Tetris DX

"A must have for your portable collection"

Tetris doesn't really have a story to tell. It's purely a
puzzle game where you have to think and react fast enough to place the
falling tetrads into the right positions to form complete lines. The
more lines you clear at once, the more points achieved. Every 10 lines
you clear the speed goes up. If the blocks ever hit the top of the
screen you lose. That basically is Tetris.

Graphics: 8/10
It won't wow you on first sight but it doesn't need to. How
well can you animate falling blocks on a 2D scale anyway. Being one of
the first games developed for Gameboy Color, I'd say they did a decent
job, they didn't push the hardware to the limits but that's not
expected being released with the hardware itself. Everything is
organized and clearly visible, no eye strains here.

Sound: 7/10
The music isn't very catchy and you won't find yourself humming
it as you go around. The music is good but quite frankly you won't be
paying a lot of attention to it. As your block level rises to the top
of the screen the tempo of the music picks up until you clear it or
lose. The Russian music in the original Tetris has been replaced with
new selections and that leaves something to be missed. But trust me,
you won't be paying attention to the music when you only have 1 second
to figure out where to place a block in and 2 seconds to get it there.

Controls: 9/10
This is a major improvement over the original Tetris for
Gameboy. These controls are very responsive and the tetrads will fly
into place if you now what you're doing allowing for the higher speeds
to be manageable. My only complaint here is that the tetrads are too
responsive and that causes them to be able to climb up walls and other
pieces if rotated correctly.

Gameplay: 10/10
Tetris sounds like one of those easy repetitive games but it
will have you coming back for more. I already explained how the
gameplay is in the intro so scroll upto there if you forgot it. Tetris
DX will challenge you to beat your high score. It may sound boring
but believe me, the gameplay is addictive and fun. With Tetris DX
there are 2 new modes added, Ultra in which you try to score the
highest score within 2 minutes and 40 lines in which you have to clear
40 lines in the fastest time. My only complaint is loss of Type B
from the original, now that was a challenge on lvl 9 height 5.

Replay: 10/10
Addictive and fun. The game never ends and you can go on an on
gaining points. If you get tired of playing the 3 modes (marathon,
ultra, 40 lines) you can try your hand at vs. com in which you battle
it out tossing your cleared lines (single sends nothing, double sends
1, triples sends 2, tetris sends 4) at the computer trying to knock him
out. While you can't see what's happening on his screen, the game
displays a meter by the side of your play field which tells you how
high his stack is. The game also records your percentages of how you
cleared lines, how many lines you've cleared and gives you your overall
power. With all that data available the game allows you to face
yourself which supposedly mimics how you play based on these
percentages. If that doesn't please you, you can always link up with
someone else with the game and face each other in battle and trade your
player information.

Buy or Rent? Definitely buy.

Averaged score: 8.8
Overall score: 9

Tetris is one of those love it, hate it games, some people like
the gameplay and there are those you don't. If you hate tetris, don't
bother with this game. If you like it, this game is the perfect
addition to your portable collection.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/19/01, Updated 06/19/01