If you own a PSP, you probably remember Lumines, a launch game that successfully mixed puzzles and music into a unique experience. There was even a remaster. Behind him was Tetsuya Mizuguchi, whom many players remember for Sega Rally, but also for Rez, another game that explored so-called “synesthesia”. Lumines Arise takes this proposal to a new level on PS5 and PC.
For those who don’t know, “synesthesia” is a neurological phenomenon in which the stimulation of one sense causes an involuntary sensory experience in another, something like “hearing colors, seeing sounds”, as Mizuguchi himself explained. In this Lumines Arise review for PS5 and PC (playable on ROG Xbox Ally X or Steam Deck, among other renowned PCs) let’s see if he can do it.
And the news about Enhance, Mizuguchi’s studiofollows in the wake of some of the most interesting sensory experiences that video games of this century have left us, and which also come from this studio, such as Tetris Effect, with which it shares one of its most striking qualities: Lumines Arise supports virtual reality (on PS5, you can play with PS VR2).
All this while presenting technical and mechanical innovations, game modes, online connectivity and customizationwhich results in a more complete, impressive and superior game. And that’s without saying a word about the soundtrack, which is another of its strong points…
But let’s not rush and let’s go to the Lumines Arise analysis for PS5 and PC, in which I will address the following points.
Lumines Arise Gameplay: Perfecting Cube Fun
The playable base of Lumines Arise remains the same as previous editions and, a kind of Puyo Puyo Tetris, a puzzle in which “blocks fall from the sky” and we must group them by color to make them disappear.
In Lumines Arise there is still only one type of piececomposed of four squares that can be of two colors or textures. Depending on the song and level, these pieces change and can range from fruits and vegetables to symbols (X, Circle…), geometric shapes such as squares and circles, umbrellas and pedestrians, spheres of different materials, water balls and shells…
The fact is that we must rotate this block and release the pieces so that we obtain group four of these squares of the same color or shapeforming a 2×2 block, so that they disappear. You can use techniques seen in other games, such as splitting these blocks in half, dropping a portion “into the void” if they don’t completely rest on another block.
But the thing doesn’t end there. Every time we rotate or release a piece, the game generates a sound that matches the level’s music, contributing to “shaping” the melody that accompanies us. Additionally, there is a “pace” bar that scans the playable surface and eliminates blocks that meet the requirement of having collected 4 of the same color or shape.
In this sense, it is possible to make combos by chaining together several of these blocks of the same color, before the rhythm bar passes, which results in a higher score and in planning our movements well.
It is clear There are new playable features that change up the classic Lumines experienceintroducing new strategic elements to achieve bigger combos or clear the screen when things start to get complicated.
There are two new features that we can also take into consideration when placing the pieces: one of them is the pieces of the chain, with a symbol that resembles a cross, and which allows us to eliminate all pieces of that color that are in contact forming a chain (it doesn’t have to be a square, just tap).
The other is the call Burst, technique associated with a bar that we fill and which, among other things, interrupts the timeline and allows us to create larger groupings of blocksthrowing pieces of another color to the top of the screen.
All this, of course, watered more dynamic background elements, pieces that leave the grid and come towards us (especially cool when we play with virtual reality glasses like Meta Quest) or even details like the gaming area tilted to the sides. Nothing is static, and this combined with the sound means you can enter “catharsis”.“.
Lumines modes and extras appear to really impress you
Unlike previous versions of Lumines, I think Lumines Arise does some things better for new players. When you start playing, you will appear in a kind of empty or ethereal area, with different points of interest that we can go to with our avatar (or Loomii).
If you are new to jigsaw puzzles, my advice is to jump right into the puzzle. Challenge modewhich is in the bottom left corner. It’s a way to practice plays and situations that will help you understand the rudiments of the puzzle and possible plays.
In this modality there are a total of 60 challenges, organized into groups of 20 according to difficulty (basic, advanced and expert), although the more difficult ones are blocked until you complete the previous ones.
In addition to this training, there is also a series of challenges that will allow you to practice with the new features (currents, Burst…) in different situations and contexts. The best of all is that all these challenges give us the game’s “light” or “currency”, which we can exchange for dozens of items (it’s a kind of gacha, you don’t choose) with which customize our avatar.
The truth is that there are very extensive customization options, with dozens of objects, including different faces, head shapes, bodies, chest details, colors, animations, player cards, names and qualifiers or gestures… When I say there are dozens, they really are dozens.
