Since Paul Bellezza from The Odd Gentlemen filled us in on the details of The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom with our recent interview, I had grown even more interested in exploring the black-and-white, pastry-filled world crafted in the title. The big worry, however, was if the game would avoid the trap of allowing its artistic flare to take the spotlight over its game play. Now that we’re a couple of weeks removed from the game’s release date, though, I can assure our readers that this crust has plenty of satisfying filling.

The title introduces players to P.B. Winterbottom, the notorious pie thief plaguing the quaint village of Bakersfield. P.B. will go to any lengths to nab pies and no amount of type of pie is ever enough for his never ending sweet tooth. After a run-in with a magical Chronoberry pie, P.B. gains the ability to bend time and space, recording himself in order to unleash time-looped clones to assist him in scoring more pie than he ever imagined. With the game being featured as a silent film, the story is progressed with still art and rhyming text dialogue, all cued to a wickedly eerie, yet appealing score. As players progress, they find out how Winterbottom’s escapades are affecting the lives of the citizens in Bakerfield as P.B. makes time stop altogether, runs through a blaze at the local bakery and plugs up the water supply in the sewer. Although players won’t be spending a huge amount of time engrossed in the story, it is charming and full of wit, and each level is named and subtitled with a clever phrase or description that taps into a lot of parody and humor as well.

These facets piece together an impressive environment, but players will find a shortage of modes within the game world. Although there is an impressive number of puzzles and film scenes accessed through a central game hub, the game can be boiled down to only two game modes, both of which employ the exact same game mechanics. The top two levels of the in-game hub unfold as players progress through the story-based films while progress also unlocks bonus short films in a third row. The short films act as a sort of challenge mode, where players tackle the same goal of pie snatching while aiming for medals earned by either completing the level in par time or by utilizing a set number of clones (or both). This wouldn’t normally be a negative on its own, however, there is no real incentive to play through the story sequences again once they are completed. The package still offers a suitable amount to do in a puzzler, but a level editor, two-player co-op puzzles, downloadable puzzles, or other modes would have easily taken the game an extra mile.

 Upfront, the main hook of the title was in its noir motif and The Odd Gentlemen really ran with this concept to produce top-notch visuals while implementing a varied and intense score. As soon as players boot up the game, they are greeted with a film grain and flicker that transforms your Xbox into a black-and-white world while eerie music in the vein of something you might hear in a Tim Burton film rings in. The P.B. Winterbottom character is immediately identifiable and definitely breaks the norm of the stacked heroes we tend to be presented with in today’s games. The game’s story panels feature fantastic fantasy-style artwork with a number of different characters and even though the in-game models are small, they certainly do not lack detail and are still full of fluid animation. The environments really steal the show, however, with all of the locations featuring detailed and motion-filled backdrops. Even though the vast majority of the game is experienced in black and white, it still looks incredible and the conservative usage of color actually has meaning when players eventually see it.

Instead of being filled with “old-tyme” piano jingles like one would associate with a silent film in its heyday, P.B. Winterbottom pulls in a full-feature ensemble that creates some memorable results. As I’ve already stated, the opening theme makes a huge impression and is definitely memorable. The rest of the music fits each scene well and shares the same quality throughout the title. As for the sound effects, much like the game’s color, sound is used very sparingly, as this is a silent film, after all. There are little jingles when a pie is collected, when clone recordings are made a nice film reel roll is played, and items hit with P.B. Winterbottom’s umbrella result in an appropriate thwack. When you mix all of the visuals and audio together, P.B. Winterbottom has one of (if not the) best presentations you can find on the Xbox LIVE Arcade service.

The gameplay in Winterbottom is as simple as it sounds: the A button makes Winterbottom jump, holding the A button allows him to float using his umbrella, and pressing the X button makes him execute a strike with the umbrella. These simple commands will guide P.B. through the introductory levels until he gains the ability to make clones of himself. As players progress through each film, new gimmicks are implemented in favor of a previous one to keep the game fresh. For example, traveling through the clock tower, pies must be picked up in a numerical order, through the bakery, blue pies can only be picked up by clones and in the sewer, P.B. needs to use specific portals to record clones, and red portals create clones that will harm P.B. if he comes in contact with them. However, no matter what the current gameplay gimmick is, one thing always remains constant: P.B. cannot continue on to the next level until all pies are devoured.

