Bargain Bin Gaming- Episode 21: Lumines

LuminesEvery successful handheld in gaming history has had a great puzzle game released for it, and the Sony PSP is no different. Combining elements from classic puzzle games like Tetris and Columns, Lumines is not only the best new puzzle game since Tetris, it may even be the best game on the PSP.

The concept of Lumines is simple: players must form boxes of the same color from the different colored boxes that fall onto the screen. Once a box is made, it disappears, if your screen fills up to the point where you can’t place any more boxes, you lose. What hypothetically sounds pretty simple can get just as difficult, and even more addictive.

What makes Lumines such a great game for the PSP is that unlike many of the other games on the PSP, Lumines loads in a flash. It takes roughly 30 seconds to get a game started, and with a built-in auto save feature, you’ll never have to worry about losing any data. Despite some other solid games on the PSP, Lumines has to be without a doubt the best game to bring with you on a bus or train ride simply because it’s not only a great game, it has the best loading time as well, making it easy to play for any short or prolonged period of time.

Graphically, Lumines looks a lot like Tetris Worlds on the PS2, minus the corny backgrounds. Considering the game’s mediocre graphics, they still do more than a solid job of giving the game a distinctive look and don’t take away any fun from the games killer gameplay.

The in-game music of Lumines makes up for any problems gamers have with the games graphics. Rich Techno beats accompany the gameplay and truly set the tone for the games speedy and quick thinking theme. While non techno fans may not agree with the music selection for the game, the game plays just as well with the sound turned off.

If solid graphics and a good music score wasn’t enough, Lumines also has above average replay value. Adding to the overall gameplay experience are six gameplay modes to choose from and even unlockable items. After completing levels, players can unlock skins that change the colors of the games background. While this may not sound all that gratifying, the skins in Lumines are as lushly colored as some music visualizers on Winamp or any computer media player, making the game feel different with every skin unlocked.

Bottom line, Lumines provides a great handheld puzzle experience that not even the touch screen of the Nintendo DS can stand up against. Great sound and gameplay make this the one puzzle game that every PSP owner should pick up and is easily one of the games on the system.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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