Luxor 2

Luxor 2
Developer(s)	MumboJumbo
Publisher(s)	Xbox Game Studios
Designer(s)	Scott Hansen
Series	Luxor
Platform(s)	Cloud (OnLive) iOS Mac OS X Microsoft Windows Xbox 360 (XBLA)
Release	October 10, 2006 Windows NA: October 10, 2007 XBLA NA: April 04, 2008 [1] iOS June 30, 2011
Genre(s)	Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single-player

Luxor 2 is an action-oriented casual puzzle game developed by MumboJumbo. First released in 2006, it is the sequel to the original Luxor , which was released in 2005. The title can be played online at several different sites, and can be purchased for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.

The game's console debut was in June 2008, with its release via Xbox Live Arcade.

Gameplay

The game challenges the user to eliminate colored magical spheres by causing three or more spheres of the same color to collide. Players do this primarily by shooting additional spheres from a winged scarab which they guide back and forth along the bottom of the screen. When spheres are eliminated, adjacent spheres which now form a segment of three or more or the same color will also explode in a chain reaction.

During gameplay, the on-screen spheres continuously move forward, pushed by additional small scarabs. If any sphere reaches the player's pyramid, he or she loses a life and is forced to restart the stage. If the player succeeds in eliminating a certain number of spheres without this occurring, new spheres cease to arrive and the level can be completed by removing those which remain.

There are a total of 88 rounds of increasing difficulty, plus 13 bonus rounds which the player can play through. In "Story mode", the player earns titles/rankings as he or she progresses through the various levels. Multiple difficulty settings are available as well, with play at higher settings yielding higher scores.

Levels and stages

The arrangement of the levels of Luxor 2 are similar to the arrangement of rounds in Zuma . There are four levels in the first stage, five in the second, and six in the third. The order of levels repeats after every third stage; however, one stage is added in this repetition, along with an extra color. For example, levels 1–1 to 1-4 are repeated as levels 4–1 to 4-4, but level 4-5 is added. Levels 4–1 to 4-5 are repeated as levels 7–1 to 7–5, but level 7-6 is added. This is also true for the other levels, except that for the 13th and 14th stage, with five additional levels in 13th stage (which are repeats of stages 4-5, 5-6, 6-7, 7-6, and 8-7, respectively) and four in 14th stage (repeats of 9-8, 10-7, 11-8, and 12-9) before entering level 14–5, the last level.

The number of colors also increases on harder difficulties:

• Easy: Starts with four colors, ends with seven colors.
• Normal: Starts with five colors, ends with eight colors.
• Expert: Starts with six colors, ends with nine colors.

The Challenge of Horus difficulty, unlocked by completing the game on Expert, consists of all 25 unique stages at the hardest possible difficulty. Unlike every other difficulty, getting a game over on Challenge of Horus does not send the player back to the beginning of the stage they were on. Beating the game on Challenge of Horus allows players to see the ending, where Set is decisively defeated.

Scoring

In general, 100 points are awarded for each sphere destroyed. The simple destruction of three spheres thus earns 300 points, four spheres 400, etc., but if the players arrange things such that they destroy three spheres which bring together three more spheres, the second set of spheres has a 2X multiplier. They can also arrange things such as having several chain reactions in a row with linearly increasing multipliers at every stage of the chain reaction.

At the end of every round (and at times during the round) jewels, rings, and coins are freed. Every stage has coins, and coins have a value of 250 points at all stages of game play (one collects coins less for their value than because every 30 coins earns an extra life). In contrast to the behavior of coins, jewel and ring values increase in a simple pattern as play progresses. Jewel values were determined through game play and many screen captures to assure that values were read properly. Every stage has two types of jewel and one type of ring.

Below are the listed the jewels and rings in the first five stages of play:

Jewels and Rings vs. Stage

Stage 1

(comprising rounds 1–1 to 1–4)

• Orange octahedral jewel (500)
• Rose quartz jewel (750)
• Gold ring (1000)

Stage 2

(comprising rounds 2–1 to 2–5)

• Rose quartz jewel (750)
• Gold ring (1000)
• Dark purple guitar-pick shaped jewel (1250)

Stage 3

(comprising rounds 3–1 to 3–6)

• Gold ring (1000)
• Dark purple guitar-pick shaped jewel (1250)
• Green octahedral jewel (1500)

Stage 4

• Dark purple guitar-pick shaped jewel (1250)
• Green octahedral jewel (1500)
• Gold and colored-enamel ring (1750)

Stage 5

• Green octahedral jewel (1500)
• Gold and colored-enamel ring (1750)
• Amber icosahedral jewel (2000)

Inspecting the above list reveals a pattern, which has been verified to be consistent throughout all 14 stages of game-play. At each stage N, the value of the "mean" jewel is 500+250*N. Each stage also has a jewel or ring with a value 250 points less than the mean and another valued 250 points greater than the mean. As one advances to the next stage, the least valuable jewel/ring drops out and a new one is added in the most valuable spot. A new ring appears every three stage. Thus at the 14th and highest stage, one would expect the mean jewel to have the value 500+250*14=4000 points.

On harder difficulties, there is a score multiplier.

• Easy: Standard scoring
• Normal: 1.5x scoring
• Expert: 2x scoring
• Challenge of Horus: 3x scoring

Power-ups

The title includes between 13 and 15 different power-ups which can be collected during play. These are earned by successfully setting off three or more explosions in a row. When this occurs, a random power-up falls down towards the player's winged scarab, but is only actually collected if the player correctly positions the scarab to catch it. Once a power-up is collected, it either has an immediate effect, or modifies the next sphere which the player will launch, depending on type. Unique or new power-ups include:

• Color Cloud - causes a cloud effect which changes the color of all spheres it envelopes to the matching color.
• Lightning Storm - causes a series of ten lightning blasts to strike and randomly eliminate spheres.
• Net - collects falling objects all across the playfield.
• Pharaoh's Dagger - changes the player's "next sphere" into a dagger which can be used to destroy any spheres it hits. The powerup grants ten daggers. In bonus stages, the player is restricted to using these.

Additional power-ups are modeled after those from existing games, such as one which slows down the movement of the spheres, and one which causes the spheres to move backward for a short while.

Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge

Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge
Series	Luxor
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Genre(s)	Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single-player

Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge is a remake of Luxor 2 for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 2 in 2007, and for Wii in 2008. Unlike the original Luxor 2, the remake introduces blessings to help the player on his or her journey to the Temple of Set. The graphics are different on every platform.

The game has a story where a songstress speaks with Thoth about the adventures of a hero who stopped Set from destroying the world.

References

1. IGN: Luxor 2