The beauty of the title is this can be done in a number of different ways and players are posting online methods that achieve this in more efficient, quicker and innovative methods. Cloning P.B. allows players to defy gravity or space, hit out-of-reach switches, weigh down floor switches, and more so the player can score the current stage’s pie. The cloning process is actually very responsive and I can’t say I ever had a clone do something I didn’t want it to do. The platforming is also on par with where it should be and all of the game’s puzzles are extremely satisfying once the player triumphs. There are certainly no qualms with the controls and the core gameplay is extremely enjoyable, however, the title gets hit the hardest in its replayability and balancing.

 Once again, once players tackle the main story, there is essentially no incentive to go back through the levels unless it has just been a long time since the player cleared the game or they are looking for faster or crazier ways to grab all of the pie. On the other hand, the challenges are more suitable to replay, featuring the different medals and various leaderboards. Ultimately, the replayability in the title amounts to how much of a perfectionist you are and I could see many players viewing P.B. Winterbottom as a once-and-done experience. This further hampers the experience when you figure the title will likely take you only around three hours to complete. Players will burn through the game quickly once they have the mechanics under control, and the shallow amount of content is a definite sore spot on the ‘Bottom.

It should also be noted The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom is not the easiest game on the block. The puzzles aren’t afraid to amp up in intensity as soon as the second film. While there was nothing obscenely difficult in the title, there were quite a few times I had to stare at the screen for upwards of 10 minutes before I finally had that “ah-ha!” moment that allowed me to progress. This is great for puzzle junkies; however, the more casual of audiences will most likely be discouraged as the puzzles become more and more complicated. The pacing could be a potential matter for players as well, with one of the game’s mechanics finally picking up full speed only to be dropped completely in the next set of challenges. The balance is nice in the fact each story movie introduces a new game mechanic with a very simple puzzle that holds the player’s hand for a level or two. However, it gets pretty hairy toward the last few puzzles in the lot and players will have to do a lot of experimentation to see what actually sticks. If you enjoy a great challenge, P.B. Winterbottom will definitely be your ticket, but if you get frustrated easily, be warned you will most likely hit a brick wall somewhere amid P.B.’s journey.

However, these are just minor setbacks as any puzzle fan will find it hard to put the controller down until they finally solve a puzzle that has been eluding them. It is very easy to try and draw some parallels between this title and something like Braid and the whole time and space mechanic is certainly not a new happening. However, The Odd Gentlemen have crafted an experience with so much charm and personality, P.B. Winterbottom easily stands out from the crowd. However, unlike some of the other titles pushing the oft-discussed boundary of art, P.B. Winterbottom actually has some substance under its hood and, mechanically, by far the title is best offering on the Xbox LIVE Arcade service so far in 2010. That isn’t to say the title will be for everyone, however, the experience and puzzling gameplay are well worth the 800 Microsoft Points.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5

Building off its stellar presentation, The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom offers up a puzzling adventure that is sure to challenge gamers all the while captivating them in the endearing world of Bakersfield. The audio and visuals are superb and are used to maximum effect in producing a unique silent film environment, and the gameplay keeps players performing new tasks while offering tight controls. The only downsides to the purchase include a very short game with shallow mode offerings and, for some, the difficult nature of the title may turn off a portion of the casual crowd. The difficulty serves as its own reward when players finally reach the solution, however, and the game is extremely memorable even when you consider there is little to be had in replayability. While the experience isn’t the longest, it is definitely sweet and satisfying.

Last Wednesday, Konami sprung a new casual title on us, bringing KrissX to Xbox LIVE Arcade. Amid a couple of weeks that brought us heavy-hitting games such as Matt Hazard, Death by Cube, and Serious Sam, KrissX takes a step back and brings forth a more gentle and relaxing experience to the service for 800 Microsoft Points. Thankfully, the title comes in as a change of pace and is immediately one of the most accessible titles made available on LIVE Arcade so far in 2010. Those looking for a new spin on word puzzles will definitely find a fix here and, while the game will definitely not be for everyone, it is a well-produced game based on its technical merits even though it does admittedly fall short in a few areas.

