Luxor: Wrath of Set is one of those puzzle games that is going to take a lot
longer to explain than it would to learn the game just by picking it up, but I
can hardly tell you to go out and buy the game so that you can see what it’s
like so here goes…
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| Here come the marbles. |
Each level of Luxor features a board with a winding groove cut into it.
Strings of colored marbles enter the groove from the start and begin to make
their way towards a pyramid set at the end of the groove. If the marbles make it
to the pyramid you lose the game. So what can you do to stop them? You’re given
a marble launcher that can move along the bottom of the screen and fire marbles
straight up into the air. The goal is to fire marbles into the strings of
marbles moving down the groove. When three or more consecutive marbles are of
the same color, then marbles disappear and the gap in the line closes. If the
newly adjacent marbles form a new group of three or more similarly colored
marbles, then they’ll be eliminated as well and it is from these chain reactions
that you’ll really rack up the points. When you eliminate marbles coins worth
points and various power-ups such as “wild” marbles and lightning shots will
drop towards the bottom of the screen for you to try and catch with your gun.
When enough marbles have been eliminated the level is considered cleared.
The challenge in the game comes when the marble strings grow longer and move
faster. Since the groove snakes around the board, it is entirely possible that
the spot you’d like to place your next marble is blocked by the other end of the
string. Also, as the marbles move faster it becomes more challenging to shoot
the marbles into the correct spot and you may end up making your task more
difficult for yourself. In addition to these physical challenges there is the
intellectual one of working to set up long chain reaction combos. Careful
placement of your marbles can lead you to the point where you can wipeout huge
chunks of the string with a single shot.
Luxor is an enjoyable enough puzzle game that is well-suited to short gaming
sessions while on the go. If you’ve never really been into this sort of game
before, though, there is nothing in Luxor that will change your mind. You pretty
much get a series of puzzles at three difficulty levels which is just fine for
puzzle fans but is not enough to engage other gamers.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
72%. Puzzle fans will enjoy Luxor but its lack of
variety limits its appeal to other gamers.
