Lumines II (PSP)

The sequel to the Lumines stays close the original puzzle game, but add some twists. The gameplay is identical: you arrange blocks, made of four smaller block pieces with two colours in total, to form shapes with an identical colour, as a square of four pieces or more. The blocks can be rotated and are stacked with the other blocks on the board. A vertical line crosses the screen and when it hits the right side, all combinations are removed, causing chain combos and clearing the board. You have to prevent the blocks from piling up and reaching the top of the screen. There are also special blocks you can use to remove many blocks at once. Games are played against colorful backgrounds and the speed of the timeline matches the music of the level, while the falling speed of the blocks increases as you get further in the game.

The game modes are either new or have been remixed. In the single-player Challenge mode, there are three difficulty classes. By clearing levels you unlock new music, skins and game modes. One of these are the Endurance challenge runs, where you have to play through all skins in the game. Next to games with regular skins, some backgrounds now have 3D animations or show music videos of popular artists. The sound effects and the design of blocks is often adapted to fit the music. For levels with music video skins, you cannot play through them at a quicker pace to clear the level as you have to keep going until the song ends.

The other single-player modes are Time Attack mode (get a high score with limited time, you can even record your session) and Puzzle mode where you need to create shapes. You can also challenge the computer in the VS CPU Mode. Here, you need to score more than your opponent to make his playing field smaller until he gets stuck. This game type is also available as the Duel mode against a human player through Wi-Fi. The order of the skins can be defined in the new Skin Edit mode. The Single Lap section allows you to make your own playlists for a set run, while the Endless Lap allows you to choose or exclude skins to keep playing as long as you like. There are 60 levels and 100 skins in total.

Another new feature is the Mission mode where more strategy is required. You are given specific tasks to clear boards with a limited amount of blocks or time. In the new Sequencer mode, you can compose your own songs. The game provides options to define the speed and 8 separate music sheets to place notes and effects on. The high scores, playlists from the Skin Edit mode, songs from the Sequencer mode and replays of the Time Attack mode can be exchanged with other players through Wi-Fi. Your performance is tracked in the Database mode where statistics of your playing sessions are available. The game also includes a demo of Every Extend Extra, another puzzle game by Q ENTERTAINMENT, Inc.