Lumines Live

Lumines has made the switch from PSP to XBox Live, but is it worth the 1200 Microsoft Points?

Okay, 1200 points may sound a lot, but it roughly equates to around £8, for a title that will guarantee a good few hours gameplay.

We reviewed the original Lumines over a year ago now. It’s trippy graphics and trancey background music helped make the Tetris-style puzzler an instant hit on Sony’s handheld.

Frustratingly, your 1200 precious points don’t get you the entire game. For instance, the Puzzle mode only offers the first five levels. You must then purchase the Puzzle/Mission pack to be able to tackle the remaining 35 levels. Likewise the Mission mode only alows you to play the first five level, requiring the additional pack to continue playing. Even skins are limited to 12 with this base pack, which is a shame as that is one of the outstanding aspects of the game.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Lumines Live has the additional benefit of multiplayer action. There’s the usual leaderboards and achievements to encourage you to improve your game, but you can also go head-to-head with another player. The screen is split midway and whoever knocks out more blocks gets more space on the timeline, tug-o-war style.

Overall, I’m very disappointed to have paid for a Live Arcade game that was clearly advertised as ’full version’ only to discover that it has been stripped down to very little more than a trial one. £8 isn’t a lot, but it still makes Lumines Live the most expensive title on the arcade and the fact that some of the add-on packs have not yet been released is frustrating.

What should have been a glowing review for an addictive puzzler has become a scathing attack on the tiered purchasing system employed.

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