#5. Lumines II

Here’s another one I’m surprised to still be playing. I’ve been calling it the “anti-Tetris”, given the way it deals with individual puzzle pieces, and I’ve clocked an embarrassing number of hours on my save file.

It’s the collection angle that appeals to me, I think. I rarely play anything but the non-challenge sequences, the ones in which you can unlock new songs, “skins” and levels, and once I’ve finished a challenge sequence (there are 3) I rarely return to it. It’s possible that once I’ve unlocked everything, I’ll never touch the game again.

Mentally, it’s a great way to wind down. Lumines II takes effort but no real thinking, meaning I can mentally focus on other things while playing through a sequence. It’s an opposite effect to my experience at the symphony: there, I’m forced to sit and listen and quiet down (a rare occurrence), enough that the music has a chance to be inspiring. Lumines II doesn’t inspire me but it does relax me, something Significant Tim tells me is equally necessary. He’s been trying for years to explain to me the importance of winding down; I’ll assume he approves of Lumines II.

I’ll also say that this is one of the few games I will play while simultaneously doing something else, usually watching television. Tim’s love of cheesy scifi (oh, and my own, grudgingly) means that there’s often some fluffy, fun, but ultimately simplistic series in our queue, and at times I’d rather watch while solving timed puzzles than concentrate on a show that by itself can’t hold my interest. It’s become an unofficial benchmark – Battlestar and the Wire require my full attention, but I can’t sit through Eureka unless I’m multitasking. Is there such a thing as a Lumines snob?

~ by Monica Evans on September 21, 2008.