Music has always been a big part of the gaming industry. Games are sometimes corner stoned in the history books for a composer’s amazing soundtrack alone. In some cases, however, games go down in the history books for their compilation of great music and excellent gameplay alike. Lumines for the PSP is one of the best-selling games for Sony’s handheld system, combining an excellent soundtrack with puzzle strategy at arcade speeds, was nothing less than a great success for Q Entertainment. Now Q Entertainment is at it again with a sequel for Lumines, which is poised for being a best-selling hit.
The original Lumines gave gamers some simple yet fun puzzle action for the PSP, in which the game consisted of playing Tetris on steroids, to put it in inferior terms. Falling blocks would litter the screen while licensed music blared enthusiastically…with lots of activity taking place in the background. The main objective was to clear stages by aligning blocks in groups of four. From the engaging music to the addictive gameplay, it didn’t take long before gamers were eating up copies of Lumines. And gamers made Lumines one of the best-selling Playstation Portable titles on the market, hands down.
Many have already claimed that the Lumines sequel isn’t drastically taking any new directions with the general gameplay concept. Many others are pleased to hear that Q Entertainment is leaving the basics intact. So whether you agree or not, it does indeed make sense not to mess with a good thing. That’s why the developers didn’t want to go out of their way to change the moneymaking formula from the original Lumines. Instead, the developer’s only made necessary adjustments, improvements, and changes to things that gamers could only find appeasing in the overall gameplay. For instance, the near-motionless backgrounds are now done away with, and the game has an even more absorbing Mission mode and Puzzle mode.
For those wondering what will be replacing the backgrounds, it will be nothing more than licensed music videos. Gone are the simple background visuals from the original Lumines. In their place will be fully featured, MTV-style videos and music that charges the gameplay with that addictive quality from the original. Q Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, made it his goal to search out multimedia that suited the taste of Lumines II, without seeming out of place or distracting to the actual gameplay. The media featured in Lumines II will be the backbone for the entertainment qualities of the fast-paced puzzler.
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