Gaming Age


Luxor: The Wrath Of Set

Author: Aaron Vaughn
Publisher: Mumbo Jumbo
Machine: PlayStation Portable

Luxor: The Wrath Of Set

Much like any other wrath, it's just the same thing over and over.

Silly little quirks. Everyone has them, even games have them. Luxor has this quirk where you'll find yourself playing it while doing five other things. This isn't to say it's boring, but that once you sit down and play through the first world, you've played through them all in a sense. The same could be said about Lumines or Tetris even, but the case is that Luxor's gameplay is designed so that there isn't much to offer aside from the book cover. Fortunately for Luxor, it's got a book cover to stare at for a bit.

A scarab decides to push balls down a path leading into a pyramid. Well, that just won't do - it's your job to stop those balls from making it in time. Why? Just do it, okay? It's fun, trust me. Your job is to fire differently-colored spheres into the trail of balls onscreen; coordinating three or more will blow them up and give our scarab friend some trouble. Destroy them all and you've saved another pyramid, yay!

As simple as Luxor's concept is, the gameplay is fun and admittedly addictive. Do you like Zuma? Magnetica? Luxor is right up your alley, and offers many levels of puzzle-action to keep you there. The addictive qualities come from the rewarding feeling of chaining together combos and using the abilities they reward you with. These same addictive qualities quickly wane about four worlds in. That's too bad because the game was so much fun! So much fun that we'll see what the next four worlds brings. Oh, more of the same? but I got a new color! Let's keep going!

This is exactly what you'll find yourself thinking while playing through Luxor. The concept is great but the level design is either not pushed hard enough or there's nowhere else to go with it. Every four worlds you'll get a new color, but to my dismay I found myself replaying the exact same level I had finished 15 levels ago. Deja vu, I had to check it out to make sure I didn't fall asleep and sure enough I was being fed leftovers. I can't imagine why the developers thought it was a good idea to include filler and then brag about "123 exhilarating levels" aside from being able to get away with it. To their credit, it was a good level to replay.

With problems such as this in Luxor, it seems as though the only changes to add a challenge would be new colors throughout the game and maybe having the balls move faster. Nothing new seems to happen for the first 50 or so levels and it's easy to realize your brain shut off or you've been having a 20-minute conversation with someone who only meant to say hi. Eventually, playing the game is only a matter of how fast you can beat the next level to get to the next level to see how fast you can? oh no, it's happening again.

Halfway through the game you're thrown a design with two paths and no extra help. Luxor slaps you across the face and ramps up the difficulty to see if you've been paying attention. You quickly realize there are still a few cards up the developers' sleeves. It's a shame that it takes three hours of game time until Luxor makes you think. Sure there are great power-ups to help you out, but they really aren't needed. The soundtrack is repetitive but it's still good.

Luxor is a decent puzzle-action game who's only real crime is being dull after about an hour. There's something about the game that feels like it could have been so much more. This is a true rental, it's got great gameplay that only lasts so long. You'll be glad you got on for the ride if you're curious, but don't expect it to be a game with anything to offer after you get used to its silly little quirks.

Aaron Vaughn

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