LUXOR 2 - Review
Added April 24th, 2007 by LightK
Luxor 2 is an Egyptian-themed puzzle game now available on XBLA. What is it, exactly, you ask? If you’ve played Zuma, you’ve already played a more difficult version of Luxor 2. In Luxor 2, you are a mystical winged scarab with ball shooting abilities. Your goal is to create matches of 3 or more like-colored balls before they enter your pyramid.
The main difference between Luxor 2 and Zuma is that in lieu of a 360 degree pivoting frog, you are located at the bottom of the screen and only able to slide to the left and right. Because of this, aiming is much simpler than in Zuma.
As a chain of different colored balls inch across your screen, you “spit” a ball with the intention of creating a match. Every time you form 3 matches in a row, the game will bestow a falling power-up. Catch it and you now have the ability to activate a special power. There are 13 power-ups, including reverse, slow, stop, scorpion, and pharaoh’s dagger. My favorite is Scorpion as this little devil will race the track eating all colored balls in its way. As you play, attempt to catch the falling Ankh coins. 30 Ankh coins will equal an extra life. You also want to catch falling treasure, such as gemstones and rings, to boost your score.
You have 4 modes of play to choose from:
Adventure – “Are you ready to battle Set in this epic trek across the sands of Egypt?” – This is your typical “complete the level and advance to another” fare. I didn’t notice an increase of difficulty from one level to the next. Even though the backgrounds changed, I quickly became bored of the rinse and repeat method of gameplay.
Survival – How long can you survive the endless onslaught of Set’s minions?
Practice – makes sense, you practice moving left and right, aiming and shooting at the multi-colored balls.
Pharaoh’s Challenge – This is a 360 exclusive. You wield the pharaoh’s dagger on the map of your choice. You shoot the balls you don’t want with an unlimited supply of daggers. Instead of inserting a colored ball as normal, you destroy unneeded balls to create your matches.
Controls are very simplistic. This is another area that Luxor 2 separates itself from Zuma. You use the left thumbstick to move across the bottom of the screen. When ready, press your A button to send a multi-colored ball into the string of balls traversing your screen. At times the chain will go under a canopy or bridge and you are unable to “see the balls.” This is really the only challenge you’ll encounter in the game.
Colors are bright. Graphics are nothing to write home about. The sounds are nearly the same as in Zuma.
Luxor 2 is a small game at a mere 25.75mb, so download time is minimal and it won’t take up much space on your hard drive.
For 800 Microsoft points, you receive 88 levels with 13 bonus rounds, 4 levels of difficulty, 4 modes of play, a player ranking system ranging from Farm Hand to Pharaoh of the Two Lands, and 12 achievements (boost your Gamerscore points by 200!). Also, this game is rated E for Everyone, so it’ll be alright to let the little ones join in.
Summary:
With no online play, you probably won’t spend too much time playing this game. If you enjoy mindless puzzle games and have trouble playing Zuma (as I do), this is a title you may want to purchase. I don’t recommend this for the hardcore gamer as you’ll find little to keep your attention.
The main difference between Luxor 2 and Zuma is that in lieu of a 360 degree pivoting frog, you are located at the bottom of the screen and only able to slide to the left and right. Because of this, aiming is much simpler than in Zuma.
As a chain of different colored balls inch across your screen, you “spit” a ball with the intention of creating a match. Every time you form 3 matches in a row, the game will bestow a falling power-up. Catch it and you now have the ability to activate a special power. There are 13 power-ups, including reverse, slow, stop, scorpion, and pharaoh’s dagger. My favorite is Scorpion as this little devil will race the track eating all colored balls in its way. As you play, attempt to catch the falling Ankh coins. 30 Ankh coins will equal an extra life. You also want to catch falling treasure, such as gemstones and rings, to boost your score.
You have 4 modes of play to choose from:
Adventure – “Are you ready to battle Set in this epic trek across the sands of Egypt?” – This is your typical “complete the level and advance to another” fare. I didn’t notice an increase of difficulty from one level to the next. Even though the backgrounds changed, I quickly became bored of the rinse and repeat method of gameplay.
Survival – How long can you survive the endless onslaught of Set’s minions?
Practice – makes sense, you practice moving left and right, aiming and shooting at the multi-colored balls.
Pharaoh’s Challenge – This is a 360 exclusive. You wield the pharaoh’s dagger on the map of your choice. You shoot the balls you don’t want with an unlimited supply of daggers. Instead of inserting a colored ball as normal, you destroy unneeded balls to create your matches.
Controls are very simplistic. This is another area that Luxor 2 separates itself from Zuma. You use the left thumbstick to move across the bottom of the screen. When ready, press your A button to send a multi-colored ball into the string of balls traversing your screen. At times the chain will go under a canopy or bridge and you are unable to “see the balls.” This is really the only challenge you’ll encounter in the game.
Colors are bright. Graphics are nothing to write home about. The sounds are nearly the same as in Zuma.
Luxor 2 is a small game at a mere 25.75mb, so download time is minimal and it won’t take up much space on your hard drive.
For 800 Microsoft points, you receive 88 levels with 13 bonus rounds, 4 levels of difficulty, 4 modes of play, a player ranking system ranging from Farm Hand to Pharaoh of the Two Lands, and 12 achievements (boost your Gamerscore points by 200!). Also, this game is rated E for Everyone, so it’ll be alright to let the little ones join in.
Summary:
With no online play, you probably won’t spend too much time playing this game. If you enjoy mindless puzzle games and have trouble playing Zuma (as I do), this is a title you may want to purchase. I don’t recommend this for the hardcore gamer as you’ll find little to keep your attention.
