Review
Release Date: 06.27.2002
Platform:
GameCubeDeveloper:
Radical EntertainmentPublisher:
THQ, Inc.Reviewed by
Richard Brownell on 4.27.2003
| Review Rating: 5/10 | User Rating: 8/10 |
Since the 80's, Tetris has become a household name. Many who don't play video games are still familiar with Tetris. It is certainly worthy of the fame it has achieved as it is the most influential puzzle game of all time. Many puzzle games owe a lot to Tetris, including but not limited to Dr. Mario, Sakura Columns, and Super Puzzle Fighter. All share a vertical screen with falling colorful "blocks" of some kind. This familiar Tetris look makes a game more palatable to a wider audience.
Another thing has happened since the 80's as well. Tetris has come in many shapes and forms from Gameboy and NES versions to this game, Tetris Worlds. However, what exactly does one add to a perfect game? Well, its tough to add to it, but one of the better ideas is to leave Tetris alone and simply add more styles of Tetris. That is almost exactly what has been done with this title, but has it been done well? Almost. There are a few standout things about this title, but other things that push it back down to an average level game.
There are two modes of play for this game: arcade and story. The arcade mode allows you to play any of the versions of tetris contained in the game one level at a time. It's not exactly worth playing since the story mode allows you to play the same exact games and play them without pause between levels.
The story mode follows a not so complicated story. The Minos (loveable little blocks with eyes and sometimes hats) need to move to a different planet because their star (Hadar) has become unstable and will soon make life unlivable for the Minos. They have discovered an ancient technology that will allow them to move to six different planets. This technology is known as Tetrions (the Tetris playing field) and each of the six Tetrions feature a different version of Tetris.
One version of Tetris is the original, which has thankfully been left exactly the same. Those wishing to simply play the game they remembered are able to do so (with kicked up graphics, of course). The other five modes of play are Square Tetris, Cascade Tetris, Sticky Tetris, Hot-Line Tetris, and Fusion Tetris. In Square mode, the rules are the same as Tetris, except when lines are cleared that contain part or all of a perfect square will earn the player extra points. In Cascade, when a line is cleared, leftover blocks (that aren't connected to other blocks by color) will fall (cascade) down to the next line. If the cascade causes another line to be cleared, the player gets extra points. The point of Sticky Tetris is to clear the bottom row of "garbage" blocks. The catch is that colors will always stick together in sticky mode and if enough stick together, they will all be cleared at once (reviewer's note: even after hours of gameplay, this never happened even once, as 25 blocks are needed to stick together). Hot-Line Tetris shares rules with regular Tetris, except extra points are earned for the "hot lines" that are shown on the Tetrion. The higher the hot line, the more points the player earns. Lastly, in Fusion Tetris (probably the most fun of the new modes), there is a small red block at the bottom that the player must connect a certain number of single yellow blocks to which will clear the level.
All of these modes are executed perfectly and are fun to play. However, there are a few things which hold back the game. To gain a higher rank in story mode, the player has to achieve that level's goal in under two minutes, which is usually done easily for the first five or six levels. A skilled player might be able to do it for levels seven through nine, but its nearly impossible to do so after that. The graphics are very well done in this Tetris Worlds, but occasionally, the special effects are done over the playing area, which becomes quite annoying particularly when a piece is dropped every half second.
The music which has always been a part of Tetris, tradition Russian tunes like Kalinka, are absent from Tetris Worlds and have been replaced by repetive and boring techno music. At first, the new music isn't that bad, but after only 15 or 20 minutes of gameplay, it gets really old. Somehow, hearing 30 seconds of Russian music repeated over and over really is more appealing. The techno music is undoubtably there to make the game more "hip," but a good version of Kalinka with a Russian orchestra and chorus would have been much more interesting.
Tetris Worlds is a good attempt at making Tetris a worthy next generation console title, but it simply falls short. There isn't enough quality material to push this game past the average level, but it's worth a rental for those that are interested in what's being done with the Tetris name.
