Beautiful: having beauty; possessing qualities that give great pleasure or satisfaction to see, hear, think about, etc.; delighting the senses or mind (Dictionary.com)
If I had to name one game that defines the word, Tetris Effect: Connected will be one of those games for me. It's rare for me to experience a video game that is so moving, and so visually appealing unlike this one, and it's a freaking falling block puzzle game
Gameplay-wise, it's Tetris, but what makes it stand out from any other Tetris game I've played is its presentation. From its magnificent soundtrack and sound effects, and its marvelous visuals, they all culminate together to create an immersive experience. The Journey Mode is an excellent example of this. When you progress through the mode whatever difficulty you set it on, you'll unlock more "effects" as the game calls it, and every effect is distinct, the speed of the Tetrominoes will change depending on the tempo of the song. One little thing I love about playing the many effects in this game is how every time you rotate a piece, there's like a certain beat that plays feeling like it's part of the rhythm of the specific theme it's playing in the background, which is so cool. Playing this game just evokes a certain feeling, putting me in a state of zen when clearing lines and listening to the euphonious music, and this is best recommended with headphones to get the true Tetris Effect experience
One of the big features that were implemented in Tetris Effect is the Zone Meter. You'll see that on the bottom left of the screen, and will eventually fill up as you clear lines; once triggered, everything stops and allows you to clear a bunch of lines with the maximum being 22 lines or Impossibilitris. The highest I've gotten was Decahexatris, I haven't gotten to the point of something like Perfectris yet, but I want to achieve that someday, but it feels so satisfying when you clear a high amount of lines
Of course, there's more than just the Journey Mode available, as there are a whole lot of game modes to choose from. There's your typical Marathon, Ultra, and Sprint, but there are a lot of new modes such as All Clear or Purify, but there are a few I want to talk about the most
First up is Mystery mode. It's similar to Marathon but has a bunch of random mechanics that are activated for a particular time period, such as no-hold, having the game in reverse, or having a big giant piece on your grid. Classic Score Attack is the usual Marathon but uses the classic gameplay mechanics and visual styles from Nintendo's NES version of Tetris, which I found to be pretty cool. Finally, there is the Connected mode, an online co-op multiplayer mode that was added in the Connected update of Tetris Effect (which was the version released to the rest of the major platforms outside of PlayStation). It's essentially a 3 vs. 1 game where your team must battle against an AI-controlled boss or a human player, and the only way to attack is to fill up the Zone Meter; once the team's meters have filled up, their grids combine and have to clear so many lines as possible for a certain amount of time and knock the opposing player out by a big splash of Zone Meter clears. All of these modes available in the game are a blast to play through and are fun to replay and achieve a high letter rank
Tetris Effect: Connected is now one of my favorite Tetris games. From its visually gorgeous effects to the game modes and the upbeat and atmospheric music, playing this game gives me a magical feeling, unlike any other puzzle games I've played. This is a game that everyone should try at least once in their life, and I will always boot this game up again if I'm in the mood for more Tetris
If I had to name one game that defines the word, Tetris Effect: Connected will be one of those games for me. It's rare for me to experience a video game that is so moving, and so visually appealing unlike this one, and it's a freaking falling block puzzle game
Gameplay-wise, it's Tetris, but what makes it stand out from any other Tetris game I've played is its presentation. From its magnificent soundtrack and sound effects, and its marvelous visuals, they all culminate together to create an immersive experience. The Journey Mode is an excellent example of this. When you progress through the mode whatever difficulty you set it on, you'll unlock more "effects" as the game calls it, and every effect is distinct, the speed of the Tetrominoes will change depending on the tempo of the song. One little thing I love about playing the many effects in this game is how every time you rotate a piece, there's like a certain beat that plays feeling like it's part of the rhythm of the specific theme it's playing in the background, which is so cool. Playing this game just evokes a certain feeling, putting me in a state of zen when clearing lines and listening to the euphonious music, and this is best recommended with headphones to get the true Tetris Effect experience
One of the big features that were implemented in Tetris Effect is the Zone Meter. You'll see that on the bottom left of the screen, and will eventually fill up as you clear lines; once triggered, everything stops and allows you to clear a bunch of lines with the maximum being 22 lines or Impossibilitris. The highest I've gotten was Decahexatris, I haven't gotten to the point of something like Perfectris yet, but I want to achieve that someday, but it feels so satisfying when you clear a high amount of lines
Of course, there's more than just the Journey Mode available, as there are a whole lot of game modes to choose from. There's your typical Marathon, Ultra, and Sprint, but there are a lot of new modes such as All Clear or Purify, but there are a few I want to talk about the most
First up is Mystery mode. It's similar to Marathon but has a bunch of random mechanics that are activated for a particular time period, such as no-hold, having the game in reverse, or having a big giant piece on your grid. Classic Score Attack is the usual Marathon but uses the classic gameplay mechanics and visual styles from Nintendo's NES version of Tetris, which I found to be pretty cool. Finally, there is the Connected mode, an online co-op multiplayer mode that was added in the Connected update of Tetris Effect (which was the version released to the rest of the major platforms outside of PlayStation). It's essentially a 3 vs. 1 game where your team must battle against an AI-controlled boss or a human player, and the only way to attack is to fill up the Zone Meter; once the team's meters have filled up, their grids combine and have to clear so many lines as possible for a certain amount of time and knock the opposing player out by a big splash of Zone Meter clears. All of these modes available in the game are a blast to play through and are fun to replay and achieve a high letter rank
Tetris Effect: Connected is now one of my favorite Tetris games. From its visually gorgeous effects to the game modes and the upbeat and atmospheric music, playing this game gives me a magical feeling, unlike any other puzzle games I've played. This is a game that everyone should try at least once in their life, and I will always boot this game up again if I'm in the mood for more Tetris