Lumines Live! Comments by Tom Bramwell

Round 2 anyone??

Good stuff, sensible and level headed review as usual from Tom, but the game should be marked down a point more for the sheer fucking cheek of MS / Mizguchi.

Peej

I'm sick of reading about this today!

To hell with the 360 version...

...now where did I put my PSP...?

I downloaded and played it yesterday. Quite frankly I don't get the craze about this game. I love puzzle games but I don't see myself paying for this.

"...now where did I put my PSP...?"

On Ebay? :D

360 D-pad isn't good enough for these games.

The pricing policy is trying it on. The less people that splash 1200 points for a crippled version the better in my opinion. If this sells, they'll only get more greedy in the long run.

Before we know it we'll be paying for the title screen, intro, stages, multiplayer, updates and end credits.

Devil's Advocate time:

Let's face it, paying 1,200 points and expecting a full version of a £34.99 (originally) PSP game updated for the 360 is cloud cuckoo land time. Right?

right but it was originally thought that people would get the cheaper than PSP at bargain Price in full HD with higher quality sound.

Makes me happier that Sony doesn't put such restriction with their version XBLA whatever it's not going to be called, PSone titles anyone?

Well if they try and make us pay for title screens and end credits then I guess I will be playing games with no title screens and end credits :)

If the pricing bothers you, don't buy it. If enough people don't buy stuff, they'll have to revise the pricing scheme. But if enough people do buy it, then it's not the fault of MS or Sony (who I include as I expect this will happen with their DLC too) that the public are morons.

It wouldn't have been as bad if they just charged 3000 points for the full game in one hit. The problem (for me) is that they actively hide what you're getting for the money and make you buy extra modes at random times just to keep playing. Officially, MS have said that there are only two packs to buy - Base and Advanced. But the game tells you that you'll need to buy extra packs later.

It's harder to make a full, informed decision on if you want to buy the game if they can't be upfront and honest about the total cost.

Oh and on the game, I agree with gizmo - the 360 controller sucks for this type of game, and they switched the rotate buttons around from the PSP version. Didn't stop me from enjoying the (real) demo though.

Had to download it, am in love all over again. Not much new stuff from the PSP version other than a couple of new skins and tunes thus far but still, loving it muchly even with the price. I don't have my PSP anymore so am happy to have this version in glorious HD :P and on a bigger screen. The buttons changing for clockwise / anti-clockwise annoyed the hell out of me to begin with but got used to it soon enough.

Looking forward to some dirty D&B music packs, more of that and less of the Mexican-Arriba-style one, that's shit.

Sod Live, I want PLUS!...Where's the PAL release of Lumines on a console I actually own, gotten to?
*Drums fingers impatiently*.

Very good review, and it was worth knocking off a point or two due to the issues with this distribution model.

Well there you go. I've never played it before, so I'll be buying it.

Worse thing on xbox live thanks to the underhand pricing structure. Oh and as someone else said - the game isn't all that anyway. (Meteos was far better by the same guy), even Hexic HD (free) feels better.

And yes, once again the stupid Xbox 360 D-Pad ruins any fine control, the Analog stick is too flappy for a game like this.

Never has impressed me beyond 5 minutes of "hmm that's a fairly interesting idea" but it wasn't actually fun after that 5 minutes.

I'd heard it would be released with an Advance Pack as an option, but i still feel firmly shafted.

From Major Nelson.
"The full version of this game is 1200 points."

So i kind-of expected all the game modes for 1200, with the advance pack offering more music / skins.

Fool be me.

Was there any way of knowing what your 1200 would buy BEFORE i paid. i did look in the lumines help / marketplace etc.. ??

the achievements suck royally due to their pricestrategy. What a shame. Would have liked soemthing for making all the patterns :(

Anyone struggling with the Xbox 360 controller's clumsy D-pad can change the controls so that you use the left and right bumper buttons to move the pieces around.

money money money it makes the blocks go round

Haven't played this before, love it=worth it.

Would it not have been better to wait a while and review the game when its available as a complete package. I know alot of people (myself included) have issues with the way its being sold but that review seems more about the pricing than the game.

i.e just downloaded the advance pack and got 20 more skins and a harder challenge mode. I've now got the game I wanted yesterday...so now I'm happy and yesterday I was sad....er...or something

you know what I mean right?

"because it will absorb you like nothing you've played in years"

No, I'm sorry, but it's purile shit. Falling blocks that need to be put into place. Whatever. Story? Graphics? Tension? Journey? Music? Variety?

Being told this is good is like being told Kaiser Chiefs are talented.

Crap...just like it's pricing.

^^ Man thats some good logic.

A game without those things = shit.

er....OK

No, I'm sorry, but it's purile shit. Falling blocks that need to be put into place. Whatever. Story? Graphics? Tension? Journey? Music? Variety?

Story: It's a puzzle game.
Graphics: It's a very pretty puzzle game
Tension: More so than in any game you've played before
Journey: From an empty board to a full one
Music: Have you actually played it? Best there is
Variety: It's a puzzle game

No, I'm sorry, but it's purile shit. Falling blocks that need to be put into place. Whatever. Story? Graphics? Tension? Journey? Music? Variety?

Being told this is good is like being told Kaiser Chiefs are talented.

You really are embarassing yourself. It's not good, it's absolutely brilliant, and if you don't see why, that's only because you haven't played it enough yet to see the depth and hypnotic extravagance of it all.

Fine. You guys attain zen. I'll be over in Oblivion.

@Rambaldi

Puerile? As in childish? Not sure I see the connection between your list of "requirements" and the level of maturity.

