Holiday Buyers' Guide 2006 - PSP

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Worried about spending $40 on flash without substance? We'll steer your wallets toward something they'll really like

For the beat-crazed puzzle fan... Lumines II (read our review)

With its beat-driven, block-dropping puzzle action, Lumines was the PSP's first killer game. The gameplay hasn't changed too much in Lumines II - players still arrange colored blocks into patterns, which are then wiped out in rhythm with the music. But this sequel ups the ante considerably, adding tons of new challenges, a sequencer that enables players to create their own tunes and even full-on music videos that run distractingly behind the action.

Packed with features and still addictive as hell, Lumines II is one game you can't go wrong with - assuming the person you're buying for has at least a passing interest in puzzle games, of course.

Second choice: Gunpey

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Mikel Reparaz
Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.
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