Game Reviews

Lumino City - Let there be light! And cardboard

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iOS
| Lumino City
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Lumino City - Let there be light! And cardboard
|
iOS
| Lumino City
Ooooh, what's that? It looks lovely

It does look lovely doesn't it? This is Lumino City. It's a point and click adventure set in a beautiful cardboard world. It's the sequel to the Bronze Award-winning Lume.

Lume? I remember that. It was good but short

It was good but short. Lumino City doesn't have that problem though. Lume felt like a taster game, but this is a fully fledged adventure that's all about finding your granddad. And dribbling a bit about how good looking it is.

I like to dribble

Weird. The game has been out on a variety of other platforms for a while now, but it's been ported pretty successfully to iOS.

Point and clicks usually work pretty well on touchscreens

They do. Mainly because your finger replaces the mouse pointer. It's not without its problems, and it can get a little fiddly, but no so bad that you're going to try and scrunch up your iPad in disgust.

It's tap to move then?

Yup. You tap to scamper around the startlingly good-looking environments. You tap to interact with puzzle objects as well. There are buttons to push, objects to find, and pieces to put in their correct place as you make your way through the game.

Are the puzzles all esoteric object combiners?

Nah, we're not talking late '80s levels of point and click obfuscation here. Everything is reasonably straightforward. Well, sort of straightforward. Using lemons to make an electrical circuit, that sort of straightforwardness.

I often use lemons to make electrical circuits

Remind me not to turn any lights on in your house. This is a more relaxed take on the genre. Things flow by at a pleasantly sedate pace, and while some of the puzzles will have you scratching your head, you're unlikely to scratch it until it's raw and bloody.

I hate it when that happens

Me too. All in all this is a lovely piece of escapism. It's a technological marvel, it's sweet without being saccharine, and it's a really pleasant way to waste a few dreamy hours. It's got some pacing issues, and like I said the controls aren't perfect, but it's still a lot of fun.

Recommend this to me then

Er, I basically just did. But yeah, this isn't your typical App Store game, and it's all the better for it. If you've not played Lumino City elsewhere, then it's well worth a purchase.

Lumino City - Let there be light! And cardboard

A wonderful looking adventure, Lumino City is about as engaging as it is gorgeous
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.