Lums

Humans tend to shy away from the dark and all that crawls within it, but philosophers and deep thinkers like to remind us that there cannot be light without the darkness.

That's all well and good, but let's be honest: when there are vampires stationed in the murk, you should do whatever's necessary to bring out the sun.

Lums, by Hyperbolic Magnetism, is a physics-based puzzle game that challenges you to light things up for the sake of your own survival.

The Lums are soft, sprite-like critters that glow with their own gentle light. They live in a dense forest that has only a few fingers of sunlight poking through the tree canopy.

Some vampires from outer space decide that the dim forest is a perfect place to settle, and they make themselves at home. The Lums are not cool with this, and they elect to do something about their bloodthirsty guests.

Lums's closest relative is Angry Birds, but there are some distinct differences that make it its own animal.

For one thing, brute force isn't going to do you a whole lot of good in Lums - with the exception of the dense "cannonball Lum," none of the Lums is physically capable of knocking over the wood-and-stone structures that shelter the vampires from what little light peeks through the trees.

Strategy and forethought are necessary to get you ahead - though that's not to say the game lacks instances of glorious destruction.

At the start of each level, you're allotted a certain number of Lums, each with different abilities. The cannonball Lum can smash through wood and knock over concrete blocks. The light Lum creates a spotlight when it smashes against a surface. The transparent Lum can turn stone into glass, which lets in the sun and flash-fries sheltered vampires.

Best of all is the anti-gravity Lum, which touches objects and sends them flying upwards. And what goes up must come down, in a deadly shower of wood and concrete.

You need to evaporate all the vampires with sunlight in order to complete a level and progress to the next, but collecting the stars in each stage is what allows you to unlock each set of levels.

You can bodily collect the stars (which is made possible by the fact the Lums can float indefinitely and will follow your finger as long as they don't touch a solid surface), and knocking debris onto a star will nab it for you too. Collecting stars takes patience, partially because they're tiny and difficult to see.

Another problem with Lums is the inability to scope out a level before you start bouncing around it.

You can slide your finger around to get a very limited view of the playfield, but the only way to really see what you're up against is to scout ahead with a Lum. This is a risky venture, since your Lum blinks out if it hits a solid object (and there are plenty).

Lums is a highly enjoyable and creative variation of the Angry Birds formula. It might not win you over if you've had it with physics-based puzzle games, but it may well light up your heart if you give it a chance.