The first you’ll notice about Luxor Evolved that stands out from any other Luxor game are the graphics. The game has gone from the ancient civilization to something more modern, more neon.

Luxor Evolved HD (Universal: $2.99) 

“In an all-new, completely revamped LUXOR Evolved, the chains are faster, the power-ups more awesome, the shooters more stealthy. In this retro-styled arcade shooter, you’ll experience a faster, more intense LUXOR, unlike any you’ve seen before.”

Presentation

The result is an eye catching game that I can’t help but compare a bit to how Geometry Wars looks. The game still keeps its Egyptian roots, but it’s surrounded by all the futuristic things MumboJumbo has done. To add to the vector graphics, the game also features a retro chiptune soundtrack, which to me, combined with the neon graphics and exploding vectors, keep the game fresh from the previous Luxor titles, or any other marble shooters on the AppStore right now.

Controls

Although some things may have changed, Luxor Evolved is still a Luxor game, you’ll be controlling the ball launcher at the bottom of the screen by dragging left and right. And yes, your goal is still to match three or more balls of the same color. With a little aim assist, the game shines on the touchscreen like if you were using a mouse. The one problem I had was that it was way easier to slide the ball launcher on the smaller iPhone screen than on the iPad, but I managed.

Gameplay

Luxor Evolved is still your typical match 3 marble shooter, at the end of the day. The concept is the same as always, to destroy the chains of balls heading to your pyramid before they reach it. You do this by matching 3 or more balls of the same color. The game has various powerups to take out multiple balls at the same time, like fireballs, lightning bolts, and missiles.

As well as matching the marbles, you’ll be going for the combos to get your score up so you can level up, as well as grabbing the items that fall out of the skies. There are over 60 levels (and some hidden ones), which each increasing in difficulty. Which brings me back to what I mentioned in the presentation section, the game is eye candy. The levels can get pretty frentic as you get further in, and combined with combos, the screen just becomes this explosion of neon vectors filling up your screen with colors.

Conclusion

Sure, much of the gameplay is still the same. Although the name claims to be “evolved”, it’s still a match 3 marble shooter game. Personally though, this wasn’t much of an issue. I’ve been playing these types of games on iOS for a while now (think all the way back to Blackbeard’s Assault, the original Luxor release, etc.) so the genre has grown a bit boring to me.

To my surprise though, the fast upbeat pace in Luxor Evolved, combined with top notch presentation was enough to keep me hooked on the game. The fact that the game is universal is a bonus, I’d give it a shot if I were you.