Lumines: Hands-On, Direct Feed Video

We get some hands-on time with Tetsuya Mizuguchi's debut Q Entertainment title for PSP. Is this Tetrez?!

So we'll admit, we stole the fitting Tetrez moniker from our cocky contributor Dan Boutros, the guy who carried out our recent interview with Tetsuya Mizuguchi. But does such a nickname under- or overvalue his new PSP game, Lumines?

Puzzle games and handheld videogame systems go together like fries and ketchup. That the game in question is designed by Mitsuguchi-san - of Space Channel 5 and Rez fame - serves only to sweeten the deal even further. We took some time from the heaving masses at the Tokyo Game Show to don a pair of headphones and delve back into Mizuguchi's sonic landscapes.

Tetsuya Miziguchi is clearly pleased with Lumines.
Photo by Colin Williamson at Tokyopia Pre-TGS 2004 Party

At first the game seems like Tetris with the squares only. But instead of the four block-items taking on any of the usual shapes, colours are the emphasis. Each square is comprised of four coloured blocks in one of two colours, making for just four different patterns. Instead of forming lines, you form - not surprisingly - 4 X 4 squares of similarly coloured blocks. But here's the catch: if you place a square so that only one half of it contacts another block, then the remaining blocks slide down, which can lead to more squares being formed below.

There's an additional element of strategy too: once you've completed a square, it doesn't disappear instantaneously. Instead, there's a vertical line that traces across the screen from left to right, and your completed square disappears once the line contacts it, leaving the rest of the blocks above to shift down. The strategy part comes in the form of combos you can do between the time that the 4 X 4 square has been completed and the time the vertical line evaporates the square. During this brief period, any 2-block line you place touching the square about to be removed is included for removal.

It's a simple concept, but then the best puzzle games usually are. Already, there are people that have described the game as a little too easy, but from what we played it seems that this one might have legs. There are layers of strategy involved in the gameplay, which will take time to master. That said, the game design does lend itself to luck - several times while playing, blocks dropping after a square disappeared revealed combos we didn't even know were there.

The system works well, though the game is hardly taxing on the PSP hardware. Not that it doesn't look and sound good, mind you. Thumping music fills your ears in a crescendo, rising in pace until a dramatic pattern change washes over the screen. The different colours and patterns take a few seconds to acclimatise to, and then you're off again. All this takes place again bizarre backdrops of swirling colours and lights. It's really quite an intoxicating experience.

The good news is that development is quite far along. The build on the floor was 75% complete. There's no word yet on whether there are additional modes, but even if the mode on display is the only one, the game seems well worth looking into. Music does seem to be an integral part of the experience, but against the din of the show it was hard to determine how it forms a part of gameplay at all, though word on the street is that it's certainly integral. Either way, it looks like headphones are going to be a must for this generation of portables.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games