Overview
Lumines: Electronic Symphony was a launch title for the PlayStation Vita and was developed by Q Entertainment and published by Ubisoft Entertainment. Q Entertainment also enlisted the help of the design firm BUILD to help with the creation of the marketing material for the game such as redesign of the Logo, the in-game fonts and the visual graphics on the game's packaging.
Gameplay
This the fifth game in the Lumines franchise keeps the formula and core gameplay of the previous games in the series whilst adding several new features to the game as outlined below:
Avatars:
The player's avatar also now comes with special abilities, one set for single-player and another for multiplayer. There is a total of 42 different avatars from which the player can select and 5 different abilities shared between the avatars.
The 5 single-player special abilities are:
- Chain Reaction: Which changes the next waiting block into a Chain Block
- Hang Time: Which increases the wait time of the next blocks for a set period of time.
- Hold the Line: Which stops the Time Line temporarily.
- Giant Steps: Which changes all 3 waiting blocks into single-color blocks.
- Instant Remix: Which changes the next waiting block into a Shuffle Block.
The 5 multiplayer abilities are:
- Invisible Man: Which changes one of your opponent's next waiting blocks into a Transparent Block.
- The Vortex: Which randomizes your opponent's block rotation direction.
- Giant Steps: Which has the same effect as single-player.
- Hang Time: Which has the same effect as single-player.
- Hold the Line: Which has the same effect as single-player.
Touch Controls:
The game makes use of both the front and rear touch screens of the PlayStation Vita.
- Tapping the front touch screen will rotate the current falling block and players can also move the position of the black via the front touch screen - although the traditional control setup is also available and the two may be used in tandem.
- Touching the rear touch panel charges the player's avatar power much faster than letting it charge itself over time.
General Gameplay:
In addition, the game also employs an experience system to unlock skins rather than the progression methods of the preceding games. Graphically the game uses dynamically-lit 3D models for the blocks rather than the 2D sprites of previous games in the franchise. Finally a new shuffle block was added to the game which shuffles up all blocks it in the connected block it touches in the well when it lands, randomly creating and altering the current layout of that section of the player's well.
Game Modes
The following game modes are included within the game although its worth noting that the Puzzle mode of the original game (Lumines: Puzzle Fusion) does not feature within the game.
Development
The developers originally pitched the idea for the game as Daft Punk: Lumines, wanting to reboot the franchise. While Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Horem-Christo were interested in the idea, having already appeared in DJ Hero as playable characters, the duo wanted to create all new material and mixes for the games but were unable to as they were already hard at work on the Tron: Legacy soundtrack and what would eventually become Random Access Memories.
The game was announced at Gamescom 2011 and had its first public hands-on showcase at Tokyo Game Show 2011 later that year. The Tokyo Game Show demo featured two playable songs: "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" by The Chemical Brothers and "4 AM" by Kaskade both of which were the first confirmed tracks to be included in the game.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack includes a wide selection of licensed songs. Q Entertainment described the soundtrack as a "love letter to electronic music".
The song list is in order of appearance in the main Voyage mode.
- "The Future of the Future (Stay Gold)" - Deep Dish feat. Tracey Horn
- "Good Girl" - Benny Benassi
- "Moistly" - LFO
- "4AM" - Kaskade
- "In My Arms" - Mylo
- "Sunriser (Publicmind Remix)" - Kem Ishii
- "Hey Boy Hey Girl" - The Chemical Brothers
- "Autumn Love" - SCSI-9
- "Disco Infiltrator" - LCD Soundsystem
- "Yesterday When I Was Mad (Jam & Spoon Mix)" - Pet Shop Boys
- "Windowlicker" - Aphex Twin
- "Bang Bang Bang" - Mark Ronson & the Business
- "Played-A-Live (The Bongo Song)" - The Safri Duo
- "Close (to the Edit)" - Art of Noise
- "Embracing the Future" - BT
- "Automatons" - Anything Box
- "The Sun Rising" - The Beloved
- "Pacific 707" - 808 State
- "What's Your Number (Jassanova Renumber)" - Ian Pooley
- "Flyin' Hi" - Faithless
- "Higher State of Consciousness (Deep & Slow Chill Edit)" - Wink
- "Wooden Toy" - Amon Tobin
- "Superstar" - Aeroplane
- "Apollo Throwdown" - The Go! Team
- "Celebrate Our Love" - Howard Love
- "Kelly Watch the Stars" - Air
- "Aganjù" - Bebel Gilberto
- "Rocket (Tiesto Remix)" - Goldfrapp
- "Always Loved a Film" - Underworld
- "Wolfgang's 5th Symphony" - Wolfgang Gartner
- "Dissolve" - The Chemical Brothers
- "Out of the Blue" - System F
- "Gouryella" - Gouryella
Also, Orbital's "Never" is used for the credits of the game.
The following songs feature as unlockable songs composed by Makoto Asai and once unlocked are playable in the Playlist mode.
- "Final Days of the Samurai"
- "Traces of the Past"
- "The Afterglow"
- "Subaquatic"
- "We Are Connected"
- "Another Dimension"
- "Sub-zero"
- "Riders on the Storm"
- "Hot Stuff"
- "Life"
Download
Like all of the PS Vita games, Lumines: Electronic Symphony is offered as a direct download and has a total size 722 MB before downloading any updates.
Trophies
Lumines Electronic Symphony controversially lacks a Platinum Trophy. In an interview, James Mielke (Producer at Q-Entertainment) explained that this was due to human error. He explained that the team assumed that all retail games automatically had a Platinum Trophy for completing all other Trophies when in reality, the Trophy must be manually entered by the developer and so as a result the game features no Platinum Trophy.
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