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> Results: Lumines II
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The ESRB says:
Mild violence: GamerDad saw some dance-fighting and things blowing up in a couple of the background videos Lyrics: A lot of licensed MTV-type pop music filled GamerDad's ears, which means muted but fairly obvious words like "shi*" Suggestive themes: Now with actual music videos, this is again MTV territory, with gyrating fit young people talking about getting with other fit young people Lumines was a system seller for the PSP when it was released with the handheld's launch. There are still people who haven't bought another game since. So does this sequel stand up to the original? For the uninitiated, Lumines (pronounced "luminous") is a puzzle game that has you creating squares or rectangles) from falling blocks made up of two different colors. The mechanics are simple, but there is one catch: everything is synched to the musical soundtrack, and blocks are only removed from play at the end of every bar. After you have cleared enough blocks, the music changes (as do the visuals; together they form a "skin"), and as the new music will usually have a different tempo, you are constantly switching strategies. Lumines II adds absolutely nothing to the core gameplay. It does add a huge amount of new skins, refined game modes, and a fancier graphical engine that allows skins to have full video in the background, probably the most controversial feature. A series of tutorials and tips have been included to help newcomers ease into the game. The main Challenge Mode has now been broken up into three groups for beginner, intermediate, and advanced players. Puzzle mode now has you matching 100 different patterns, while Mission mode is new, and gives you 50 different tasks such as "clear the screen using only two blocks". Another new feature is the ability to make your own music with a built-in sequencer and four different sets of beats and sounds to choose from. You won't be topping the charts, but you can use any of your creations in the new custom skin mode, which allows you to play through the skins you have unlocked in any order you wish. Disappointingly, there is still no online multiplayer, but you can play Duel mode locally with another human or against the CPU. Finally, you can see at a glance how much of your life you have lost to this addictive game with the new statistics tracking. Let's talk about those videos. There are ten or so full music videos included, mainly from familiar Western artists like Gwen Stefani, Black Eyed Peas, and Beck. This alone is a clue that the soundtrack is a little more varied this time, but the introduction of videos is of questionable benefit ﾖ while you're playing the game you can't really pay attention to what's going on in the background, and the extra strain it takes on the PSP adds a little delay when a video begins and ends. It's a nice idea, I just don't think it was thought through enough. That's just one small black mark, however. It's still easy to recommend Lumines II to both existing fans and newcomers, and you'll be playing it for a long time.  
While the lyrics of the licensed music might be a factor, with allusions to sex such as "we'll shake and rattle our bodies to keep it warm at night", it's the videos that you really have to look at when deciding how appropriate the game is for your children. If your kids watch any MTV or VH1 channels, then you have no problem as you already know what to expect from contemporary videos, but if you don't, some descriptions might be in order. Hollaback Girl has Gwen Stefani and her army of pretending-to-be-high-school-aged friends bumping and grinding in sexy outfits to a song that has "shi*" as a repeated lyric. The word is censored, but only just. Pump It is a sort of mini urban West Side Story that tells the tale of two small gangs in a choreographed dance fight, with the added bonus of a midriff-baring gyrating lead singer. The Bottle Rocket video is a montage of random images, including a flash of bikinied bottom, a covered-but-topless woman on a poster, and a flash of the Playboy bunny logo. One video consists entirely of household objects being blown up, while another has the band attack walls and non-humanoid machines with sledgehammers. The New Order video has a flash of some street walkers and signs referring to "adult movies". Missy Elliott's Lose Control might beat out Gwen Stefani's effort when it comes to eyebrow raising though, with a bit of saucy simulated sex dancing and a couple of drug references in the lyrics. It's perhaps worth repeating that it's hard to actually see any of these videos while playing the game ﾖ I had to go to websites like YouTube to find full versions, something I advise any parent to do themselves if they're on the fence about appropriateness.
Outside of the licensed music and videos, there's little else to look at for objectionable content. I think I spotted an animated gun in one of the backgrounds, but nothing else really stood out. Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Browse Amazon.com's selection of "lumines ii" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Lumines II |
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