First, we will address the title KrissX: Instead of pronouncing the game phonetically like it is some kind of breakfast cereal, the actual pronunciation of the title is “criss cross” (like the pattern, not the child rappers that wore their jeans backward and had their own SEGA CD “game”). In KrissX, players are tasked with unscrambling jumbled words arranged in a crossword-style fashion. Once the specific word is spelled correctly, it is locked in place and the player scores points and bonuses until the player clears all the words on a stage in order to progress. Surprisingly, a sliver of story has been inserted into the game, revolving around a wise owl named Wordsworth. Poor Wordsworth has fallen out of a tree and upon hitting his head, all of his knowledge became scrambled, resulting in the mixed-up words. It won’t win any awards and nothing is done with the story beyond that point, but it is definitely charming and explains why the presentation is arranged the way it is in KrissX.

As such, KrissX depends more on its modes to engross the player. Thankfully, there is a span of modes players can unlock by progressing through the main quest mode, where players tackle 150 stages of progressively difficult words, to gain access to a new time attack mode, a timeless free mode, and special puzzles based off themes such as featuring the names of U.S. states or world countries. While tackling all of these modes, players will also gain badges through their performance. Some of these badges merely proclaim a mode or feature has been unlocked, but others are based off the player’s ability to grab tokens, create chains and more. While the collection of badges does nothing more than net the player an achievement, everything comes together to give the game much more breadth than other casual word games.

Ultimately, though, the modes do nothing more than alter the time restraints placed on the player and, in some cases, the words involved, as nothing radically changes the root gameplay. Furthermore, the absence of any multiplayer or online interactions further damper the game as the ability to create and share puzzles of your own would have pushed the game’s replayability to near limitless levels. Fortunately, the title’s menu does sport a “Downloaded Puzzles” mode, so we’ll see what lengths Konami will go to keep this game swimming along. On the other hand, even though there is no multiplayer, there are leaderboards for each individual game mode, so it is possible to have a score rival. When you look at everything as a whole, if you don’t mind tackling the game on your own, KrissX should serve you just fine, however, don’t count on it to service a crowd.

KrissX wouldn’t be much of a casual title if it had complicated controls and, thankfully, the title’s controls are as simple as one would expect. The cursor used to highlight the alphabet tiles is operated with the d-pad or left analog stick and the tiles are selected and swapped by pressing the A button. The only deviation from this simplistic scheme stems from the tokens that fall from completed words. Players will need to watch what color the tokens appear as – blue, yellow, or red – and press the appropriate face button, X, Y, or B respectively, to pick them up for extra points time or power-ups. In between stages, players will have single-line puzzles tasking them to create words or place letters in alphabetical order for bonuses or switch tiles between multiple stacked words in order to break up the gameplay; however, these sections play out in exactly the same way.

The balance in the title is handled quite nicely, with early stages throwing seemingly insulting words at the player, but as he or she progresses, the number of words, the difficulty of the words, and the number of letters contained in each word increase and players can make use of a few techniques and power-ups to increase combos and score. Some of the power-ups increase a tip meter, where if a player gets stuck, they can press the right bumper to highlight two tiles that can be correctly flipped and this meter slowly increases every 30 seconds or so to ensure no player will be stuck on a puzzle forever. At certain durations, some words will light up in a red color and correctly forming this word while highlighted will switch one pair of letters to a correct position and spread a wildfire to its neighboring words. It is possible to clear an entire level through the use of wildfire, which is obviously good for racking up combo bonuses. After a handful of stage, non-movable asterisk tiles are placed in the puzzle, masking one of the correct letters to challenge players; however, clearing this word, much like the wildfire, will correctly flip two tiles in a neighboring word. Some of the tokens will even perform correct flips and freeze a random letter in its correct position, so there are some real-time elements to juggle while busting your brain and these elements are where KrissX really shines

Even though the game is simplistic in nature, KrissX still carries a very solid presentation. In fact, the title will likely remind people of a PopCap product, which most definitely isn’t an insult. The game’s colors are vibrant and each stage background environment pops out with fairly detailed storybook-style art. Starburst effects and the small wildfire blazes accent what would normally be plainfully dull alphabet tiles on the main playfield. Wordsworth also has a number of different poses based on the current situation to make him jump when a word is clear, appear to be deep in thought if players are idle and if players take too long to make a match, he actually falls asleep. On the other hand, aurally, the game doesn’t shine quite so much. Some of the sound pipes through without being in crystal clear clarity and while nothing is inherently bad with either the visuals or the audio, many aspects are repeated way too many times to be wholly engrossing. Aside from the repetition and a few minor knacks, though, KrissX is as appeasing to behold as it is play.

