[PSP] EVERY EXTEND EXTRA (PSP)

EVERY EXTEND EXTRA (E3) is a unique music game for the PSP by the makers of Lumines. Published by Q? Entertainment, E3 puts you in a ship-like mobile and pits you against hordes of enemies moving across the screen. Theres a catch though: Your only weapon is yourself. You have to kill yourself to create chain explosions amongst the enemies. Of course to do this, you must time your explosions to chain the maximum amount of enemies.

Everything you do, of course, affects the music: even the different directions in which you move. The face buttons all have you explode, while the analog nub and D-pad both can be used to move your mobile. The games visual and musical effects are all very similar to Q?'s previous music game, Lumines. Each level's enemies have a different appearance, and the background and music change after every boss battle.

Considering the crap that will be Lumines 2, with the licensed music from crappy American artists, its safe to say that EVERY EXTEND EXTRA is the true sequel to Lumines, and for those who have been waiting, trust me, it will not disappoint.

You can download the PC demo here.

US release date is Q4 2006 and will retail for $30 alongside Lumines 2. Japanese version was released today (8/13). If you're desperate and are willing to pay $15 more + shipping, the Japanese version has no Japanese besides the PSP system stuff.



Jam it back in, in the dark.

I find Every Extend Extra to be seriously lacking in the feature department. After playing and absolutely loving the original PC game, I was looking forward to the extended PSP release, but it offers nothing special in comparison to the free "demo" available for PC. The only interesting addition seems to be the WiFi multiplayer mode, but who is fortunate enough to always have friends with PSPs at their disposal?

Everything else is actually a drawback from the original, in my opinion. The colorful and bustling visuals are extremely distracting from the actual gameplay, to the extend that you can't really differentiate moving objects from the pulsating background. Compared to the stylish and aesthetic cel shading look of the PC demo, I find the psychedelic trance skins of Every Extend Extra just plain ugly.

So after being extremely fustrated and fed up with arcade mode (which only offers few levels anyways), I just find myself playing the original mode from time to time, which is essentially identical to the PC demo. However you put it, this game certainly isn't worth $30.

There's nowhere I can't reach.