Lumi
Platform: Xbox Live Indie Games (Xbox 360)
Price: 400 MSP / $5

An awesome but frustrating at times illuminating experience.

Gameplay:
In this fun puzzle platformer you take on the role of a Lumi, a bright light bulb looking creature, who lives in a colorful world which is unfortunately lured into darkness by the end of the first level. Lumi's objective is to lighten up the world once again by collecting these bright fireflies that harness the power of light. Most of the levels consist of gathering enough of these and depositing them into these "light trees" to brighten up the atmosphere in order to open these portals at the end of each level which will allow you to proceed onto the next one. It's not mandatory to light things up 100% but you do have to collect enough to open the portal, an animation will indicate the portal's opening so you don't have to guess if it's open or not. While this sounds simple, it's really not as in order to navigate across the platforms you must use these red and blue magnet portals scattered across the level which are necessary to overcome obstacles. Polarity, well the proper use of it anyway, is your friend when it comes to handling these magnets.


In the beginning there was still light.

In order for Lumi to attach itself to one of these magnets, it must shift it's light to either red or blue to match that of the magnet while using negative polarity (as in the opposite color of the magnet it's on) to achieve a higher boost while launching itself onto the next magnet. In the early levels, you're provided with a set of tips along the way to help you learn the mechanics of the game but as it progresses, you'll have to embrace trial and error to figure some things out. The difficulty spikes up significantly near the end and at that point, frustration may quickly ensue. Luckily, while the game is certainly challenging at that point, it's reasonable and with patience you should be able to solve the presented puzzles with the exception of the very last level where I called it quits as it was just too much for my skill level although I'm sure I'll eventually be able to complete it, just not in time to finish the review within a reasonable time-span.


It's time to harness some light.

To elaborate more on the difficulty, it's mainly a matter of having patience and correct timing which is necessary when dealing with those magnets. However, in the levels involving a boss fight, those things aren't enough as speed becomes another important factor. Luckily, Lumi balances the challenging difficulty by offering an unlimited amount of lives and by supporting auto-save, just keep in mind that there is only one save slot so don't accidentally overwrite it by starting a new game. There are also checkpoints in some of the longer levels to ease the pain of starting from the beginning but don't expect to be able to skip right to them when you reload the game as doing so will put you at the start of the level again. Speaking of levels, there's a total of 10 levels but only 9 are visible in the level selection screen which is basically a large globe that you navigate across to select a level. In order to access the 10th level you'll have to go back to level 9 and find the exit portal which is not as hard the second time around. I'm also happy to say that each level is relatively distinct which eliminates the dullness often found in low quality platformers where the developer recycles concepts, Lumi avoids this crappy approach by successfully delivering unique environments in each level.

As far as enemies go, there aren't many but you are able to defeat the ones you do come across using the classical Mario jump with the exception of the boss. Interesting enough, Lumi is not fond of water and taking a swim will actually result in death so stay away from the water. Aside from that, there aren't many other dangers except for falling out of the platform but it's not a real platformer if such scenarios aren't present.

Graphics & Audio:
The game's artwork is quite impressive, from the menus to the actual game itself, there is not a single trace of a shoddy work. Each level is detailed perfectly and creates a vivid atmosphere for the player. It looked like a well polished Xbox Live Arcade title from a known publisher rather than your typical indie release. As for the audio, it's not as stunning but does manage to maintain a good standard. The music successfully became part of the atmosphere while every sound effect complemented the object that it came from.

Replay value:
Although the game was a wonderful experience, after the first playthrough you'll probably be done with it unless you're a perfectionist and want to go back to clear the levels that you didn't get 100% in.

Overall:
This is not an easy game despite it's cute appearance but is certainly a reasonable challenge for any platforming fan. Frustration will quickly illuminate itself as an addiction as you guide Lumi through the many red/blue magnets found in the game. The boss fights will help spice things up and each distinct level will keep you interested until the very end. With that said, Lumi is quite the bargain at 400 MSP for both it's amazing appearance and fun gameplay despite the challenges involved. The magnet concept is well executed along with the challenging puzzles encountered throughout the game which provide the utmost satisfaction once you've figured them out although I will admit that I did contact the developer once as I was quite stuck so feel free to ask me any questions if you ever get stumped as I completed all but the very last hidden level as stated earlier on.

Pros:
+Great price
+Amazing artwork
+Vividly distinct levels
+Magnet concept delivers challenging but fun puzzles

Cons:
-The challenge can become quite frustrating at times
-Some levels are quite short although depending on your skill, it may take several attempts to complete them
-Low replay value

Lumi illuminates itself a well earned 9/10 score for it's fantastic graphics and gameplay. The trial is a must for any platformer fan although due to the challenge involved, I'm not sure how far a casual player will get upon purchasing it but for it's asking price, it's worth a shot even if you don't get very far if you're a true fan of the genre.

A review copy was used to evaluate the game.

The art style looks really cool, I'll have to check out a demo.