A player could potentially play KrissX indefinitely, so there is a good amount of replayability to be had with the title and if you’re one to get buried into puzzles, the title certainly has a bit of an addictive nature. As mentioned earlier, online interactions could have taken this further, but, still, once players clear all 150 quest levels, they can keep playing ad infinitum, which, aptly enough, the game refers to for every level after 150. Eventually, though, players will run into words and clues that repeat themselves and I even ran into this occurrence sooner than I thought I would before even clearing level 100. Also, the leaderboards in the quest mode are an accumulation of all play, so it is more of a measure of time sunk into the game as opposed to overall skill. Regardless, there is a lot to do and see in the title and it should deliver its full worth to most gamers, especially those looking into word puzzle games.

It will definitely take a few hours to tackle everything there is to see in KrissX and in good news for achievement buffs, the title is actually a fairly easy 200 points. Seeing as I am a journalist, though, maybe words just work into my favor. However, I don’t believe many of the words would be beyond the grasp of anyone looking for a decent casual game to play and by matching clues to words, hopefully players will be able to deposit a few new words into their word bank. One could probably argue a book of word puzzles might take them further than KrissX; however, the title provides the interactivity and feedback you can’t get from paper and power-ups and real-time aspects of the title add to the title more than one might initially think. As such, if you’re looking for a decent casual title or just want a break from the recent wave of action titles, KrissX just might be what you’re looking for.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5

KrissX is definitely the most accessible and universally appealing Xbox LIVE Arcade title to release so far in 2010, giving players a more laid-back break from the recent wave of action titles that have dominated the year thus far. The title takes the simple concept of a word jumble and livens it up with power-ups, comboing, and other real-time involvement to spice up the gameplay. Still, nothing is overly complicated and the game is great to pick up and play for an hour or even just 15 minutes. KrissX has a lot of repetition going for it, however, and players that sink a handful of hours into it will start to see the words repeating, which greatly diminishes the challenge. When you add in the fact the presentation is very repetitive and there is no online interaction or multiplayer, there are a few kinks in the game’s shell. Fortunately, those kinks fail to prevent the title from being a good time for one player and those looking for a relaxing word puzzle title will find plenty to like in KrissX.

Borderlands has received yet another DLC update to prove there truly is no rest for the wicked. After opening The Vault and foiling Dr. Ned on an island full of zombies, Xbox 360 owners got to close 2009 out with another DLC update that adds yet another memorable character to the mix in Mad Moxxi. As if the game disc itself didn’t have enough Mad Max and Thunderdome references for you, this newest addition could be considered a flat-out parody of that universe as it thrusts players into Mad Moxxi’s Underdome through a new “Riot” game mode for 800 Microsoft Points. While the Underdome isn’t as expansive as The Zombie Island, it certainly does its job in implementing some frantic action into the otherwise wide-open format of Borderlands and it adds enough to make the battles fresh and easily worth the 800 MS Points if you are a fan of the game.

As Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot is an non-standalone expansion of a retail title, I’m going to eschew the traditional review format as having nearly all of the game’s material recycled to the disc makes revisiting items such as graphics, control and the like a bit pointless. If you enjoyed these aspects in Borderlands, they are served up once again in their purest form in this expansion.

There isn’t much of a story to Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, other than to introduce the Underdome’s ringmaster, Mad Moxxi herself. The Underdome, much like the obviously referenced Thunderdome, also fits within the conventions of items such as Smash T.V. – “contestants” are placed into a proverbial blood sport where only the strongest survive and fans look on in bloodthirsty fashion. Mad Moxxi fits into the cast of Borderlands characters extremely well and, as expected, her voice acting is top notch. While her one-liners will no doubt become a bit repetitive during gameplay, they also serve in alerting the player to some of the ongoing action and most of the quips will get a few smiles or laughs from players (at least from the first few times they hear them). A few scenes and references in the lobby will shed a little light on Moxxi’s backstory, but what the expansion is really about is in annihilating the competition and scooping up some extra loot.

