Lux-Pain (DS) Review
The visual novel adventure genre is not an entirely popular one, and despite many offerings being put out by developers, it’s hard to find one that involves both interesting gameplay mechanics and a deep and intriguing story. After all, these games are primarily here to tell a story, hence the name. But every now and again, an adventure game comes along that is just a little bit different. Take for example Capcom’s Ace Attorney series, which successfully weaves intricate stories and engaging gameplay into a visual novel style presentation. Lux-Pain, a visual novel adventure from Killaware, a bunch of ex-ATLUS employees, attempts to recreate this success with a dark and brooding adventure game, and while the story is definitely intriguing, it’s a shame to say that the gameplay isn’t quite up to the standard.
Lux-Pain’s story is a rather confusing one, but once it all plays out you will hopefully understand what’s going on. Players take the role of Atsuki Saijo, an orphan whose parents killed themselves due to unusual circumstances. Atsuki eventually finds out that his parents succumbed to suicide due to an abnormality known as SILENT, which takes the form of a worm that fosters hatred and anger in those infected. In a bid to seek revenge against SILENT, Atsuki undergoes a dangerous operation to get LUX-PAIN embedded into his arm, a power that can defeat the SILENT. Now working for an agency known as FORT, Atsuki infiltrates a nearby high school as an undercover student in order to find the root of a disease that is causing the children to commit suicide. Naturally, Atsuki belives it is SILENT and uses his newly acquired Lux-Pain to harness Sigma, a power that allows Atsuki to acquire thoughts from the Shinen of individuals and exorcise their SILENT.
If you’re wondering what a Shinen is, well we could really call it a conscience or something similar. Everyone has one and when there is anger or hatred from this Shinen, a SILENT is born. The SILENT can amplify these feelings to the point where the individual must kill either themselves or someone else. It’s all a rather melodramatic plot but it’s also one that really deals with a lot of dark subject matter. There’s heavy recurring themes of suicide, violence, cyberbullying and murder in the narrative of Lux-Pain, with acts of animal cruelty being committed in the first act. While it’s very mature, it adds elements of suspense and horror to the story. There were times when I was actually feeling uneasy about progressing through the story due to what was being unveiled in front of me. Nevertheless, it isn’t anything scary but more like something eerie or unnerving.
Being a visual novel game, there aren’t a lot of moving graphics in Lux-Pain. Most of the gameplay takes place in front of a pre-rendered background with a character portrait talking to Atsuki, who almost always appears off screen. The backgrounds and characters are all hand drawn in typical anime style, with the backgrounds looking extremely sharp on the DS’s small screens. The character portraits, although nicely drawn with some nice artistic direction, lack any animation outside of mouth movements and this really draws away from the game’s presentation.
It’s the gameplay though where Lux-Pain really falls down. There is hardly any, that’s the problem. Players can interview characters on the bottom screen of the DS, choosing options to interrogate the characters, while the character that Atsuki is interviewing has their Shinen (a basic outline of the character) on the top screen, which flashes one of four colours depending on the feeling that they are experiencing. This can be a good indicator of whether a character was impressed with a choice in dialogue that you chose, or whether they have a SILENT embedded within their Shinen. In the event that they do have a SILENT, Atsuki can use Sigma to dig within their Shinen and find the SILENT and destroy it. This is done by erasing the character until the SILENT is exposed, which appears to be like a glow worm. Holding the stylus on the SILENT then proceeds to destroy it and expose the thoughts that the SILENT was born from. The best way to describe this sequence is similar to removing some of the GUILT in Trauma Center – doing an ultrasound to expose the GUILT, then removing it. Once you’ve removed the SILENT, the narrative continues and Atsuki can move to another area. It’s extremely formulaic, and feels more like an interactive book than a game. Naturally, this gameplay design can alienate a lot of players. There are also boss battles for when someone’s SILENT is extremely evil, but they are pretty much EXACTLY like Trauma Center – the SILENT will cause a hole, you must close it, while at the same time destroying the SILENT. It’s an interesting way to mix up the gameplay but ultimately these are just mini-games that progress the story.
