Lumox 2 Review

Hello, HW here. I have currently joined the people over at Graphics and Video Game Central so that I can provide them with some of my writing talent. Some of my articles will be featured there as well as some reviews. The reviews that I will write for them are based off of their standards and their review system. Here is my review of Lumox 2.

Lumox 2
Mac OS X
Laser Pirate Squad
Unrated
$10
http://www.laserpirate.com/



Lumox 2 is inspired by Lumines. Any fool can gather that. And when I say inspired, I mean it. Almost everything that you do, see, or hear in the game of Lumox is taken directly from the Lumines series.

Not to say that copying such a great puzzle game is bad; the game is still deliciously fun at a value price and for a platform that doesn't get much attention as it is. Yet, copying such a game so closely is not the most professional thing to do.

Right now, you might be thinking one of two things. 1) HumanWaste is going to kill this game; nobody likes copycats...or 2) If it's like Lumines, then it must be great. Starting now, you're going to hear a little bit of both.

Lumox is fun. Very fun. The simplicity of the game is phenomenal, yet it's extremely deep. In brief, the goal of someone playing Lumox is to create same-colored 2x2 blocks so that when the music timeline passes through the rectangular shaped arena, all 2x2 blocks may be accounted for and the player can rack up tons of points. It gets more and more intense as the music starts to speed up and the timeline passes through the arena faster and faster. Bombs add another element to the action. If a bomb is caught up in a 2x2 block, every same-colored square touching that block is taken under consideration during the timeline's dutiful course.

That is the entire game. Down to the core. Its a lot of fun. However, if you've played Lumines before, Lumox is going to be a huge disappointment. For instance, one huuuuge element of Lumines was the fact that every action that you make inadvertently affects the music in the background. This seemingly small characteristic actually immerses the player in the game without the player ever realizing it. Lumox gets it half-assed by replaying the same 30 min. of music over and over again. Though catchy, Lumox is missing a lot of depth in that department. Another thing that makes me angry when it comes to the music is that whenever you reach the next level, the music just cuts off. So, if one were to really get into the "groove" per cé, your skills will ultimately ruin that cozy feeling. Oh, awesome background visuals are missing as well. Sorry guys.

Visuals look just as amazing as they do in Lumines. I love it when the next color transition is made. I'm not afraid to admit that it looks BE-UH-YOOTeeful.

Now on to features. What does Lumox have that Lumines doesn't? Nothing you say? Well, it has one thing. Usually, when you play a normal game of Lumox or Lumines, only two colors are in play. With Lumox 2, you have the option to switch to a 3 color mode that brings the challenge quotient up a bit. Just a bit.

Lumox 2's replay value is probably one of its worst characteristics. The only "value" you get is beating your high score over and over again. The fact that rounds in Lumox are incredibly short don't help the matter. While Lumines rounds can take as long as an hour. Lumox rounds can take people around 10 minutes...maybe I just suck, who knows. I just wish there was some sort of online leaderboard.

Gameplay: 8/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Features: 2/10
Replay: 5/10

Final Score: 62%

Bottom Line: After I played the demo version of Lumox 2, I was told that I should buy the full version so I could help some college students get some food on their table. If you buy Lumox 2, that's really all you're doing. PSP owners, you should feel extremely content. Everyone else, just keep downloading the demo.

Related Posts:
Big Brain Academy Review
Reviews Archive