As I’ve already said, the exploration and questing aspects of Borderlands and its first DLC are pitched to give players a more action-based survival mode. The game handles this in Horde and Firefight fashion (from Gears of War 2 and Halo 3 ODST respectively), placing players into a moderately-sized environment and unloading enemies in waves. As players progress, up to four random modifiers will be mixed in to trouble them with handicaps such as no shields, steadily decreasing health and strengthening enemies or making the combat more interesting by speeding up movement, reducing gravity and making certain weapon types super effective. Each combat round has five waves of varying enemies placed into groups (normal enemies, melee-only enemies, gun-wielding enemies, etc.) with the fifth introducing a boss character from the on-disc quest taking center stage. If players can survive through five waves, they are rewarded with a small loot dump at the stage’s central tower and given a quick breather before the next stage begins. On the other hand, if a player drops dead, they are thrown into a penalty box where they can attempt to shoot at enemies while their teammates try to survive the round to bring everyone back into the game – otherwise, if the entire team falls, all of the players will be unceremoniously booted back to the Underdome lobby.

The premise is simple, perhaps even unoriginal, for sure, but the sheer random nature of the modifiers and the frantic pacing of the mode makes Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot a winner. Not only will players get a survival-based mode that will occupy them for around an hour on just the simplest of environments, but they will also get a much-needed storage bank for items that can be expanded by purchasing SDUs throughout the game. If you’re serious about Borderlands, the storage bank alone might be worth the price of admission, but it’s all about the team-based gameplay and given the odds of survival against the relentless hordes, especially with the later environments throwing a rough 20 rounds (100 waves) each at you, The Underdome provides a great multiplayer mode that is ripe with action. Also, seeing as the enemies adjust to evenly match the host’s current level, players can surely be challenged and with high-end vending machines located in the lobby, this expansion is perfect for players coming in from the end of the Borderlands quest.

Unfortunately, players will see a lot of repetitiveness in the expansion, especially with the few environments being recycled back into the more advanced survival arenas, and the extra achievements aren’t exactly inspiring, but Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot does what it set out to do. The expansion is meant to be a no-frills action experience and on that front, it delivers on all levels. If you enjoyed Borderlands but feel that you didn’t get to pull the trigger as much as you wanted to, this expansion is clearly for you. The only way I could not recommend this expansion to someone is if the idea of spending multiple hours fighting off bandits, psychos and skaggs in an endless onslaught doesn’t sound fun to you, but I would imagine these players would be few and far between if they already own Borderlands. Fans of Horde or Firefight mode will know what they are getting into with this DLC add-on and for $10, players can give this new mode a spin and come away satisfied while taking a break from grinding through the main game.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5

Mario and crew lace up their sports shoes once again, this time taking it to the basketball courts in Mario Hoops 3-on-3 for the Nintendo DS. The game teeters on the rim with its mix of pros and cons, but in the long run Mario Hoops shoots and scores

The Mushroom Kingdom cast originally balled with the NBA pros in NBA Street Vol. 3 (and I guess technically also with mini-games in the Mario Party series) but now the ball is in Mario's court and the game of basketball is given the full Nintendo treatment.

The game is actually developed by Square-Enix, and adds even more flavor to the superb presentation of the game with classic Final Fantasy characters and settings.

If the title of the game wasn't a clear indication, players will man teams of three and hit the court in exhibition, multiplayer or tournament modes. Hoops also offers up several practice lessons to help players learn the game as well as a training mode and mini-games.

Players will notice as soon they start the game that Mario Hoops is one of the most vibrant and visually polished games yet to be released on the system. Very few games on the system have yet to the match graphical shine, superb sound and overall style that 3-on-3 brings to the table. The menus are easy to navigate and are full of great visuals... and of course there's that uber-catchy theme song.

Even in the midst of game play, the graphics are second-to-none for the Nintendo DS hardware. The characters have full detail and still look good when in animation and all of the explosions and items look just as nice. While the environments aren't distracting during play, taking a look at the surroundings still reveals great detail and notables such as the 8-bit advertisement boards, ghosts and Podobos (yes, those fireballs have a name).

