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Lux-Pain

EMAIL PRINT ds

6.3 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 33 critic reviews
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Based on 10 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Ignition Entertainment

Developer: Killaware

Genre(s): Adventure

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: March 24, 2009

Summary

Lux-Pain is set in historical Kisaragi City, a town plagued by mysteries from small mishaps to murders - with no logical explanation as to why these events occur. It seems "Silent", a worm born through hate and sadness, has infected humans and forced them to commit atrocious crimes. The hero's parents, Atsuki, 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. [Ignition]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

RPG Fan

Lux-Pain is a decent, and quite lengthy, visual novel for the DS, although it does come with some stipulations. If you prefer your stories completely spoon-fed to you and are averse to digging through database menus to read backstories about everything, then Lux-Pain may not be the right choice for you.

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Game Chronicles

Lux-Pain is a visual novel plain and simple. Its looks good has a good story and a nice concept. I recommend this title to anyone that wants to try something a bit outside of the norm here in the States.

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NGamer UK

A narrative oddity that we couldn't put down. [May 2009, p.73]

Deeko

Overall, Lux-Pain is a good, if not confusing foray into the world of text-based adventure games.

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Nintendojo

While Lux-Pain achieves some good things, it's hampered by its quality of localization and its over-reliance on one or two major tasks.

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Official Nintendo Magazine UK

A deep, thought-provoking title, but be warned: it's very peculiar and very slow-paced. [May 2009, p.75]

Nintendo Life

The biggest problem faced by Lux-Pain is the poor effort that appears to have been made to localize the game effectively and this lets down an otherwise very engaging title.

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Telegraph

The visual novel is a very niche genre in the west, and even forgiving the game its numerous grammatical sins, Lux-Pain will be a tough sell to most. But it deserves praise for engaging some unusually weighty themes, and weaving them skilfully into its own twisted tapestry of psychological chills and sci-fi-flavoured thrills.

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ImpulseGamer

At the end of the day, Lux Pain had a very interesting concept that unfortunately seems once again lost in translation which is a shame because the story was there, it just needed the gameplay to be tweaked.

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AtomicGamer

Lux-Pain is an ambitious title that suffers from a problem called, “biting off more than it can chew”. Although the game has interesting ideas and looks and sounds good, it's weighed down by an overlong and convoluted storyline and conspicuous lack of game play.

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GamingExcellence

However all of these facets don’t change the fact that Lux-Pain is nearly impossible to recommend. While it succeeds rather surprisingly on almost every technical level it’s still a hard sell due to the translation.

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GamingTrend

In the end, Lux-Pain is really more of an interactive novel than an adventure game, and the intriguing premise is undermined by the uninspired gameplay and confusing story

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GameFocus

Throughout the time I spent with Lux-Pain, there was an underlying feeling that the game would have been better off as an anime series. There is loads of text to read and characters to meet, but the time you spend actually playing is relatively small.

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Destructoid

Ultimately, Lux-Pain provides a mediocre experience when it could have been a much darker Phoenix Wright. Had it taken up more adventure game elements and stopped being a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book without any of the choice, I might have been genuinely impressed.

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GameZone

Quotation forthcoming.

Da Gameboyz

Although the visuals are solid, and the voice acting is strong, the confusing story, poorly localized text, and small amount of actual play versus the volumes of content you have to read all take away from what could have been a pretty cool game.

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Gamers' Temple

If you want a nice, normal text adventure on the DS, Hotel Dusk and Phoenix Wright are the way to go. Lux Pain is really only suitable for gamers who are flat-out tired of stuff that makes sense, plots that can be followed and games that can be honest-to-goodness enjoyed.

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IGN

Lux-Pain sports a slick anime art style, which is quickly overshadowed by inane seek-and-find gameplay and a baffling story. This is a very strange choice of game for Ignition to localize.

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Nintendo Power

It may look and - thanks to strong voice acting - sound like a potentially compelling anime series, but as a playable video game, Lux-Pain is a nonstarter. [Apr 2009, p.85]

Cubed3

You don't have to figure out too much, but it's a twenty hour long story, so it should keep you going for a bit if you can put up with the confusing storyline and translation issues.

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Gamervision

Lux-Pain is a game built on some interesting ideas that feel like they were never fully fleshed out, and the result is a half-baked title that most gamers will probably want to abandon after a few minutes.

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Hardcore Gamer Magazine

It’s a complete train-wreck of a game, only suitable for those with an appreciation for the amazingly awful.

