Luxor

A colour-to-colour ball firing game with an Egyptian theme.

Luxor is another take on the classic colour-to-colour ball firing game. A stream of balls moves along a set path and you have to fire similar collared balls at the stream. Get the colours to match up and they are removed. The aim of the game is to remove all the balls from the screen. You lose if too many balls are allowed to fall off screen. As you progress through the levels, you are given a better position in the Egyptian community. You start as a farm hand and have to work your way up to a pharaoh.

Playing The Game

You start at a commoner and have to choose your path. Start the game by creating your profile by entering the name you wish to be called. You are then given a few options such as “Achievements”, “Options”, “Change Profile”, “High Scores”, “How to Play”, “More Games” and “Start”.

Pick from the adventure mode, survival mode and practice mode. You then pick from the casual, normal and expert mode. With the casual mode there is no scoring bonus, with the normal mode there is a 1.5x scoring bonus, and with the expert mode there is a 2x scoring bonus. You have to use your fingers to move the pad at the bottom. It contains your store of collared balls to fire at the stream of target balls as they move. It is your basic colour-to-colour mechanic.

The Soundtrack And User Interface

The soundtrack has an Egyptian feel without it getting too ethnic. The interface is smooth and has a very rounded feel to it. You do feel as if you are playing a well-developed game as opposed to an indie app you downloaded whilst you were bored. The sounds made as you play the game are a little dramatic, but it is nice to hear the effect you are having, such as explosions and cracking sounds when you match balls of the same colour.

Why Have They Made Sequels?

The company that designed the game has made sequels because people like the angle they took and the angles they have taken in later games. The Luxor games offer a twist on this type of colour-to-colour game. It comes with its own set of random events and temporary upgrades, and people like how these upgrades affect the gameplay. The quality of the build, its sound effects and visual effects are also highly polished, which imbues the game with a certain amount of quality. The game is a seemingly simple one, but the developers have taken the time to ensure a good user experience, and that is why people keep playing Luxor and its sequels.

Pros

• A well developed game
• Great sound effects
• Has an inoffensive musical score
• Upgrades and random events spice up the game
• Visual effects are very polished
• A high quality version of the classic colour-to-colour game

Cons

• Can become repetitive
• Not as replayable as its later sequels