Lumines Electronic Symphony

Lumines Electronic Symphony
Developer(s)	Q Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Director(s)	Ding Dong
Producer(s)	James Mielke
Platform(s)	PlayStation Vita
Release date(s)	EU February 22, 2012 NA February 14, 2012 JP April 19, 2012
Genre(s)	Puzzle

Lumines Electronic Symphony is a game developed by Q Entertainment and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation Vita. It was released on February 14, 2012 in North America, February 22, 2012 in Europe and April 19, 2012 in Japan. According to an article posted on the PlayStation Blog by producer (and former Electronic Gaming Monthly editor-in-chief) James Mielke, "Our goal was simple. We wanted to tell a story through sound. With this in mind, our song selection was done to replicate a groovy lounge instead of trying to develop a non-stop 140BPM megamix. The soundtrack is designed to rise and fall like waves, giving the player both rhythm and respite, which would feel like a musical journey."^[1]

The game was first announced in Cologne, by publisher Ubisoft at Gamescom 2011, with its first hands-on showcase at Tokyo Game Show 2011. The playable demo featured The Chemical Brothers song "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" and Kaskade's 4 AM as the game's first confirmed artists and songs.^[2]

Gameplay

Lumines Electronic Symphony uses the new features of the PlayStation Vita such as the touch pad on the back, while keeping classic controls already known in the first Lumines on the front.^[3]

Features

Lumines Electronic Symphony now uses animated 3D blocks instead of 2D sprites. The game will use the front touch screen controls to move and rotate blocks but will also support analog and D-pad controls.

In previous Lumines titles, a player unlocked skins based on their ability to successfully reach that skin. However, in Lumines Electronic Symphony, an experience point system has been integrated. Now all the points that a player receives in a session are converted into XP, so as the player levels up, additional skins and avatars will be unlocked.

Each avatar has a single player and multiplayer ability mapped to them. Players unlock more avatars and find the abilities that best suit their style of play.

Q Entertainment enlisted the design firm, BUILD (which was founded by former Designers Republic and Psygnosis members), to create much of the game's marketing materials, such as the new logo, in-game font, and graphic elements for the package design.

Development

James Mielke, producer at Q Entertainment, originally pitched the game to Ubisoft as "Daft Punk Lumines".^[4] He had wanted to distinguish the Vita version of Lumines and felt that linking it to a particular artist would provide that experience. Daft Punk had met Tetsuya Mizuguchi in the past and were familiar with his work, so they were excited to be involved.^[4] They had wanted to compose a completely new set of music for the game but were too busy writing the soundtrack for Tron: Legacy. Consequently, they were forced to drop the project until a future date.^[4]

Mielke spoke of creating a "Say Anything..." moment within the game, referring to the use of a highly familiar vocal track at a key moment to generate a strong emotional impact.^[5] Mizuguchi and Mielke later agreed that this could be done solely using electronic music. In the selection and ordering of the tracks, they aimed to show an emotional progression, much like that found on some bands' LPs.^[5]

Music

There are 34 licensed tracks in Lumines Electronic Symphony.^[6] Voyage, the main gameplay mode, includes 33 of these songs, which appear in-game in the following order:

1. "The Future of the Future (Stay Gold)" – Deep Dish with Everything but the Girl
2. "Good Girl" – Benny Benassi
3. "Moistly" – LFO
4. "4 AM" - Kaskade
5. "In My Arms" – Mylo
6. "Sunriser" (Publicmind Remix) – Ken Ishii featuring 7th Gate
7. "Hey Boy Hey Girl" – The Chemical Brothers
8. "Autumn Love" – SCSI-9
9. "Disco Infiltrator" – LCD Soundsystem
10. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Jam & Spoon Mix) – Pet Shop Boys
11. "Windowlicker" – Aphex Twin
12. "Bang Bang Bang" – Mark Ronson & The Business
13. "Played-A-Live (The Bongo Song)" – Safri Duo
14. "Close (to the Edit)" – The Art of Noise
15. "Embracing the Future" – BT
16. "Automatons" – Anything Box
17. "The Sun Rising" – The Beloved
18. "Pacific 707" – 808 State
19. "What's Your Number" – Ian Pooley
20. "Flyin' Hi" – Faithless
21. "Higher State of Consciousness" – Josh Wink
22. "Wooden Toy" – Amon Tobin
23. "Superstar" – Aeroplane
24. "Apollo Throwdown" – The Go! Team
25. "Celebrate Our Love" – Howard Jones
26. "Kelly Watch the Stars" – Air
27. "Aganju" - Bebel Gilberto
28. "Rocket" (Tiësto Remix) – Goldfrapp
29. "Always Loved a Film" – Underworld
30. "Wolfgang's 5th Symphony" – Wolfgang Gartner
31. "Dissolve" – The Chemical Brothers
32. "Out of the Blue" – System F
33. "Gouryella" – Gouryella

"Never" by Orbital is played over the game credits.

The game includes an additional ten unlockable songs composed by Makoto Asai. Once unlocked, these songs are playable in Playlist mode.

1. "Final Days of the Samurai"
2. "Traces of the Past"
3. "The Afterglow"
4. "Subaquatic"
5. "We Are Connected"
6. "Another Dimension"
7. "Sub-zero"
8. "Riders on the Storm"
9. "Hot Stuff"
10. "Life"

Reception

The game was released in February 2012, alongside the launch of the PlayStation Vita. Its current Metacritic score holds at 83 out of 100,^[7] with many of the top gaming sites, like Destructoid and IGN scoring the game a 9.5/10 and 9/10, respectively. 57 out of the 65 reviews are 'positive,' while only 8 are considered 'mixed,' and zero are ranked as 'negative.' Many reviews have stated that Lumines Electronic Symphony ranks as the PlayStation Vita's first "must-have" title, with gaming site, TotalPlayStation.com, saying that "Tetris has met its match." Giant Bomb editor-in-chief Jeff Gerstmann calls Lumines Electronic Symphony "the most fun I've had with the franchise since it debuted on the PSP back in 2004."

Kotaku describes the game as "bringing Lumines back to its electronic roots".^[8] ShackNews reports the game is one of the most expected and impressive launch titles for the Vita,^[9] along with Gravity Rush. Thierry Nguyen from 1UP wrote that Lumines Electronic Symphony "seems like a safe bet that this will end up being another snazzy synesthesia symphony."^[10] while GamesRadar described in depth the games' mechanics: "As our score grew and the visuals got more and more intense, it was impossible not to slow down and admire how gorgeous it looks in motion."^[11]

References