Lux Pain
From Ignition Entertainment Ltd
Lux-Pain is set in historical Kisaragi City, a town plagued by mysteries from small mishaps to murders. It seems "Silent", a worm born through hate and sadness, has infected humans and forced them to commit atrocious crimes. The hero's parents are victims of such crimes. To avenge his parents, Atsuki goes through a dangerous operation to acquire Lux-Pain in his left arm, a power so strong that his left eye turns golden when using it to seek and destroy Silent for good.
- Amazon Sales Rank: #11826 in Video Games
- Brand: Ignition Entertainment
- Model: 400050
- Published on: 2009-03
- Released on: 2009-03-24
- ESRB Rating: Teen
- Platform: Nintendo DS
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .25 pounds
Good game, but...
I wouldn't give this game 5 stars simply because the translation of the dialogue is so poorly done. Gender pronouns get mixed up frequently. Sentence structure is awkward and choppy. The voice over clearly does not sync with the text. Considering this game is driven by the text, it's more than a minor issue. Art style is reminiscent of Persona. Storyline has similarities as well. It needs to force the player to make more choices, though. The mystery of the game largely solves itself as the game goes on.
Good game, marred by technical issues
Lux Pain is an interesting game, but has issues that may mar your enjoyment. The story takes place in Kisaragi city, the place where the Silent outbreak is thought to have begun. People have been getting infected with worms that are causing them to become erratic and violent. As Atsuki, part of the group FORT investigating the worms, you enroll in the local high school. The school is the center of some mysterious group suicides, a place likely full of clues about Silent.
At first I was a little confused and not sure what to think of this game, but I quickly became hooked. I liked the characters and really wanted to know what happened next. And like another review I read, the game balances dark and happy really well, although it veers to the dark more often.
The game is typical of the Japanese adventure game genre. Most of the game is like a visual novel, occasionally presenting you with choices. There is also the addition of searching for worms and removing them via the touchscreen. Removing worms is never really that difficult, so there isn't much challenge to the game. However, in this type of game, it's really more about the story than anything else.
The script is probably the biggest complaint that people will have with this game. It is filled with broken english, grammatical errors (especially tense-related) and typos. However, I found as I got into the game, these issues stopped bothering me that much. Everything is understandable (except for bits here and there) and some parts are actually just fine. It's a shame it wasn't well-written all the way through, some more Q&A and editing would have solved that, I'm sure.
The voice acting is decent, although forgettable. It often doesn't sync up with the dialogue though. It frequently has better grammar than the text, which is a little off-putting. The music is decent, it fits the atmosphere of the game for the most part, but you will most likely forget about it as soon as you turn off the game. The game sports some nice art and animated sequences, which may be the biggest draw it has.
Overall, this is a game I'd recommend to fans of the Japanese adventure genre. Lux Pain isn't as slick as the Ace Attorney series or even Time Hollow, but it is worthy of your attention.. As long as you can tough out the more dodgy parts of the script.
Lux-Pain Finally Localized
I've been waiting quite awhile for a US localization of Lux-Pain and I am very pleased with the result. Basically an adventure/digital comic title like Phoenix Wright except with a sort of morbid Persona style edge (Even the art reminds me of Persona). The story, as well as the characters, are very cool while the game moves at a very good pace and keeps you interested in the characters and plot. From what I can tell the translation has come out pretty good too. To top it off the game came in great packaging (Reflective oversized slip cover), a full color manual and included a free mini-artbook. Fans of Phoenix Wright type games, Persona or just anime fans in general should definitely give this sleeper a look.
