Review by Jon Donnis
Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles is a 3D puzzle platformer from Luminawesome Games and published by the great people at Wired Productions.
Now I am a fan of puzzle platform games, so I was excited to try this game out.
You play as Lumote, a kind of bioluminescent blob character, and you find yourself on a quest to overthrow the Mastermote.
You can move your character, jump (and double jump), and possess. As you start the game you find yourself in an area, the red areas are controlled by the evil Mastermote, (is he/it evil? I don't know, but for the sake of this review I am calling him/it evil!) and the blue areas are controlled by you, to progress to the next area, you need to turn everything blue, and unlock the door (a big flower thing).
You can possess Motes (creatures that inhabit this weird world), which will help to allow you to turn areas blue, when you are in control of them, they help you, when you are not in control of them, they can hinder your progress.
The game is one big area, with six towers that need to be taken over, and fifty puzzles that need to be solved along the way.
Right from the start you are thrown into the action, there is little to tell you what to do, or even where to go, you need to figure things out for yourself, as you first start exploring, you will get on screen prompts of how to control your character as well as the interactive areas, but that is it.
Despite the lack of a level select, or much instruction, the game is pretty easy to figure out, and before you know it you will be solving some pretty complicated puzzles. For example, you might need to control Motes to position in a different area to change things to blue, but the Motes are hidden behind hard to reach areas, or you need to position multiple motes in a certain order, to reach another Mote that is needed to progress. Various obstacles will make your journey trickier, and all need to be overcome using good old-fashioned logic.
There is a steep learning curve here, there is no easy first 10 puzzles, pretty much from the get go you need to get your thinking cap on.
There is a steep learning curve here, there is no easy first 10 puzzles, pretty much from the get go you need to get your thinking cap on.
You can control the camera in a fully 3D manner, from side, around and above viewpoints, this does help you figure out what you need to do, and although sometimes you might prefer a fixed camera, I didn't find the 3D camera too much of a bother. It also helps you to have a good look around for any secret collectables.
Solve all the Puzzles, takeover the 6 towers, turn the world blue, and extinguish the red light of the Master Mote to complete the game. Sounds easy, but is much harder in reality.
The Good
Super colourful game, perhaps a bit too colourful, but that is part of the story of the game. The puzzles are tricky but all solvable with a bit of thinking.
A good challenge awaits anyone who wants to take on the Mastermote.
The Bad
The camera can be a bit of an annoyance at times, when you have to keep re-positioning it to see what you need to do next, I do wonder if a fixed AI controlled camera view that moved as you do, to show you the best view would have been a better choice?
And yes, the puzzles get tricky, pretty fast, so if you are a Gamerpoint collector, those achievements are going to take some hard work. No easy 1000 points here!
And yes, the puzzles get tricky, pretty fast, so if you are a Gamerpoint collector, those achievements are going to take some hard work. No easy 1000 points here!
Overall
Lumote is a proper challenging 3D puzzle platforming game. The challenge betrays it's fun graphics.
I really enjoyed playing Lumote, and am still playing it. Tough but fun game that I can highly recommend for any Puzzle fans wanting a new challenge.
I really enjoyed playing Lumote, and am still playing it. Tough but fun game that I can highly recommend for any Puzzle fans wanting a new challenge.
I score Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles a solid 8/10
Out now on Xbox
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