Tetris DS

"Tetris in 6 great touches!"

Tetris DS is designed by Nintendo. It is intended to be played on the Nintendo DS.

The basic gameplay is quite simple: You have a big tall rectangle screen in which various falling shapes called "Tetriminos" fall from the top part of the screen. When you line up the tetriminos in one horizontal line through the whole screen, they will disappear. The objective of the game is to line up as many times as you can to get a high score. You can also save a shape for later use. Be aware that you can only save one and switch only once after switching with the previous tetrimino.

As you progress through the game, the game starts to speed up, making you think even faster where to put those blocks. When you have no more room to drop the next tetriminos, the game is over.

The last two paragraph are, as mentioned before, the basic gameplay and objective in Tetris DS.

Tetris DS has 6 modes in which are adorned with classic Nintendo Entertainment System characters and themes. Below is a description of each mode and it's theme.

Standard mode is basically the basic old school Tetris with the same basic gameplay and objective. Within this mode, you have Marathon, in which the objective is to clear 200 lines. It is primarily themed as Super Mario Bros, but it will change to different themes as you clear 10 lines. In Line clear, you will choose the level and height, then clear the specified amount of lines. The faster and harder they're done, the more points you will rack up. Vs CPU is simply a versus match against the opponent. If you clear more than two lines at once, you will send "garbage" at the opponent, which is put below the player's field.

Push mode is played by two players only and only that amount of players. In this case, both players are sharing the same field. Your area is the top screen while your opponent's the bottom screen. By clearing at least two lines at once, you will push your opponent down the field. If you can push your opponent down enough, you will win. This goes for the opponent as well, obviously. This mode has the Donkey Kong Arcade theme riding along.

Touch mode is used only with the stylus. It's decorated in Balloon Fight sense. In this mode, shapes are stacked up like a tower. You have to move and rotate the blocks with your stylus, clearing them in the same fashion of lining them up. To win, you must have the cage of balloons on top of the shape tower to hit the ground. This mode is called Tower. In Touch Puzzle, you must improvise as you have to solve the tower with the limited and specific blocks that you have at your disposal.

Puzzle mode is played in the same way Touch Puzzle is played, only it must be solved in the original Tetris manner. This mode consists of 200 puzzles to solve, however. Also, this is based off Yoshi's Cookie.

Mission mode is easier said than done. You're given a specific task that you must accomplish within the allotted time. Your time is measured with hearts. They drain as you try to finish the mission. If all hearts are depleted, you will be given garbage as consequences. Missions usually consist of clearing a line with a certain shape. Some missions can be as simple as that, and then some could be pretty tricky to finish. This mode also has an endless mode and Time trial mode, in which you must finish a specific number of missions as fast as you can. This mode has the Legend of ZELDA theme.

Catch mode is the last mode I will describe in the main game. You control a core of a Tetrimino, catching falling shapes to fuse together with. The objective is to create a 4x4 set of blocks in order to make it explode to hit the Metroids (hence the Metroid theme) lurking about in the field. Keep in mind that the core will explode after 10 seconds once it's activated. You will lose energy if your core hits the Metroids. The game is over once you run out of energy or your core stacks to the bottom or top of the screen.

All these modes are for the Single Player mode. As for multiplayer, you can link up with 7 more friends (which would be 8 players in total) and play standard versus.

If you don't have anyone nearby, you can connect to Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection and play with other people worldwide. In WFC, you have 3 modes to play with others. Standard 2 player Tetris; Standard 4 player Tetris and Push mode. The only real difference is that Standard 4 player Tetris has items in which can make your victory a reality.

The graphics are very well neat. Every block is identified with a different color so you would know what's next without much trouble. Nintendo hopes you think of the classics as you play through the modes of the game, and it's done right, what with the NES interface and it's own game's theme and the great remixed music that accompanies the gameplay.

A game as simple as this is mighty addicting, as you may either want to get a high score, play against some others or just play to pass the time. It's playability is guaranteed to be long.

To conclude: Tetris DS is a special treat for those who like both Tetris and the old NES games.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/06