The New Tetris

"Clear lines, build wonders."

Tetris: a nice little puzzle game developed in the late 1980s in the Soviet Union and really hasn't stopped since. Whenever you tell someone to name an example of a puzzle game, chances are they will say Tetris first and foremost. Now, the N64 has its own version. And let me tell you, it's kind of cool, but kind of not. It's definitely not the best puzzle game ever by any fathoming of the human mind, but...why mess with a good thing?

Right from the minute you see the opening sequence of about a minute or so after you plug the game in, you know that we're definitely getting ancient here. What you probably don't know from the first time that you play this game is that by clearing lines - the whole point of Tetris - you're going to end up ''discovering'' the seven (ancient?) wonders of the world.

Basically, when you look at it, Tetris is a great game series, and I don't mean to say that The New Tetris for N64 is anything worse. It's definitely much improved over some of the original games. If you take a look at even the simplest thing - say, the block falling down on your TV screen - it falls smoothly instead of looking like the block is moving down a grid and being snapped to each position as compared to such games as Tetris Plus for PlayStation (or, if you've ever played it, TetriNET). A nice little graphical addition which I've complained about on occasion.

If you actually take a look at the game options, you have a good selection: First of all, there is Marathon if you're looking for a good test of longetivity. You have to try and clear blocks as long as your fingers and your mind can take it. Ultra mode requires you to clear 150 lines in the fastest possible time, and Sprint gives you three minutes to clear as many lines as possible. I personally think that Ultra Mode could have brought down the number of lines required to clear the game to perhaps 70 or 75. With such a high setting it's possible your field could stack up before you clear the mode. But otherwise, it's a great gameplay variation. Having only Marathon mode would be a bore of the third degree.

All these options are available, however, for one to four players. But it's so much more fun if you have more people crowded around the television screen! As some hard-core Tetris fans may know, if you clear two lines at the same time in the mode, you send one ''junk'' line (e.g. with some gaps and so on) to your opponents. If you clear three lines, you send over two junk lines. If you clear four lines (TETRIS), then you send over four junk lines! Sounds cool, doesn't it!?

Another reasonable gameplay feature is a new type of block: gold and silver blocks. Should you create a four-by-four square in your field using all the same or all different blocks, they'll all merge together and form a unified block. If any of the lines that you clear have this block in them or sections of it, you will add several more lines to your score, so take advantage of this feature!

The New Tetris features a ''shadow block'' at the bottom of the screen. Basically, it tells you where the block will fall should you drop it right at the point where your block currently is. One of my greatest weaknesses is dropping blocks perhaps too far to the left or too far to the right. Beginners will love this feature, but experts to Tetris will probably shun it.

More cool stuff: as you clear lines in Marathon, Ultra, or Sprint modes, they are counted towards a ''wonders'' section. Should you get enough lines, the Tetris blocks will form one of the seven wonders of the world and you'll be able to take a 3-D tour through these great features. While not a really dynamic feature to the game, it's a great goal for yourself to try and unlock all seven wonders and really fits in the multicultural view that this game seems to be trying to promote.

Final new feature, which is the only one that I have to complain about: the ''NEXT'' blocks. Instead of looking ahead only one block as is usual with most Tetris games, New Tetris will tell you which three blocks are coming up. If that isn't enough, by pressing the L button, you'll switch the top block in this listing (the next one coming) with the one that you are currently looking on. In my opinion this makes the game slightly too easy and that's my only complaint about the new features in The New Tetris.

Let's move on to graphics. While you play your game of Tetris, most of the time you'll see a background picture behind you corresponding to some sort of civilization or something of the like. Some of these backgrounds are dynamic. Fits in well with the ''seven wonders'' secret that I mentioned a few paragraphs back. If you look at The New Tetris' main rival in its generation when it comes to Tetris games, Tetris Plus for PSX, the graphics are leaps above.

Storyline? What are you talking about? There's really not too much storyline to this game. There is a multicultural theme to the game that explores different relics of the world and does a pretty darn good job of it, but I really can't say there's much to it. Not too much to say there.

Music and sound are definitely one of the coolest features of The New Tetris. In this game there are a variety of music styles that correspond with different cultures (dangit! Why are you acting so freaky for this review!? End note to self.) Anyways, the music has a certain tension to it, but it's still cool and fits the bill for a game like this. Some of the tracks are quite annoying, however, and need to be dumped.

By using a Controller Pak you can dump all your stats onto it, however the game will save all your statistics under a certain name that you choose for yourself. Then, it's your file and they're your relics.

In closing, when you look at The New Tetris, you might see just another Tetris game. However, when you look towards the actual goal of this game, you can see that when you clear lines, you build wonders.

FINAL SCORE: 8.3

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/02, Updated 07/09/02