I’m purchasing an Xbox Live Indie Game every day, seeking out the quality titles that got lost in the shuffle and no longer appear in the top 50 downloads. Today is day #75, and today’s game is “Lumi”.
Lumi’s a winner, and I don’t mean that just metaphorically. Lumi won Microsoft’s 2010 Dream.Build.Play contest, out of a strong field of contenders, and it deserved that accolade.
I wasn’t surprised by its polish, the game comes from the same author (Christophe Panattoni) that made the absolutely stunning game Soul, that I reviewed back on day day 9 of my XBL-Indie-Game-a-day-binge. I’ve been in contact with Christophe on and off since, and he has dropped the price of Lumi from 400 Microsoft Points to only 240 Microsoft Points today in concert with my review going up, and Writings of Mass Deduction readers are the first to hear about it. Thanks Christophe!
First, from the developer:
“Lumi, the 2010 DreamBuildPlay winner is an action/puzzle/platform game, in a marvelous 2D universe. You control Lumi, a small creature with powers based on magnetism and light, and with the goal to save the universe sunk into darkness.”
Let it not be said that this game is not polished, Lumi is gorgeous through and through. And while this game is a platformer, you could mistake it for a physics puzzler. You must use the forces of magnetism to overcome the game’s challenges, which would be simple enough if not for the fact that you are going to be required to reverse polarity as well. One trigger activates one polarity, the other trigger the other, represented by red and blue glows on the title character. You use these powers to either attract or repel Lumi from red and blue coloured objects in the environment.
In addition to exploring the levels with your powers, you’ll also use them to reflect projectiles. You’ll spend a lot of the game in the air, using red or blue spinners which can propel. You also will develop other abilities based on light as you progress through the game. You learn more and more about what you can do with your powers as you complete the game, and experimenting with them is the key to eventually completing it, so I won’t spoil them all for you here since this is a review, not a walkthrough.
The game starts relatively easy, but doesn’t stay that way. Mercifully, like Soul, you have unlimited lives and the game is so compelling you’ll feel a compulsion to play through areas you get stuck in. Now only sale for only 240 Microsoft Points, this game goes from being a strong contender to an absolute must-buy.
For a second opinion, check out Kobun’s review of Lumi.
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