the PS Vita has games that could rival AAA console titles that are much more entertaining. This isn't a bad game though. I think it could be very addictive to anyone who does enjoy the fast paced and challenging gameplay because there are plenty of game modes that unlock as you progress and level up.

I would actually give this title 4.5 stars out of 5. Every PSP owner should know what Lumines is and the Vita version is a nice representation. The music is great, the graphics (although not really complex) have been nicely updated, and it can keep me entertained for hours on end. To me, Lumines essentially represents what Tetris was for the Gameboy back in the early 90's. There are some new elements in this version of Lumines. Q Entertainment has introduced touch controls, a new shuffle block that will rearrange already placed blocks, high score sharing, and they took out picture puzzle mode. Some of these changes are nice, others aren't that big of a deal, and one won't be used. The shuffle block has turned into a lifesaver for me especially when I have a display full of single blocks that aren't lining up. It rearranged them and creates multiple 4X4 (and even 4X6) combos that help clear things out. I didn't like this at first but I really enjoy it now especially since it lets me play the game longer in marathon mode. The high score sharing is also nice, that will be the first thing you see when Lumines is started as you will see where you stand with all of your friends.The lack of the picture puzzle mode isn't a big deal for me as I never really cared for it on the previous PSP version. It was fun to try once every blue moon but definitely not a game seller. I have two issues with this game and the touch controls are one of them. They feel slapped on and I definitely can't use them as the pace starts picking up. New players may enjoy them but previous Lumines fans will likely be sticking to the d-pad and buttons as they work faster anyway. So that is a new element that I did not enjoy but it is there. My second problem with this game is that I experience framerate drops every once in a while (about 2-3 times when I play marathon mode for about 30-45 minutes). This normally wouldn't be a problem but it has occurred right when I was trying to place a block so I would wind up putting it in the wrong spot. I understand that the Vita is a new system and Q Entertainment is probably going to release a patch to fix this. Still, it is a pain that deters gameplay and takes away from a stellar title.All-in-all, I still think this is a must own for Vita gamers. It expands upon the original PSP releases while offering upgraded graphics and levels. It is still Lumines at its core and is enticing for new Sony handled gamers. Without a question, every Vita owner should buy this game the day they pickup their console.