While the music during play isn't as dominant as it is in the menus, it serves as an appropriate backdrop to the theme of the current court you're on. Add in all the crazy voice-overs and sound effects you'd expect from a Mario sports title and presentation-wise, Hoops is right on par with the style from even the Gamecube's sports titles.

Unfortunately for Hoops, though, while it looks and sounds like a dream, its most glaring issues are in the areas where it counts most - control and game play.

The main hook of the game is the one-of-a-kind control scheme which allows players to tear up the court with stylish dribbling and on-the-fly passing and shooting all by using the touch screen. Taps and strokes of the lower screen will perform not only passes, shots and steals but also pin-point dribbling, item use, sidesteps and flashy special shots.

While the schematics sound good in theory, ultimately, the commands just end up feeling gimmicky and sloppy in execution as there were many times where my stroke or tap of stylus yielded results much different than my intention. Even a couple of the simple tasks presented in the practice lessons became an exercise in patience - especially in tasks that required jumping and multiple stylus strokes.

This key element is further watered down since a "help button" option allows players to use the DS's face buttons to emulate touch screen strokes. While this saved the control and made Hoops much more playable and enjoyable for me, it defeats the purpose of which the game was designed around since I played the whole time without using the touch screen.

While Mario Hoops is basketball on the surface, the coin system used in tallying a team's score really detracts from the finesse of basketball and puts the focus of the game more on coin chasing than anything else.

Players will find a number of Hatena Blocks (you know, the Mario blocks with the question marks on them) on the court and by dribbling on top of them, coins will be added to a team's total coin count (to a max of 100). When a team scores a basket, not only is it awarded 20 or 30 points (based off of regulation basketball's 2- and 3-point scoring) but also one point for every coin in the team's tally.

When players can score 130 points in one shot, games amount more to running around tallying coins and fetching items (when a player without a ball steps on a Hatena Block, they are provided with a Mario Kart weapon) instead of concentrating on the deeper facets of basketball.

When environmental hazards such as Podobo explosions, cannonballs, ice and more are mixed in, players are constantly being slammed and the game can occasionally turn into a trial of making it past half court. While all the inclusions provide the essential Mario style, basketball takes a backseat to coin collecting and item flinging.

Thankfully in exhibition modes, the Hatena Blocks can be turned off, making the game a more traditional 2- and 3-point basketball game without turtle shells and banana peels flying all over the place. While the items do add a nice competitive element to the game, dribbling over a block a handful of times and making a quick dunk yields more results than using skill to set up a pick and netting a three.

Sticking with the game through all the modes will reward players with a number of new features including new characters, new ball designs and mini-games. Square not only developed the game but also placed a piece of the company in Hoops with unlockable characters - White Mage, Black Mage, Ninja, Moogle and Cactar. While there is a ton to unlock, the process starts slow in the tournament modes.

The first three cups will give players no problem whatsoever, with easy computer AI. The problem is that same AI is laughable - easy to the point where playing through the cup seems more like a chore than anything else. Blowing the computer away in 1,000+ to nothing shutouts is only fun after the first time and it takes some time before the matches seem worthwhile with challenging AI.

However, it seems computer-controlled teammates never increase their AI. Your teammates mostly choose to run around on your flank and provide little assistance in your efforts unless you pass them the ball and control them yourself. While they do a decent job of keeping open for passes and stick decent man-to-man defense on opponents, they do not chase loose balls, converge under the basket for rebounds or even run to the paint so you can hit the post.

While there are some nagging issues with Hoops, it still maintains the fun of the Mario sports series, although to a slightly lesser degree. While the lack of Wi-Fi play is a disappointment, the multi-card and download play has a lot of playability, especially in the addicting Coin Hunter mode - basically a Mario Kart battle mode minus the karts.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 adds the Mushroom Kingdom charm (although it adds almost a little too much) to the classic game of basketball in a title that stands as one of the most technically impressive and appealing titles on the Nintendo DS. While the remixed basketball game play might turn a few people away, those who give it a shot will find a fun twist on the sport with a huge number of accomplishments to tackle.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5

Originally printed on Blogcritics

Squares have never been seen the same way since Lumines hit the puzzle scene at the launch of Sony's PSP, and while it's surprising it took so long, the musical match up title finally hits the Playstation 2.

