Game:

Lumines: Puzzle Fusion (2004)

Duration: 0:55

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6

What I will say about Lumines and its puzzle mode is that I very rarely, even at this point, can actually say what to expect next... although having that problem looking back has more to do with a sketchy memory than anything else.

As players go through the series of increasingly complex hoops laid out before you, I would hopefully not be too wrong in thinking that the prescribed formations (usually) seem reasonable enough to build, but also suggest a certain level of surprise at what's being presented as the target. "Oh, I wouldn't have thought of that one," or "huh, this should be pretty cool to try to make!" That sort of thing.

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Puzzle Mode
Puzzle 8: Create 4x4

Now here's one of those wacky monkey wrenches I promised would get thrown into the mix... and for what's technically the "easiest" and least advanced concept among them, this one sure manages to be a heck of a doozy.

I had said that Puzzle Mode focuses on construction over destruction in contrary to the way the normal game has its priorities ordered, and that's usually true... but this one is a pretty big exception compared to nearly all its neighbors.

This, however, is no mere wanton act of panel removal... because, actually, removing the required number of squares in the middle of an actual game is fairly trivial and intuitive. Building up a required formation to get that specific clear is not. Doing it from a clean slate, adhering to the no-touching rule of the puzzle (which in this case could also actually expand the formation and wreck the attempt early), and doing it all under the time limit is even more so most certainly not.

Since panels will clear out well before you get a 4x4 formation built up, and even a 3x3 set isn't exactly something you can just slap together in one pass of the clear line, we've got to be a little more strategic about this than it might appear. Since there's a practical limit to the number of pieces we can hope to drop in that time, we'll want to do as much preparatory construction as possible beforehand.

There are actually several ways to achieve the desired effect, but one that requires fewer number of pieces to be placed in one clear cycle would obviously be easier to follow through on. So, in that case, we'll want to make the clearing of one set of our inactive color to drop some pieces into place as soon as the clear line has passed and leave that much less to worry about in the precious time that remains.

It all also has a lot to do with whether or not you notice that your incoming pieces queue happens to contain useful ingredients for the target, and it's important to be willing to delay the initial off-color clear if you don't think you can finish the job in the time you'll have to do it... if you even feel like you can at all. If you can't visualize what you're about to do with what you'll be using first, then you won't be able to just hope that things will fall into place correctly on their own.

It's all about understanding, constructing, deconstructing, and reconstructing the matter of the universe! ...erm, I mean the target shape. Your reward for grasping the basic concepts of transmuting our precious material squares into the solution is another puzzle to come. That is the law of equivalent exchange.

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