Tetris DS

"Another bad DS game with too many 10/10 reviews."

It's Tetris. Almost anybody who's been even remotely exposed to video games during the last 20 years or so knows Tetris. Blocks of different shapes fall one at a time from the sky, and you arrange them in a way that will form perfect lines across the screen. The lines then disappear, clearing more space on the screen to drop blocks, and giving you points. If you can set up a situation where your next piece will clear 4 lines at once, you score a "Tetris" which grants you a large point bonus, plays a fancy sound effect, and makes you feel good about yourself in general. The speed gradually increases and the game quickly moves from relaxed to hectic. It's simple, yet incredibly addictive and popular. It ranks as my favorite "quick and easy" game of all time - that is, the type of game I can pick up and play for 5 minutes whenever I want, as opposed to an RPG which may require me to sit down for a much longer period of time. This makes it perfect for the handheld, which may be one of the reasons why the Nintendo Gameboy version of Tetris is still widely considered to be the "best."

So we've established that Tetris is a great game and perfect for a handheld gaming system. How then can it deserve no more than a 6/10? BECAUSE NINTENDO RUINED IT. I'm sorry for the outburst. But this one hit me where it hurts. This is Tetris we're talking about here. Let me break down exactly what went wrong.

Sound - 7/10
I don't even remember if there are sound effects in the game, so obviously they aren't very memorable if they do exist, but that's not what matters. The music for the game is basically a collection of remixes from older Nintendo games, remixes which are often strange, spastic and may result in seizures. Now, I loved the first Super Mario Brothers and the original Legend of Zelda, and hearing music from them brings back great memories. But I didn't really find it fitting with Tetris, and for some reason there's no option to choose what music you hear; it just changes with each level or mode selected. The inability to choose will be a common theme in this review, by the way. The Nintendo Gameboy version of Tetris from 1989 had several extremely catchy songs, and you were given a choice of which you would like to hear while playing. Everybody I know who's played Tetris DS picked it up hoping to hear the oldschool music, but the option just isn't there. They removed the classic Tetris music that we knew and loved, and replaced it with completely inappropriate themes from Zelda. That was a low blow indeed.

Graphics - 8/10
The graphics in this game are definitely very nice. They've managed to make squares and oddly shaped blocks look about as nice as they probably could, and background images from classic Nintendo games form the backdrop for each level. In fact, not only do you see scenes you may remember from Metroid or Donkey Kong, but you actually see a little character moving around, as though somebody's playing these games in the background as you play Tetris. It's cute at first, but frankly after a while I just wanted to turn it off. Again, there are no options in this game, so you're forced to watch a miniature Samus Aran fight Metroids whether you want to or not. Of course, it's only a minor distraction, and couldn't stand to singlehandedly ruin this or any other game.

Gameplay - 3/10
This is where everything falls apart. Not being able to hear my classic Tetris music hurt, and not having the option to turn off the little Mario who dashes around in the background mildly annoyed me, but what killed this game for me was the gameplay. First of all, the game tells you what your next 6 blocks are going to be at all times (an option which, again, cannot be disabled). Now, many previous versions of Tetris had an OPTION to tell you what your next piece would be, but knowing your next 6 pieces is unprecedented. A great deal of the strategy in classic Tetris revolved around not knowing what pieces were coming, and having to make do with what you had. When you can see this far into the future, there's just no element of surprise and you never have to plan for the unexpected. Adding to the extreme easiness of the game is the fact that you can now "hold" pieces; by hitting the R or L trigger you can hold a piece on reserve for later. In other words, you can hold a "line" piece until you have a Tetris set up, then pull the line out and slide it into place. With this addition, the game couldn't be easier. In fact, it's almost impossible to lose. Of course, nothing forces you to use the Hold button, so it could be said that you still have the option to disable it by just not using it. However, nothing can make up for the ultimate disgrace to this game: the infinite spin. In Tetris, you can rotate each piece 90 degrees to fit it into place. But in Tetris DS the game is set up so that as long as you're pressing the button to rotate a piece, it will never fall. Therefore, you can continue hitting the A button at a leisurely pace and planning your next move by examining your next 6 pieces, and the game will wait for you while you decide. At first I was convinced that I had discovered some horribly overlooked glitch, but then I realized how wrong I was while playing Marathon Mode. You see, the goal of Marathon Mode is to clear 200 lines, with the speed of the game increasing after each 10 lines cleared. In classic Tetris, the game's speed seems to increase very gradually, until after level 10 or 12 the speed is just blindingly fast and only the strong will survive. In Tetris DS, the speed doesn't seem to ramp up significantly until level 13 or 14, at which point pieces essentially begin to drop immediately from the top of the screen to the bottom, offering a zero percent chance of survival/victory - that is, unless you use the infinite spin trick. It was here that I realized that the trick was put into place intentionally, as it is the only way it's physically possible to clear 200 lines. Of course, with this function, it's actually incredibly easy to clear 200 lines and even a beginner may be able to do it on his first game; after all, you can't LOSE as long as you're still hitting the A button. To sum it up, then - Nintendo has destroyed Tetris.