It’s a cool detail, though In practice you won’t like it much either, since the avatar is small.and remains our go-to guide for navigating between the different options that Lumines Arise offers.
Returning to the “emptiness” that I mentioned before, in addition to the challenges there is a Journey Mode, which is the “story” or arcade mode, which takes us to a total of 9 episodes or chapterseach consisting of four levels that we play in a row (each with a song).
Additionally, you can play them on easy, normal and hard difficulties, something that was one of the complaints in previous editions and if you fail, in lower difficulty modes you have the option to restart or continue where you left off (although this will affect your final rating).
As I said before, Each level is a world of its own, both graphically and sonically, including the visual theme and effects that attack the screen. But it is always spectacular, with a plastic beauty worthy of applause and that manages to “engage” when you play in VR. It’s a true sensory experience.
The remaining modes are Playlist, which allows us to group the levels as we want to play them, Loomii-Pon (which is the “gacha store”) and multiplayer, which is perhaps where experienced players will spend the most time and let them be chopped by records.
This multiplayer mode has different modes, such as Scoreboard League, which challenges you to get the highest score possible within different time limits (60, 180 and 300 seconds), plus an “Excavation” mode, which starts with blocks at the bottom of the screen.
There are also variants with Burst, such as Quick Burst or Burst combat, in which we throw tokens at the opponent to disrupt their combos. This mode even has a two-player local competitive mode, although not everything is visible as it should be, there is no dedicated option for local mode.
The best thing about this online aspect is that it also there are weekend eventsin which we must collaboratively achieve a minimum score to achieve a kind of “colossal vision”. Last weekend we did this quickly and you could see this astronaut above.
If we all add up this score, in addition to seeing the vision (which is still an effect in the multiplayer mode hub), we will also obtain rewards such as a greater possibility of earning money for “gachas”, for example, if we are among the first 500 or 1000 players, in terms of score, as well as unique objects to customize our character.
It’s certainly an interesting way to keep the game alive with regular challenges; We’ll have to see how many there are before they start to repeat themselves, but it’s definitely a good idea.
The audiovisual show Lumines Arise
For this analysis of Lumines Arise, I played mainly on the Xbox ROG Ally X and the truth is that it moves at 1080p and with everything to the maximum which is a pleasure to see. Outside of VR, it’s not an extremely demanding game (you can play it at most with an RTX 3060), but it’s one that does very beautiful things when it comes to recreating your backgrounds and animated effects.
Objects that jump towards us, water that fills the box where we place the pieces, chicks that emerge from the eggs and fill the playing area… It’s a “simple” puzzle, yes, but everything it does around its mechanics is visually beautiful and impressive. Play with shapes, colors, effects, transformations…
Characters surrounding the playing area (humans, chameleons…), simulating the bottom of the sea, particle explosions… Each level is a world, and almost all of them usually have something that catches your eye. It’s worthy of applause that Enhance achieves so much with a puzzle that, without letting go, can be so restrained in form and substance. Seriously, it’s delicious.
And if it enters through the eyes, what can we say about the auditory part? Well then Lumines Enhance once again compiles several spectacular musical themesthat help us enter that “zone” or “synesthesia”, in which probably, after a few hours, you can almost play without thinking, enjoying everything that happens before your eyes and ears. It’s one of those special experiences.
Yes, fortunately The game includes numerous accessibility options to tailor the experience to your liking. Lumines has always had dynamic backgrounds, but here they go a step further and there are a lot of on-screen effects that can distract you.
Fortunately, everything can be adjusted if the experience isn’t pleasant for you (you can disable background movement, a stress-free mode…) and other aspects to tailor the experience to your taste buds.
The opinion of Lumines Arise Hobby Consoles
Lumines Arise is the same old puzzle, but better. It’s the simplest way to define a puzzle that remains magical, magnetic and that here stands out even more for the audiovisual spectacle it puts on the screen.
It does not invent the wheel, nor does it contribute anything truly revolutionary, but introduces enough improvements that it doesn’t feel exactly the same: immersion in virtual reality, renewed audiovisual section in the style of the Tetris Effect that impresses, new mechanics, online play, much more user-friendly gateway, customization, weekend events…
Without any doubt, Lumines Arise improves a formula that was already good on its own, and that is not an easy task either. But Enhance has done it again, after Tetris, and it’s worthy of applause. How many more times will they succeed? Unless you hate puzzles, you should give it a chance.
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