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Games Master UK

Has no depth, no polish, and no point. [June 2009, p.81]

GameSpot

With nonsensical dialogue muddling the complex plot, Lux-Pain shows how an entire experience can be ruined by poor localization.

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GamePro

The premise, when paraphrased, is an interesting one and as a huge fan of last year's Time Hollow and any good mystery in general, I'm always willing to sit through any amount of text if it provides a means to an end, or at the very least, something somewhat cohesive. Lux-Pain fails on both accounts, serving as a poorly thrown together, somewhat interactive novel that really doesn't know what it wants to be - or, if it does know, it certainly doesn't want to be a game.

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Thunderbolt

Honestly, there aren’t any pros of playing this over buying a few Japanese comics or light novels instead if this is the sort of thing you’re looking for, and at least you can go at your own pace versus not being able to wade through the mostly trite dialogue.

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Kombo

Even if the game wanted to be slightly more interactive than a book, the story is so convoluted that making sense of it takes more effort than playing.

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Cheat Code Central

Most of Lux-Pain's gameplay is derived from wading through innumerable dialogue boxes by tapping the stylus or pressing a single button. If this sounds like fun to you, save yourself some money by buying a book and arbitrarily clicking your mouse 1,000 times while reading it.

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games(TM)

Developer Killaware has managed to whittle interactivity down to its barest form, reducing the medium's defining characteristic to little more than a progression through text boxes. [June 2009, p.126]

Armchair Empire

There must have been something critical lost in translation when Lux-Pain was brought over from Japan because I was a few hours into the adventure and I still had very little understanding of what the hell was actually going on.

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AceGamez

I'm sure that there are excellent and enjoyable visual novels out there, ones that handle character with subtlety, story with passion, and don't treat the reader like an uninitiated idiot - but Lux-Pain isn't one of them.

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Worth Playing

Unfortunately, the title spends so much time bogging itself down in useless side-stories and suffering from awful translation that the tale never gets off the ground. Even worse, what little gameplay actually exists loses its appeal before the game even gets going.

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Modojo

With a better interface and more (way more) work put into the story, Lux-Pain could've been sweet. Instead, its limp gameplay and uninspired design should inspire you to bury it in the dirt with all those worms.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 6.3 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Daniel J gave it an8:
The translation is a bit wonky. That much is clear. It makes following the story unnecessarily confusing at times. But there are menus filled with information about all the characters and what's happened in the story, so it's easy enough to go back over what has happened to straighten it all out. With just a little dedication, there's a brilliantly compelling story in here, one not afraid to tackle heavy subjects like murder and animal abuse. P.S. It is OBVIOUSLY an interactive novel, not an action-heavy game. Games don't have to be action-heavy. There are different genres for that. I wish the majority of critics could understand that, but apparently not!

Casey B gave it an8:
First off I gotta reiterate what some one else said. If you want a game with action don't go here. It is a very "on the rails" kinda game and in a way, again like others said, would have made a good anime movie or even series. I love the characters, the story, and the who dunnit idea of the game. What I don't like is the sad localization. Like a lot of people have said. For a while I thought my game might have been bugged. It can actually get confusing when you listen to the voice over then read the text. Even at some points having a voiced over character and a text only one in the same scene. Other than that though I am liking the game. I wouldn't mind a reissue of the game that fixes the problem but that is asking a bit much.

Seth D gave it a9:
If you're in to action games do not buy this!!! But if you like the lighter side of gaming and enjoy games like phoenix wright, then i would recommend it. Some bugs in the text/voice acting, but overall i think its a decent game.

Z gave it a7:
This game is mostly gonna be a love it or hate type game. First off the bad, the game play is pretty boring, translation errors (minor but obvious), and slow pace. The good? A rather fantastic story and a great set of characters. Honestly this game would probable make a better anime then game. Actually this game is pretty much a visual novel. So yeah. Um lots of fun try it for the endering story at least.

Wallid K gave it a2:
I really wanted this game to be good. I really did. However, this game goes beyond disappointment. I almost cried. Anyway, I'll start with the good stuff: The voice acting is really good (with anime-like quality), the characters seem to have a lot of personality, and the interface isn't hard to look at. However, the bad outweighs the good so much that the good made its own pit to hell and incinerated any redeeming quality I had of this game. There is almost no interactions with you and the storyline, the boss fights are just scribbling your screen, and the translation is so bad that I beat the game and still don't know what the hell happened. Whatever you do, don't buy this game. You'll end up falling into the pit to hell that it cleverly concealed on top of a nice box art.

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