Tetris Worlds

"Yes, it's Tetris, but at what cost?"

Let it be known, I am a Tetris fan. I still bust out my copy of Tetris DX for the Gameboy Color. I'm still enthralled by finding new ways to beat my high score. I love the challenges of the later levels. And I love the simple, addicting gameplay. Tetris Worlds... Well, it got one of those three right.

See, in Tetris Worlds, there's 6 different ways to play Tetris (Seven, counting a cheat). However, most of them suck. You have classic Tetris, which is fun, and a few other modes that nearly ruin Tetris. Take ''Square Tetris'' for example, in which you need to make giant 4x4 squares of blocks. Yeah, one word THQ: Why? There's Fusion Tetris, where you have to connect special atom blocks to one atom block to advance, and my personal favorite, Fusion Tetris, where blocks of the same color stick together. Not like you're going to be able to tell what the blocks are, though. The playing area is small, and the designers seemingly spent 7 months making nature animations in the background, 1 month thinking up ways people would play Tetris if they received a lobotomy, and 2 months developing the game.

I remember the original Tetris, and it wasn't about the big jellyfish in the background throwing off your judgement of the blocks. So long, simple game! But hey, there's always high scores to beat, right? Right? Wrong, baby! This game doesn't keep track of your scores. It keeps track of the number of lines you clear, and how long you played for. Any idiot who cares about how long he can play Tetris for can move to a room with a clock in visibility range, that's why they made the GBA portable. I want to go back and beat my old high scores or die trying, not seeing if I can make one single Tetris game last for 20 minutes! So long, being enthralled by attaining new high scores!

Well, does it get challenging in the later levels? Yes, but that's hardly an accomplishment. Even the Game Boy Camera would be challenging if you played it with your feet, while staring into the sun, while huffing Elmer's Mental Handicap Glue, while having angry army ants poured down your pants.

In the end, forget about this game. It's not as good as Tetris DX for the regular Gameboy Color, and you're better off avoiding it. As for me, I'll still bust out my trusty copy of Tetris DX, and let this cart collect dust.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/31/02, Updated 07/31/02