Would you level the same criticism at chess or sudoku because they didn't have a story, graphics, tension, journey, music, variety? Since when were variety or journey only components of adult entertainment? I would think that the opposite is more likely the case if anything.

There are many ways to be puerile you know. There are a lot of people that would view hitting imaginary trolls with imaginary magic swords to be puerile, far more so than a musical puzzle game.

I'm not one of them, but I understand...

All games must be like Oblivion or they are automatically shit. Facte.

Reality_Cheque wrote :"If the pricing bothers you, don't buy it. If enough people don't buy stuff, they'll have to revise the pricing scheme. But if enough people do buy it, then it's not the fault of MS or Sony (who I include as I expect this will happen with their DLC too) that the public are morons."

Most level headed post on the subject all day.

The Vs. CPU mode was rubbish on the PSP. Forcing you to start from the first opponent every single time was a completely idiotic design decision. Lumines was a waste of $22 for me.

gizmo - "The pricing policy is trying it on. The less people that splash 1200 points for a crippled version the better in my opinion. If this sells, they'll only get more greedy in the long run. "

You and I know that buying such things on X-Box Live will only feed developers/publishers hunger for charging stupid prices for little things. However, the general X-Box Live public are a different story.

Expect it to sell like hot-cakes.

Lumines 2 is coming out pretty soon on the PSP isnt it? (In America at least, but the handheald market is a free-for-all so...) and I think that has 80 new skins, plus the skin-edit mode and so on. It'll probably be £30 - about twice as much as paying for the 360 version plus the extra pack, but given that the skins will be all new, and the PSP d-pad is better suited to the game than the 360's, I'll just wait until that arrives.

And of course there is Gunpey-R also coming fairly soon to PSP (and DS) for more styalised puzzling action.

Someone gimmie a shout when the new Mutant Storm game is up on Live....

And of course there is Gunpey-R also coming fairly soon to PSP (and DS) for more styalised puzzling action.

Not to mention Every Extend Extra

Gunpey is out now in Japan. It's very poor. As for Lumines, anyone who buys this outrageous cynical rip-off version needs their head examined. If you want to play the game there are loads of excellent free versions on the PC and GBA.

Please boycott this ripoff pricing scheme else your going to see more of it in the very near future.

vote with your wallets keep them closed

Problem isn't the game, it's not the split nature, it's not the cost.

The problem is they said 'full game' and it isn't. I was interested in buying, before that came to light. Saved only by Live breaking again in fact - I was all ready to buy, it broke, I found out about 15 minutes later just how crippled it was. Saved me some good money - I'll not support that deceptive business model - they need to be clear upfront about what is missing, when it's coming, and how much it will be - BEFORE people buy a game labelled as 'full'.

@Rambaldi "Being told this is good is like being told Kaiser Chiefs are talented."

Hey, come on, I like Kaiser Chiefs... all their "AAAAAAAAHH" and "OOOOOOOH" in their song are just too funny to be ignored. And they have that song that sings "Oh, my God I can't believe it, I've never been this far away from home" that keeps reminding me of when Sam Gamgee leaves the Shire.

Ok, I'm sick.

I'm actually bored of the debate about business practices. I'm now more interested in something not many people seem to be talking about:

The skins in Lumines Live are really bland!

The music is the lesser-grade tunes from the PSP version with none of the proper "songs". The visualisations and background animations are much blander and simpler, with nothing that really looks like crafted graphics. It looks more like one of those legally-dubious bedroom-coded versions of the game you can find online for free.

I guess the review has a point - for the people who've never experienced Lumines before, the Live Arcade version might be worth their pennies. Personally I was very disappointed. Here's why:

Original Lumines on PSP was (and still is) brilliant puzzle game, something where you could lose yourself into some kind of meditative mood - not really thinking about how to play, pieces just falling into right places and one hour later you realize it's in fact over. The game had a few short comings, couple of nasty skins with bad color and shape choices breaking the game experiece, but game controls, music, sound effects and the overall mood was excellent. A clear 9/10.

You'd think the X360 version released nearly two years later would have significant imrovements over the original, or at least maintain the same level. You wish. I bought the Advance Pack over the original right away after reading the title doesn't really offer much without it. But the sad thing is the Advanced Pack doesn't offer also nearly as much as possible. There's too few skins, and way too many ugly and unplayble ones. Whereas the original had 2 or 3 bad skins in the whole bunch of 25 levels, this one has something like 15 skins with 5 straight bad ones. I totally hate when something pure ugly and unplayable interrupts the gameplay that should be continuous. Not to mention the level's are just too few. I looped all the skins (including the advanced pack) during the first time I played the game. In original you needed to actually play well to achieve the last skin 'Lights'.

Then there's the fact that analog controls don't work well with this type of game and the X360 controller pad is unfortunately very inaccurate compared to PSP's one. Lot of times with faster levels you'll start stomping the blocks in wrong way just because of the controller. Also the controls seem somehow slow and unresponsive. Sluggish.

It's not all bad, some of the spirit is still there. But damn I miss the original title. 6/10 for the Live version from me including sadness for the missed opportunities this game could've been.

Hard to see what all the fuss is about. Double the price and put all the content on a DVD and people would not be complaining. Yes its a lot higher priced than all the other XBLA games, but really they are all a bit shit. I would not play most of them even if they were free.

And to say its a rip if you aleady own the PSP version is absurd. If I buy the same game on two different formats i dont expect each one to be wildly different and I dont think i should be given a discount for buying it twice. Stupid...