Luxor Evolved, released in 2012 by Mumbo Jumbo, takes Luxor to a new level that previous installments didn't. Faster and more difficult, Luxor Evolved really targets a more hardcore audience than the previous casual audience ('m sorry, the name of the game is actually "difficulty", sorry for the confusion). It even has actual bosses now! Luxor Evolved does many things differently, and I'm here to break it all down for you.

Graphics - 8

The graphics are, different. While the other Luxor games were detailed and Egyptian themed, Evolved has a much more simplistic design and neon look and feel. The background is always just stars, the balls are colored circles with stars in them, and the pyramids are, well, lines that look more like a square with a cross in it. As bad as I just made that sound, the neon look it has makes them look great and fits amazingly well with the gameplay of Luxor and the arcade feel that Evolved goes for. But what do graphics matter when everything is moving so fast that you hardly have time to react to the game?

Sound - 8

The music in this game, like the graphics, throws any resemblance to previous games out the window. To fit in with the colorful visuals and fast-paced gameplay, the game now has dubstep that gets more intense the closer a chain gets to the pyramid. The music may not be too great on its own, but it fits the game extremely well, making it seem all the more intense and impossible when you have a chain with a half ball almost inside your pyramid, which is literally every level (I'm not even exaggerating). If your interested in giving it a listen, check over here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/205830/discussions/0/540736587121527650/?insideModal=1.

Addictiveness - 8

This game will be as addictive as either crack, or potatoes. It really depends on if you enjoy difficulty, as that really is the main focus of Evolved. That is all there is to it, if you like extremely difficult games, you'll like this. If you are more casual, then this likely isn't your cup of tea.

Story - N/A

You, the player, control a magical flying space ship in space. Your are tasked with the job of destroying magical colorful balls flying in outer space by shooting them with more colorful balls at them to cause them to explode. There are also magical flying pyramids, and I think space is also magical, somehow.

Depth - 7

This game isn't really "deep", as there is not much this game past difficult gameplay. There is no story, the only secrets it has are secret levels, which are just unlocked by collect treasure (usually dropped from defeated chains and at the end of levels), and past the main game there is nothing more than the next difficultly setting and achievements. But for what there is, it is still a great game.

Difficulty - 9

This is where it is at for Luxor Evolved, as this is most definitely the most difficult of the Luxor games. Doing anything from constantly making everything faster, rushing chains at you like no tomorrow, or just throwing the perception of a difficulty curve out the window, it is much harder than any of the other Luxor's.
The easiest difficulty, "Casual" gives you unlimited lives, probably to spare those who aren't so skilled (more casual players), but scoring is halved because of the inability to die. "Normal" starts you with three lives (the rest do so as well), and you have to collect heart pieces to gain more (I am not sure how many exactly, but I'd say about 20 for a live). "Hard" is much notably faster than "Normal" with the speed of everything about as fast as the end of "Normal", making you have to react faster, but scoring is doubled. "Elite" (which is not even available for play until "Hard" is completed) is even faster than "Hard" with this starting just as fast as "Hard" was at the end (see a pattern?), but your scoring is tripled.
The difficulty curve in the game is present, but that is not what you would think at the start of the first level. Every level is always on the edge, always that close to a pyramid breach at all times, and making everything feel like it is already extremely hard. However, as you progress, you will realize that it actually does have a difficulty curve. Chains get progressively get faster, more colored balls make themselves present, and bosses do progressively get harder.
Just to give you a few examples of the challenges of the games, some levels have lots of uber fast chains, and end up one long chain that covers the entire levels path (despite the original chains being rather short). Others may require you to survive for a set time rather than a set amount of chains. Actually, the bonus levels are the only easy levels.

Overall - 8

There is not much to Luxor Evolved, but it does have some solid if difficult gameplay, and great graphics and music that match the gameplay perfectly. You can find the game (and more info on it) over on steam: http://store.steampowered.com/video/205830/81468.

I have never even heard of that game, but I must say that you gave an excellent overview of it. It's structured well, you give plenty of details and, most importantly, you compare it to previous games of the franchise. I might try it out of curiosity one day.

janus : I would have heard of this one either had I not found it at (takes moment to remember store name...) some surplus store (fails). But if you do try it be very warned that Hard and up is extremely difficult (but there is infinite continues on all difficultys (I didn't mention that in the review did I?)), but Casual should do very well if you want to just play through it.

THANKS FOR REVIEWING MY REVIEW!