After all of these years, Tetris is still a solid puzzle game. Even after all of technology has advanced the way we see and play games, Tetris is still just as fun as it used to be. We all know how Tetris works, so I will spare you of any boring explanation of the game. What I will explain is exactly what Nintendo has done with our old friend. Nintendo has completely abandoned the Russian themes and classic music of the past and replaced it with a giant helping of Nintendo nostalgia. Each mode of gameplay is themed to a specific NES game from Nintendo's past which, at first, feels really weird. Mario and Tetris had never gone together before, so it's odd to see two games basically merging together as if they had always meant to be. But this strange feeling doesn't last very long, as Nintendo has done a good job of making them unite. I'm especially happy with the style they've chosen to present their classic games with. They've knocked out the original background and places photos that look similar to it. It gives it a neat feel and a little bit of style. |
 Mario meets Tetris. It works. |
The standard mode is your classic Tetris. This is Mario's mode, and he messes around on the top screen while you ignore him due to the amount of frantic focus you're applying to the bottom screen. What's neat about Mario on the top screen is that he progresses through the level when you clear lines. The screen remains stationary, but once you start clearing lines, the screen pans, and Mario continues his quest. The more lines you clear - the farther through the game Mario runs. He'll go into the underground area, visit a level from Mario 3, and even battle Bowser in the castle. Once you pass 100 lines, you'll start going through other classic Nintendo games. I don't know exactly why Nintendo included the ability to see the next six pieces. I can't possibly imagine anyone would need to see that far ahead. Like most Tetris games released lately, you have the option of seeing the shadow below your piece, and storing one piece at any given time. The one horrible flaw, in my opinion, is when your piece has dropped all the way to the bottom but hasn't quite connected, you can continually spin the piece. Spin, spin, spin, spin - and it will never connect to the ground. As long as you keep a piece in motion, it won't stick. It's rather lame. I've seen this before, and you can't help but do it when you're in a panic. |
Link takes over the mission mode. You solve missions as fast as you can by clearing the objectives listed on the top screen. This is pretty fun, since you never really think of how to intentionally clear lines with certain pieces. Most missions are centered around the example to the right, but it'll throw in some clever ones from time to time. You can play this a few different ways. On one end you see how fast you can clear ten missions, and on the other end you can have a never ending amount of missions and see how long you can last before you stack up too high. |
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I think the Donkey Kong mode is incredibly clever. It's a two player mode against either a friend or a CPU. You play on the top screen while your opponent plays on the bottom. You start off with an empty screen, and you just start throwing pieces at each other to form a big cluster between the two of you. Then you start clearing lines on your own side. Instead of sending junk to your opponent, you push the center pile towards their side. What this does is keep you in a constant battle to push each other to their edge. Getting shoved to the top smashes you against DK, while getting pushed to the bottom drops you into the fire pit. The good news is that you always play on the top half, even your opponent does - it just flips what you're doing to the bottom half of your opponent's screen. So no worries about having to play upside down. This mode is really fun, and a very neat twist on the classic Tetris style. |
The Metroid themed game is really lame. For me at least. I'm sure some some people like and dislike different modes so there's something for everyone. For me, this mode doesn't cut it. You control a little block that you move around on the lower screen, and tetris pieces fall from the top screen for you to catch. By rotating the entire block, you can choose where they fall to fit. I've never quite understood this, but from what I could figure out, making a perfect square charges your weapon. In about five seconds the charge destroys the outside of your block and, in a way, clears lines. Kind of odd, and a little boring. |
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Balloon Fighter is the character for Touch mode. Using the stylus you can move pieces side to side, and for rotation. Gravity is really heavy here, as any little pieces left behind are easily moved to the side to drop towards the bottom. This mode is fun, but a little dull, and it doesn't help that the act of rotating a piece is slightly complicated. Instead of grabbing an edge and rotating it, you have to tap the piece in a specific way. For instance, to make the long horizontal blue piece pictured left rotate clockwise, you have to tap the left side of it and the tap the right side. This means you click on the back end of the piece, and then click the front end you want it to turn towards. A little odd, but not too hard to get used to. What's really nice is that there is a specific puzzle mode for the Touch mode. Instead of simply clearing lines, there are 50 puzzles set up for you to clear. You aren't allowed to rotate the pieces, only move them from side to side and clear the objective. This style is much more fun to me because there's a specific way to do the puzzle to make it work, instead of goofing around and touching pieces and hoping they land correctly. |
But the absolute best part of this game is the multiplayer. This is the best multiplayer Tetris I have ever seen. If anything, this sells the game. You don't just play against a single one on one opponent - you can play against nine other people, making it a ten person game of Tetris. That's crazy. What's even better, is that you only need a single copy of Tetris DS. Using the NintendoDS's built in "Download Play" - you can wirelessly transfer the data to all of your friends by hosting a game. It's reasons like this that the DS is doing so well. If you meet someone who has a DS, you can play a game of Tetris even if they don't own it. This mode doesn't focus so much on sending junk to your opponents (could you imagine getting junk from nine other players?). Instead it's in the style of Mario Kart item boxes. Certain pieces will have a tiny question mark in one of the squares - clear the line that this "? block" is in, and you'll get a random item. The bananas will flip an opponent's set horizontally, Red shells destroy blocks at the bottom of your screen for you, Boo doesn't allow a player to see any of his upcoming pieces for a set time, and an invincibility star gives you nothing but straight lines for a limited time. |
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The online multiplayer mode through Nintendo's free Wi-Fi network is great fun. Connect via a friend code or let the game pick you an opponent that's around your difficulty level. Although the modes are limited for online play (two players, four players with items, or DK's push mode) Tetris is Tetris, and that's all you should really need anyways. There's also a nice ranking system that shows how many matches you've won and lost, and an odd point system to compare against your opponents. This version of Tetris is odd because it doesn't allow you to just play Tetris. In other words, you can't get rid of Mario and have the classic music from the original. You're stuck with Nintendo's remake. There are also surprisingly few options available to customize the game. Those complaints are pretty minor considering all the game offers. Tetris has been given a really nice make-over by Nintendo. Verdict: Fun game. |
8.7/10 |
