Lumines Arise Review
If you’ve played Tetris Effect, this can be a really quick review because it’s essentially the same game, but with a Lumines twist which is a very good thing. Enhance Experience, the studio founded in 2014 by Lumines creator Tetsuya Mizaguchi, brings things full circle as Lumines Arise gets the same treatment that Tetris received in 2018, which gave the series a massive shot of adrenaline.
Although the campaign failed to evoke complex emotional responses as intended, Lumines Arise features the same addicting, heart pumping, palm sweating gameplay full of flow states, psychedelic visuals, and hypnotic music in another transcendent experience from the studio.
LUMINES ARISE REVIEW
If you’re new to Lumines, the series that began back in the early 2000’s on the PSP, it’s fairly similar to all of the other geometric puzzle games you know like Tetris, Columns, Puyo Puyo or Dr Mario. The object is the same in all of these titles: line up items of the same color on a grid before it reaches the top and that remains the same in Lumines. The big difference with is that you are given a two by two block with different combinations of two different variants, which you need to rotate and drop down the grid into place. Once you connect four blocks of the same variant in a square formation, it will disappear when the grid swipe passes over it and the remaining blocks will fall into place.
It might sound complicated if you’ve never played Lumines before and when you first start the tutorial level it might appear a little intimidating with the loud and fast paced music, which might not have been the perfect choice to warm people up to the experience. You can either choose to do the tutorial, which can give you the basics and beyond and will also reward you with currency to unlock customization items. The other option is you can just jump straight in as Lumines Arise is very easy to pick up without any instructions. However, like the best games Lumines Arise is very easy to pick up but hard to master, which you will need to learn from experience or completing the tutorials to maximize all the bonuses.
Which brings us to how the Lumines experience has been enhanced. Just like Tetris Effect, the main campaign of Lumines Arise is called Journey, which is broken down into nine different levels that consist mostly of four themes each. The last few levels of the journey feature five themes. Each grid and blocks are translucent which allows you to become immersed in each theme. There is clearly an attempt to make the campaign journey be an microcosm of the journey of life with themes are work, childhood memories, and vacations, but it’s too vague and it’s hard to focus on anything except for the grid when things start to speed up.
One of the big features that Lumines Arise brings to the series is the burst mechanic, that allows you to slow down time, to try and create a square as big as you can before your burst timer runs out. This is a great way to slow things down when they get too hectic or clear the grid when it becomes slightly overwhelming.
Once you’ve finished the journey, which should probably take most people between four and six hours, there are a few things to keep you entertained. The first is customizing your avatar or Loomi as it’s called in Lumines Arise. There are numerous things that you can customize on your Loomi as well as some nameplates and banners if you’re into that sort of thing. There is playlist mode where you can add the more chill tracks to a custom playlist if you are looking for a more laid back experience. Then there is Endless Mode where you attempt the highest score, as well as a few online competitive modes. Just like the original Tetris, the replay factor mostly lies within yourself and attempting to get an even higher score than your previous attempt.
Criticisms
The biggest weakness is that for some Lumines Arise will be too similar to Tetris Effect. Unless you’re dialled into the electronic music scene, you wouldn’t be able to discern the difference between soundtracks, and if you asked someone which theme came from which game, they likely wouldn’t be able to answer as the visuals are similar going from one psychedelic theme to the next.
I love the idea of the Loomi and being able to unlock different ways to customize it, but there is too much filler on the list of unlocks that make it seem like filler to keep you busier for longer. A few more meaningful designs would have went a long way as the old adage “less is more” always rings true. More quality, less quantity.
This was an issue in Tetris Effect as well, but some stages and their effects make it hard to be able to determine the difference in block variants. Out of the thirty nine different themes, there were only a few that were a little harder to play.
The tutorial covers everything from the basics to more complex strategies, and it’s especially great that it incentivizes you to do them with some currency reward, but some could have used a bit more instruction and if you don’t successfully compete it after a certain number of tries, it could offer some advice. The other small nitpick is when you successfully complete a tutorial level, instead of having the option to go to the next one or back to the menu, you are forced to do the latter, which is a bit of an inconvenience and a super easy fix.
IS LUMINES ARISE WORTH IT?
In 2018, Tetris Effect managed to breathe new life into a series four decades old, not by changing the time tested formula, but by making it a spectacle for the senses.
Enhance Experience says that Lumines Arise is good if you have an hour or five minutes, which is a lie, because once you pick it up, you will lose track of time because the experience is extremely engrossing and addictive. Time ceases to exist in the world of Lumines Arise as you become one with the grid. With a few smart additions to the gameplay mechanic, and the application of the Tetris Effect formula, Lumines Arise is sure to keep you enthralled for hours, days or even weeks.