Gameplay continued - Variety/Replayability: 7/10
There are a number of modes to play through in Tetris DS, which to be honest does increase the amount of time it takes to get sick of the game. "Standard" mode is essentially the broken version of classic Tetris I described above, which includes the "Marathon" where the object is to clear 200 lines. "Push" mode is the only other mode I consider to be worth playing. In it, you and an opponent (either the computer or another player via the DS's respectable multiplayer capabilities) share the same playing field, with one player dropping pieces from the top of the top screen and another approaching from the bottom of the bottom screen. A player stacks their pieces against those of their opponent, and attempts to clear lines in the classic fashion. What makes it interesting is that, because you and your opponent are playing in a shared space, you can steal opportunities from one another to create lines, or attempt to block your opponent from clearing a certain section. Then, as you successfully clear lines, your opponent (along with the playing field) is pushed back. Push your opponent back far enough, and they're dead. The other options are less interesting: "Puzzle" mode essentially provides you with a screen full of blocks and several pieces which, when rotated and placed properly, can clear the screen. With 200 puzzles of increasing difficulty, at least if you do enjoy this mode you'll be at it for a while before you run out of things to do. "Mission" mode essentially makes requests of you as you play classic Tetris, such as "Clear 3 lines at once" or "Clear two lines using a piece of this type (such as the 'square' or 'L-shaped' pieces)." Supposedly it adds some depth to the game, but the arbitrarily given requests are too easily fulfilled and don't ramp up in difficulty due to their random nature. Frankly I found it to be a waste of time. "Catch" mode lets you fly a little square around on the screen as pieces from the game and Metroids (enemies from the game Metroid) fall around you. The goal is to bump into the pieces, attaching them to your body, which can then be rotated around to better fit with future pieces, and finally to enlarge your square to a certain point (4x4 blocks, which is meaningless to those who have never played Tetris, but most of you should understand). Once your square has reached the appropriate size, it will glow white. It will then explode in 10 seconds (or the next time you hit the X button), granting you points. Of course, if you manage to collect more pieces onto your body before exploding, you'll gain more points. You lose if your body becomes so misshapen from mishandling that you take up the entire screen without forming a square core which can explode, or if you run out of health, which is lost either when you ignore a piece rather than attaching it to your body and it hits the bottom of the screen, or when a Metroid touches you. I found that it's nearly impossible to die, even on the "hardest" difficulty, and that this game mode becomes tiresome after about 5 minutes (In other words, the time it probably takes to read my drawn-out and confusing description of it). Finally, "Touch" mode offers two games; "Tower" and "Touch Puzzle." "Tower" forms a large tower of pieces, with a box of balloons stuck on top. The object is to move or rotate the blocks forming the tower into clearable lines by touching the screen with the stylus, and ultimately to clear all the lines until the box of balloons hits the bottom of the screen. "Touch Puzzle" is similar, but instead of a full tower, only a certain portion of the screen is taken up by pieces, and the object is to find the combination of movements which will clear all the lines on the screen, possibly while fulfilling some additional requirement such as clearing multiple lines at once. These two modes are amusing, but add little to the replay value of the game, which is almost non-existent.

Finally... multiplayer. If not for the multiplayer, this game would have received a 4/10. Just to clarify, by my standards, anything below a 5/10 is not worth ever playing, and anything below a 7/10 or an 8/10 (depending on the length and price of the game) is not worth buying. But multiplayer does somewhat redeem this game, although I still wouldn't consider it a worthwhile purchase. This game supports Download Play, which means that you can play it with your friends even if they don't personally have the cartridge - a very cool feature. In multiplayer mode, you can choose from standard or push mode (and one other mode which is either mission or puzzle, neither of which I enjoy playing which is why I can't remember which one is available). Push mode is the same as in single player, but your opponent is a person instead of a computer. Standard mode, however, becomes very cut-throat when you pull somebody else into it. First of all, by clearing lines, you can add lines to your opponent's screen. In other words, incomplete lines will appear at the bottom of your opponent's screen, pushing them up towards the top and possibly killing them. But just in case the competition wasn't fierce enough, items have also been incorporated into the game, with a decidedly Mario Kartish theme. Red shells can clear out the bottom rows from your screen, keeping you alive. Banana peels can rearrange your opponent's screen so that a Tetris they were setting up may be ruined. The fearsome Lightning can temporarily lock your opponent's pieces so that they can't be rotated. Other items have similarly awesome effects, and add greatly to the game. Ultimately, the multiplayer mode for this game earns an 8/10 score from me, and saves Tetris DS from having a much lower overall score. However, if you will only play this game single player, I suggest AVOIDING IT AT ALL COSTS and trying to get into the Tetris for the original Gameboy.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/20/07