Tetsuya Mizuguchi

As an experiment of sorts, Every Extend Extra brings an independent sensibility and definite auteur flavor. As a retail-release game asking for my investment, it comes up short both figuratively and literally.

Again Mizuguchi's work has taken to the PSP with a precision and slickness few can match; the vivid colours and spectacular effects are revelling in that luxurious screen as if it were launch day. Although initially the audio interactivity feels straightforward and nothing beyond Rez or Lumines territory, the simple masterstroke of quickening the music tempo in line with accumulated ‘Quicken' power-ups (and therefore the game speed) adds a tense, breakneck sense of danger to high score runs.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild Fantasy Violence

Game Description: Every Extended Extra is a unique arcade-style puzzle experience! When your ship enters a colorful vortex, you're sucked into the action as you take one weird enemies. Use your ability to set off explosions to take out enemies, and your skills at dodging and weaving to keep from colliding with them—then set off that big boom that takes them all out. Think fast and use your brain to avoid going BOOM yourself.

Mizuguchi's latest experiment in merging simple mechanics with mesmerizing feedback remains an invigorating success, and probably more compulsive and complete than any other he's conducted, even if it's not necessarily the final word on the subject.

According to the ESRB, this game contains: Lyrics, Mild Violence, Suggestive Themes

Game Description: Lumines II is the sequel to popular puzzle-action game. Gamers control squares made of four smaller block pieces that are dropped into the playing field one at a time to form same-color squares. The vertical "timeline" sweeps across the playing field from left to right and wipes the same-color squares from the playing field. Unmatched blocks pile up, and the game ends when the pile gets to the top of the playing screen. Advance through many action-packed levels, each with its own musical theme and sound effects.

Game Description: It's the 25th century and our intergalactic space reporter dives into an adventure where she must battle with a series of dastardly villains! Are you ready to save the universe through the medium of dance? You must first battle wicked space nasties, the Morolians, who have attacked and subdued innocent Earthlings with their dance-inflicting ray guns. In order to break the Morolian's hypnotic grasp, Ulala must mimic the aliens' exact dance moves by keeping the beat with pauses timed to perfection. But the adventure isn't over just yet; Ulala must also face another group of intergalactic terrorists who have designs on world domination.

Why would Ulala endanger the lives of the very people she's rescuing? Simple: because a patriotic, war-frenzied populace pumps up the all-important metric that keeps Space Channel 5 in business: ratings. Throughout both games, Ulala eschews the dry, boring facts for slick packaging—a revealing outfit, provocative dance moves, sensationalistic headlines like "Evil in the Galaxy Revealed"—to drive the ever-present ratings meter higher and higher.

According to the ESRB, this game contains: Mild Violence, Suggestive Themes