Luminator DS - exclusive preview

Tuesday 3July 2007
Don't you just wish PSP's classic puzzler Lumines was available on DS? Oh, wait a minute - what's this? Luminator DS? Surely it isn't like... oh, yes it is. To the casual observer, this is Lumines, no matter how many letters of the title you change. It's made by VIS, though, not Q Entertainment, so let's not confuse the two. They're separate games.

So how does Luminator play? Predictably, 'identically to Lumines' would be a good place to start. Blocks fall in clusters of four and are split into two colours. Make a cube or a linked series of cubes and they'll turn solid, ready to be swept away by the 'beat' line that crosses the screen from left to right, in time with the music.

Above: The line moves from left to right in time with the music, clearing completed cubes

Every once in a while, you'll get a special block that will link any series of touching blocks, despite the fact they're not in cubes. This is the key to the biggest scores as you can clear massive areas of the screen at once and even queue up blocks above the lines ready to form a sequence for the next beat.

Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.