Lumines: Electronic Symphony (PS Vita) review

You now unlock new skins through an XP system, rather than reaching them in the single player mode like the original game. This is much better for casual players that may struggle to make any headway in the campaign. XP is shared across every game type, so you can soon start unlocking new avatars and skins after just a few sessions.

Electronic Symphony introduces some new mechanics that will keep you on your toes, most notably the Shuffle block which appears every so often to ruin your day. It rearranges the layout of the grid, sometimes to your benefit but more often than not it creates utter chaos, destroying your carefully laid plans and forcing you to adapt quickly. The life-saving chain block, which deletes every block of the same colour that’s touching another, regardless if it forms a square or not, no longer has to be formed into a square to work either, so it can instantly turn a faltering game around.

Like many Vita games, you can play Electronic Symphony using the touchscreen, swiping left and right to move blocks and tapping to rotate them. This works fine and smartphone gamers should feel right at home, but it’s nowhere near as precise as using the Vita’s excellent D-Pad.

Electronic Symphony is more evolution than revolution – many of the extra game modes found in the console versions have been removed, but the range of new skins and music adds some welcome variety to the single player campaign. Whether you’re already a Lumines addict or simply like the occasional puzzle game, you’ll definitely find something to like in Electronic Symphony.