Lumines

[schild]

Having beaten the Puzzle Mode, gotten to the last guy in Vs. Mode and gotten about 75% of the way through Challenge mode I figure I should give some brief thoughts on the title.

 - It is the best reason to own a PSP. While the other titles I got are without a doubt, more fun than the last games I played on a portable (short of Advance Wars 2), they do not compare to the time-sucking ability of Lumines. You will sit down for challenge mode, blink, and 30 minutes have gone by. It's fantastic.

- The music is just short of perfect - compared to other video games, that is. The soundtrack is easily the best since Katamari and probably one of the best I've heard since I started gaming. All of the skins match up quite nicely. One of my favorite stages is Morning Beats - which unlocks, I think, after 20 hours of playing, so eventually anyone with a PSP and Lumines will unlock it.

- You are your own worst enemy. The easier you treat the game, the easier the game is. I can pretty comfortably - and without effort, get through the first 10-12 skins in challenge mode. It doesn't gradually speed up a la tetris, but rather, varies in the speed the bar passes through the screen and how fast your little handle will drop the bricks automatically. The speed at which the bricks fall also moves up and down with the music. As long as you keep a steady hand it shouldn't take more than 4-5 errant bricks before you get the hang of a new level.

Here's a list of the skins - I've put some comments of my own next to the notable ones. I have the ones with an

• by them.

[Challenge Mode]

• Shinin' (already unlocked) - Great music.
• Urbanization
• Round about
• Slipping
• Shake ya Body
• Square Dance   
• Talk 2 You
• Just...
• I Hear the Music in my Soul - Way too Discotheque-y for anyone. Including me. Thank god the next one is...
• Dark Side Beneath the River - Positively beautiful board. I want the backround as a screensaver.
• Aback - The one I'm more than not going to fuck up my entire groove on. Line moves across the screen in about 3-4 seconds, and the bricks automatically drop a little faster than the bar will move across the screen. But that's not the problem. The problem is the brownish orange/white bricks that are fucking circles. Nowhere near as bad as the earlier circle board. Here everything just sort of blurs together.
• Working in the Hole - Red/White bricks and they drop fast. If you fucked up on Aback, this is more than likely the last screen you'll see this time through. Which is ok because...
• Sister Walk - ...sucks.
• Da-Di-Do - Pretty damn cool looking. Background is a lines drawing of someone playing the game on a PSP with a sort of winamp style visualizer doing it's business. Kind of surreal when you come across it in a 45 minute game.
• Strangers
• Holiday in Summer*
• Take a Dog Out a Walk*
• Big Elpaso*
• My Generation*
• Meguro*
• Spirits*
• Get Up and Go*
• Fly into the Sky
• Lights

[Puzzle Mode]

• 45 Degrees - Obtained once you beat all the x1 puzzle mode boards. I.E. "Dog" or "Giraffe"
• Prime Factor - Obtained once you beat all the x2 puzzle mode boards. I.E. "Dog x2" "Giraffe x2" and the dreaded "Clear all x2"
[Vs Mode]

• Japanese Form
• Auto Mobile Industry
• Please Return my CD - What a terrible fucking board. The first time you see it you'll wonder if it exists just to be a pain in the ass.
• The Bird Singing in the Night
• Mekong
• Whoop-De-Do

The Spy Loves Me

A character is obtained for beating each time in Time attack mode.

Skins obtained based on game time played:

• Rodent - Gotten after 5 or 10 hours of playing. Screen fades in and out. Music is quite good.
• Morning Beats - Gotten after 20 hours? That's what I'm guessing. Awesome music, also your movements have more noticeable effect on what's playing.

I use the Cthulhu head looking thing as my avatar. My high score is 121,572 as of writing this. The game lasted roughly 46 minutes I think. Also, unless you're a fan of punishment, don't bother playing the Time Attack mode. You have to get 50 on the 60 second one. 150 on the 180 second one, etc. And all you get is a new character. None of which are exceptional.

If you have any questions about the puzzles or whatever, feel free to ask. I can say this, I don't remember how I got "Clear All x2" but if you get past the 10th brick or so, you've fucked up.

Edit: Added

• marks to the songs I've beaten since the post.

Edit: Again.

[MrHat]

Might I add:

Shake your body!
Shake your body!
Shake your body!
Get on the floor!

[schild]

Started playing right after I made that post.

Unlocked 7 new skins. 1h17m50s on the clock. Total score of 273,000. Started fucking up on Get Up and Go. That board was fucking viscious after the ridiculously easy Spirits. I don't like the fact that "My Generation" was represented by a giant subwoofer. So a 90 minute game will net you Lights down at the end it would seem. None of the 7 I unlocked were really notable except Holiday in Summer. That board was really fucking awesome looking. Music? Not so good.

[Pig Destroyer]

I wish I could get the song from that first board out of my head, but it's just so catchy!  This game is worth the price of the system alone, and it has directly contributed to me not even breaking the shrink wrap on Metal Gear Acid. 

[schild]

SHIT. FUCK.

As it was changing to "Lights" I fucked up. Didn't unlock the skin. Anger. Anger. Anger.

[Shockeye]

SHIT. FUCK.

As it was changing to "Lights" I fucked up. Didn't unlock the skin. Anger. Anger. Anger.

Awww. Do you need tissue?

[schild]

Die, bitch.

[MrHat]

I'm confused, it keeps asking me about saving stuff after I exit out, but it doesn't seem phrased right, do I say yes or no?

[AOFanboi]

Die, bitch.

You're the one who's Lumines' bitch.

Edit: Those of us opting for the dual-screen wonder get to wait with baited breath for Meteos instead.

[schild]

I enjoy digging shit up.

TOKYO, Japan — 2nd March, 2005 - In another creative coup for its next generation Xbox platform, Microsoft today announced that esteemed video game developers Yoshiki Okamoto, President & CEO of Game Republic, Inc., and Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Creator and Co-founder, Q Entertainment Inc. have aligned with Microsoft® Game Studios to develop exclusive next-generation Xbox games. The announcement comes on the heels of last week's news that video game legend Hironobu Sakaguchi, president of Mistwalker game studio, has joined with Microsoft Game Studios to develop role-playing games exclusively for the next-generation Xbox platform.

It seems Nintendo better enjoy having Mizuguchi produce Meteos (produce, NOT design. Lumines he designed). Anyway yea, Microsoft is doing some pretty smart shit at the moment. They might not have the best console in the next generation battle, but they'll have certainly bought a lot of the talent worth having.

[schild]

As I said in the other thread, I done beat the game.

In a word: Sublime.

More later.

[schild]

[Paelos]

Attention whore.

[NiX]

What the fuck? Do you put a ziplock on that thing and take it in the shower too? My highest score is under your 10th highest. You need help. Either that or you need to enter some kind of freak tetris contest.

[schild]

Every single one from 9 and up made it to the second to last stage.

The top one made it to lights and then around the bend to the 4th stage again.

[ahoythematey]

Just found a copy of Lumines at Target.  I can't believe the game lived up to your hype, schild, but my god...this is what every puzzle game aspires to be.  Only Tetris Attack can top this level of badassery.  Can't wait for Meteos now.

[schild]

Can't wait for Meteos now.

I thought the exact same thing. I still want to play it, but it was being made the same time as Lumines. Mizoguchi merely produced it. He had about as much to do with the design as Spector did with Deus Ex 2.