I've been stuck on this one level of Lumines: Electronic Symphony for at least an hour. Blocks of red and blue drop hard and fast from above and my fingers feverishly dance atop the controls with an ever-quickening pace. The pulsing rhythm of the soundtrack fills my headphones with the intensity of the world's hottest rave.
In one final storm of brightly colored lights and thudding beats, the pulsing cubes reach the top of the playing field and the words Game Over fade into view. But what I'm feeling as I begin the stage again isn't frustration – it's something like relief.
I never want this music to end.
One of the best launch games released with Sony's PlayStation Vita handheld on Feb. 22 is Lumines: Electronic Symphony, the latest version of the hit block-matching puzzle game originally released for Sony's PSP in 2004. The goal is simple: Arrange the falling multi-colored blocks to make perfect solid-colored squares, timing your matches to the beats of house music.
The series has had a handful of updates since the original, but Electronic Symphony rules them all. It's not because of any new features, but because its carefully selected track listing and elegant visual style best evokes the pure euphoria that comes from the unlikely combination of puzzle-solving at a rave.
I'm notoriously hard to please when it comes to house. I grew up with Daft Punk and Alan Braxe, neither of whom appears in Electronic Symphony's 40-plus tracks.
But there isn't a bad song in the bunch. The tunes take you all over the emotional rollercoaster from soothing and peaceful to chaotic and threatening. And while you couldn't pay me enough money to spend my free time listening to anything that Benny Benassi produces, even the songs I would normally hate are infinitely replayable in the context of Lumines.
You can play Lumines without paying attention to the music, but doing so is key to mastery. A faint vertical line representing the beat of the music moves from the left side of the screen to the right while you're playing. Any block matches you've made are erased when the line moves over them, which means you can time your moves to the music and rack up larger combos.
Electronic Symphony is filled with little touches that marry the addictive puzzle gameplay with the soundtrack. When you move or rotate blocks, a tiny riff plays. Make a successful match and a more melodic tone is generated.
Mastering the game is hugely rewarding because when you start constructing large combos, it feels like you're manipulating the music. The thrill of beating your high score falls to the wayside as you get caught up in the spectacle of light and sound. You're not earning points, you're playing the keyboard. You're not skillfully lining up colored squares, you're hitting the snare drums.
Each track is accompanied by a unique look for the blocks and background images. Sometimes, the cubes are adorned with subtle animations that go along with the music. It's a sight to behold when you make a particularly good match and the screen explodes in a blast of neon lights.
Electronic Symphony's best new feature is the ability to sort your favorite tunes into a specified order and play them straight through. Or you can have your favorite song run on an endless loop and relive that moment of pure ecstasy, where it's just you and the music.
Move, rotate, drop, boom. Again and again.
WIRED Beautiful, entrancing music, finely polished puzzling, stunning visuals, makes you feel like the world's biggest DJ.
TIRED No online play, no Daft Punk.
Rating: 
$40, Ubisoft
