Have you ever heard of Puzz Loop? Chances are you haven’t, because Zuma took its place in the casual gaming environment. There’s a bit of a ruckus over this, because people believe Zuma never credited Puzz Loop, and essentially stole it. This shouldn’t affect you though, as by now you’re used to playing clone upon clone of older titles, seeing what works and what doesn’t. Zuma was released on the Xbox Live Arcade service around launch in 2005, and now in 2007 another clone of Zuma, or Puzz Loop, comes forth in the form of Luxor 2. Luxor 2 shows just how you can expand on an idea, but also limits yourself on how far you can go with it.
Luxor 2 is the sequel to Luxor, which is yet another Zuma clone, making it a clone of a clone. It really doesn’t make much sense to try to explain it, but in the casual gaming circuit, you come to expect it. If you’ve played Zuma, the gameplay remains the same throughout – a never-ending stream of balls slowly moves from one end to the other, while you aim to shoot your own in hopes to create a group of three or more and remove them. What’s different in Luxor 2 is how these levels are actually set up compared to Zuma. Rather than confine you to the center of the board in a 360 degree circle of movement, Luxor 2 gives you an Arkanoid-like paddle, allowing you to move from side to side, letting you pull off shots easier. The amount of power-ups has increased dramatically as well compared to Zuma, offering a variety to choose from, with newcomers like the dagger, which allows fire at single balls, letting you set up combos easier. Other notables include the lightning storm, which destroys a random set of balls, as well as the color bomb, which removes every ball of a certain color.
88 levels set the stage for Adventure Mode, the meat of the game, having you trek across Egypt to battle the god Set. For an epic setup, you’ll discover that simply put – it’s boring. Much like Zuma before, you’ll find yourself engaged at the start, but not soon after you’re going to wisen up and find that you’ll be doing the same thing, over and over, constantly coming across the same layouts, with very few unique ones. Bonus Rounds pop up at intervals, which are best described as the ones found in the classic, Galaga, making even these a standard clone. Above all, the game is extremely easy, much easier than Zuma, in fact. Zuma was difficult solely because the aiming was off and clunky, making for difficult shots, whereas Luxor 2 rectifies this. You’ll find through your adventure that you’ll lose not so often, and that although the balls loom ever so closely to the other end, you’ll find that the game has no problems offering you the correctly colored ball at the exact moment you need it, as if just holding your hand along for the ride. When you get bored of this, feel free to check out Survival Mode, which doesn’t need much explaining, or the Xbox 360 exclusive, Pharaoh’s Challenge, which is exactly like Survival Mode, except you use the dagger power-up. No variety, no challenge, no fun – Luxor 2 in a nutshell.
Substituting the Mayan theme for an Egyptian one, Luxor 2 is still pretty basic in the audio and visual departments. Each level’s theme is full of that Egyptian spirit, with very little going on, such as water dripping into a pond, flames dancing on candles, or dust blowing across the sand. Now and then you’ll get tossed some sparkling jewelry and coins from your combos, and if you perfect a Bonus Round, a couple small fireworks pop in the air. Complimenting this all too simple motif is a soundtrack fit for a b-list adventure movie, and some generic sound effects that don’t go any further than clunks or clangs.
You could summarize all of this down to one question – Zuma or Luxor 2? Both cost $10, even though Zuma is two years old at this point, so it’s a matter of which is worth your dollar. Luxor 2’s achievements are much easier to obtain than Zuma’s, although having you play through each of the difficulties is a bit much. Being released two years after Zuma, why doesn’t Luxor 2 do anything beyond what Zuma already did? Between the two, there really isn’t much to offer for Luxor 2, although the different control scheme and the added power-ups rectifies some issues Zuma had, but the main problem remains – it’s tedious and just not fun. If you haven’t picked up Zuma at this point, or are desperately fiending a game like this, do yourself a favor and pick up Luxor 2 instead.