Lumines Plus for the PS2 changes only a sliver of the original Lumines release's content in 2005, but thankfully for Buena Vista (now Disney Interactive), the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" comes into fruition. With an injection of extra skins from Lumines II, Lumines Plus plays 99 percent identical to the original iteration - and that's initially a good thing, especially for gamers giving the series a first go, but not quite as much for those who already played the original to death.

While dropping squares of two colors down to form same-colored squares doesn't sound too appealing off the bat, leave it to the creator of Rez to work in the aesthetics that really drive a player's sense of sight and sound. When four identically colored pieces form a square, they do not disappear from play until a line panning from left to right sweeps over the piece with a speed reflected by the tempo of the music in any given skin (level).

Players clear each skin by activating blocks and combos to keep the music from looping, and once the track plays all the way through, game play transfers to the next skin. As with all puzzle games, getting through the songs and to the later songs requires skill and planning.

While waiting for the line to clear pieces from play, players can add even more pieces of the same color either on top or to the side to create combos for even more points. Special pieces with a blue jewel in the middle can be activated in a square and will also clear away every single piece of the same color that is connected either horizontally or vertically.

The most obvious piece of news to point out is Lumines Plus is not a sequel, off spin or new entry for the series - don't expect anything more than a special edition of the original Lumines. Aside from the addition of "Plus" on the title screen and nine extra skins from the portable sequel, the endless, versus, time attack and mission modes are exactly the same as the PSP version.

The game's skins not only feature a unique song to every stage of a player's progress but also a backdrop that represents the nature of tune, much like a rhythm game would. While the menus still feature the plain, bland silver background and staring at blocks isn't often too visually appealing, starting the game is the green light that puts the game's presentation into fruition.

Not only is each of the levels' backgrounds bright and "in your face," many of them feature busy streams of animations that just want to draw the eye away from the action. Truly, no two skins are the same and they really represent the charm of the game and along with the game's infectious music tracks (well, most of them at least), are the sole contributors of what makes the game's presentation so great.

As a port of PSP game, however, Plus receives no real visual boost and due to the adjusted screen ratio, the console version seems to move differently than the portable version. The game's constant action, moving backgrounds and flashing tends to block out these nuances, but it's sad to see no extra punch was delivered to take advantage of the hardware and the much larger television sets players will be seeing Lumines Plus on.

Lumines Plus, of course, also carries over the interactivity of the music tracks with actions such as moving pieces left or right, speeding them downward and placing them having different audio effects that compliment the current song being played. Much like Rez, the music tracks in tandem with effects based on the player's actions creates a hypnotic beam that moves Lumines from "just a game" to an "experience for the senses."

When the PSP launched, in my mind, Lumines was the only game I wanted to play on the system and for good reason - it's game play is simple, solid and addictive. Once a player presses the X button to enter an endless mode, it's likely they will be glued to the screen for a good hour and that's just for one game. With all of the unlockable skins, avatars and more, players are rewarded with dedication to the game in every single game mode.

Unfortunately for Lumines Plus, the title's biggest crutch is that it is basically a game that is aging toward the two-year-old mark. Many gamers have already experienced this title and it's unlikely a handful of extra skins will keep them absorbed into Lumines Plus as long as the original if they choose to put money down on the title once again. Owners of a PSP should be more tempted to snag a copy of Lumines II for its expansive set of new features and skins for only $10 more.

Not to say Lumines Plus isn't a blast to play, especially in the comfort of one's own home with a television and blazing sound system, but we've seen this package before. To its benefit, though, the versus mode is a lot more accessible now that two copies of the game and systems aren't necessary. As far as benefits go, however, home comfort and accessibility are the only clear advantages for Plus over the PSP versions.

For Playstation 2 owners, Lumines Plus will definitely feed the need for any puzzle fanatic looking to get even more mileage out of the system. The original Lumines returns in all of its glory for a mere $20 and won't disappoint fans of the series as well as players who never experienced the game the first time. While the game play never gets old, Plus falls flat just a little faster than any other game in the series and the lack of healthy, new material is a real sore spot on what could have been a exceptionally magical debut for the series on Sony's home system.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5