And while the gameplay isn’t that great, the localisation in Lux-Pain is absolutely terrible and really removes any immersion from the game. Many times the text that is displayed on screen does not match what the characters are saying. There are multiple spelling errors, even for words that are extremely easy to spell like “a lot” and “what”, and some sentences really don’t make sense. Most of the translations are really, really awkward and it really takes away from the whole experience. It’s a shame really, because Lux-Pain’s story is brilliant but portrayed ineffectively with such a shoddy translation. Heck, some FULL SENTENCES don’t even make sense.
One of the best elements of the game is the soundtrack. Lux-Pain’s soundtrack features a nice range of tunes that really do a great job of adding another level of atmosphere to the events that conspire during the narrative. Nice up-beat tunes play during the lunch breaks at Atsuki’s school, dark and brooding tunes with a melancholic feeling play when Atsuki is talking to a depressed student, and ambient music plays when Atsuki gets time to relax (though these are few and far between). In addition, Lux-Pain features almost fully voiced dialogue, with most of the main characters having full English voice overs. Surprisingly, the voices are not that bad, with the voice actors doing a brilliant job without being too over the top, a tradition seen too often in Japanese video games. It’s just a shame that, as previously said, the voices seldom match the on-screen text.
While the gameplay is episodic, allowing for some nice portable gameplay, the game is rather short in terms of lasting appeal. Once completing the game, you will probably not want to play it again. In fact, since Lux-Pain takes between 15-20 hours to complete, you’ll probably not find the precious time to play it again.
Lux-Pain is an interesting attempt by Marvelous/Ignition to bring an interesting and unique Japanese game to the West. While in some parts it does present a very good narrative with some genuinely likable characters, on the other hand a really terrible localisation effort and a lack of gameplay elements will really put some gamers off. It’s hard to give Lux-Pain a bad score because it attempts to do everything right, but just sells itself short. Either way, this is a definite pick up for those into their adventure games, with a strong recommendation to those who like their story in a video game. Definitely not for kids, though.
Lux-Pain is an enjoyable adventure game with very dark subject matter that is sure to get fans of anime and visual novels interested. But a poor localisation coupled with a distinct lack of gameplay elements really makes it feel like youre just reading a book, with the odd mini-game thrown in for good measure. Those who enjoy their stories in games will probably really like Lux-Pain, just dont expect to be getting a GAME, per se.
Graphics 7.0
The game has hardly any three dimensional elements, but the completely hand-drawn character portraits and backgrounds all looks brilliant on the DS. Its just a shame these beautiful portraits dont have as much animation to bring them to life.
Gameplay 5.5
The game has hardly any three dimensional elements, but the completely hand-drawn character portraits and backgrounds all looks brilliant on the DS. Its just a shame these beautiful portraits dont have as much animation to bring them to life.
Sound 8.0
One of the best soundtracks in a Nintendo DS game that Ive played for a while. A mix of engaging, upbeat and melancholic pieces really adds to the atmosphere that Lux-Pain attempts to build. (Almost) fully voiced dialogue is also welcome, with most of the actors doing a nice job without being horribly over the top.
Tilt 6.5
While the episodic structure of the game lends to its portability, and the game lasts approximately 15-20 hours, there isnt a whole lot to do once youve finished. And, with such a lengthy narrative, its hard to say if youd be able to find the time to play it again anyway.
Value 9.0
Being a huge adventure game fan and putting aside its issues, I had heaps of fun with Lux-Pain and really enjoyed the episodic structure of the game. The episodes made it feel almost like a TV show, ending on a climax everytime and looking for more. If youre willing to look over the horrible localisation and the lack of gameplay, you will also have a lot of fun with Lux-Pain.
