Lumines

Since the videogame's world has so much to offer when it comes to puzzle games here's another one.


This time we bring you Lumines, created by Q Entertainment for the PSP, it released in Japan on December 12, 2004. It's one of the most well known PSP titles and recommended for anyone that has the system.
It's somewhat inspired by Tetris since it uses blocks and they too disappear under certain conditions but that's has far as similarities go here.



General view:

Objective: 


The core mode of Lumines is basically to survive as long as you can, there's no time limit nor ending, just like Tetris. Here's how it works, you're given a wide rectangular area and 2x2 blocks fall from the top, they have only 2 colors or just one and a set of patterns. While these blocks fall there's a 3rd element on the works, a vertical line that sweeps the screen. When it finds a square formed by same color blocks, or even several squares as it passes they disappear. There's no limit to the number of squares you can make before it sweeps or after.




Difficulty:


There are several things to take into account, besides the way you get the blocks together, there's the "sweeper's" speed, you see, it varies with the music that's playing in the background, so if its a slower music it will take much longer to "sweep" the formed squares, on the other hand if the music is more lively it will pass through quick. One other thing is the remaining blocks after a sweep will fall when the square is clear which means if you want to last long you'll have to not only think about the current positioning but also future ones.




Variations:


These are not really variations but rather game modes such as puzzle mode, where you must solve the puzzle given just a few turns. Time Attack, against a clock and yet another that you have to "draw" a given shape or drawing with blocks. There are a couple more added in Lumines 2 as well.

Benefits of Lumines:


Well Lumines is pretty much like Tetris only with flashier graphics and music. Its very addicting for its simplicity and fun. It's good for logical thinking development, coordination, be it hand eye and even hear since listening to the music tells you how is the speed going to be.






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Puzzle Bobble

And we're back into the videogames world once again, this time covering an arcade favorite that every afficcionado knows, the classic Puzzle Bobble.

Puzzle Bobble is a a puzzle game from 1994 owned by Taito Corp. based on another company title Bubble Bobble. It spread widely across the globe and became a timeless classic even after leaving the arcades new versions kept coming out for various systems.


General view:
















Objective:

The game is simple but very addicting because of that, you're given a rectangular area with a pre arranged set of colored bubbles. You control a little mechanism at the bottom that points and shoots bubbles that are randomly given to you by the game. Each 3 or more bubbles that are put together "pop" and besides disappearing all others can were "attached" to them fall leaving you more space to work with. So basically you'll have to clear all the bubbles within a time limit that shows itself by the means of a desceding roof that pushes all bubbles down and upon reaching a determined line on the rectangle you loose the game.


Difficulty:

So besides the fact that the bubbles that you are given are random, there's the roof to take into account and then there's the pattern itself that can be really tricky to solve if you're not careful and have good aim. When you lose a life though, the game gives you a sort of directional beam to guide you until you get to the next level.

Variations:

There are numerous various of this game, like any other popular puzzle game, Puzzle Bobble's variations come in the form of multiplayer battles with power ups and other things to difficult the other player's game, more colors for bubbles as well as more bubble types. There's even a true puzzle mode with many more elements into it than only the regular bubbles, like ropes.


Benefits of Puzzle Bobble:

Well, we can't really say it has some kind of direct benefit apart from the brain training you can get by using it for quick thinking and spatial awareness, besides those there's also an hand eye coordination training because of the control over the pointer.




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Tetris

What better way to start of than with a classic.
Everyone has almost for sure heard of Tetris anytime in their life, it's a worldwide phenomena and although old can still entertain almost anyone that plays it.
Created in the former USSR by the hands of Alexey Pajitnov and released in 1984. Since its release there have been countless variants with different names and slightly different game mechanics but the core is still there.

General view:

Objective:

It's a pretty simple puzzle game, you are given a rectangular area and from the top of it there will be falling blocks, called the Tetriminos, one at a time you'll have control over direction and rotation of the pieces so that you place them in a desired position. From there you stack blocks so that you can make complete rows with them, when you do, the row or rows disappear and whatever pieces that were on top will fall to fill the missing space.

The original Tetraminos

Difficulty:

At first it doesn't seem like a really hard puzzle game, as long as you're good at stacking and placing the tetriminos, as you progress and continue to increase your score so does the speed at which the blocks fall, making you think quicker every few levels until you reach a point where you must be lightning fast on your decisions.
Winning:
It has been shown that its impossible to "win" in Tetris, for the simple fact that even if you can actually keep up with the game's speed, there's a problem with the blocks that can get picked to fall, if you get a very bad sequence of S and Z it means you'll always remain with an empty square in a row, rendering it impossible to complete.


Benefits from Tetris:

A research as shown that playing Tetris for a long time increases the brain's effeciency in things such as critical thinking, reasoning and processing as well as increasing cortex thickness.



So if you haven't tried Tetris yet, one of the few, and you want an addicting and fun puzzle game to play, give it a try!

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