Tetris is my favorite game. I have few memories playing the NES (born in '88): strangely Kung Fu sticks out; stretches of Life Force are still vivid; being satisfied finding the second dungeon in Zelda 2; however, nothing is so etched on in my brain as the rockets taking off in Tetris. The only one of my adolescent consoles to survive my mother's divorce and the purging of possessions from our house was my Game Boy Advance because I took it to university for the sole purpose of playing rounds of Tetris on the commode.
I'm even style-agnostic. I still love classic Tetris, but I think guideline Tetris is great too. It was an unwelcome shock the first time I played it in an internet browser, circa 2010, but I eventually grew to appreciate the changes. I just want to be able to drop some blocks then beat my score.
When I first started buying video game consoles again, a decade after my GBA reliance began, nothing felt better than playing Tetris Ultimate--which doesn't even seem like a particularly beloved Tetris--on the 3ds. Then Tetris 99, my favorite iteration so far, came out, and I learned about different styles (four-wide combos) instead just of relying only on tetrises and t-spins. I'm not a particularly impressive player (win rate is 1 in 6 games), but it's so addictive and so rewarding. It's the same adrenaline to dopamine hit that comes with the best platforming challenges, like Celeste or post-Bowser Mario levels.
Recently, I broke my Nintendo dependency and purchased a Series S. Tetris Effect: Connected was one of my most anticipated games, but it was just... fine. Tetris is Tetris and that does the heavy lifting, but I don't think the aesthetic variation improves the experience in any way (in many cases it actively detracts).
I frequently had trouble seeing what was going on. The matrix was small and the action in background was distracting or, worse, seemingly misrepresenting occupied spaces at high speeds. It wasn't until the Switch release announcement that I realized the extent to which you can change the appearance settings, and I only looked because I thought it'd be impossible to play in handheld with such a tiny field of play. My experience significantly improved when I started playing on a large, opaque and colorful matrix, but it really, really clashes with the rest of the visuals. I'll keep doing it, but playing that way feels like I'm actively insulting the game's director and visual team, which doesn't feel great.
I really enjoyed Lumines Remastered; it's a top-five falling blocks puzzle game (Panel de Pon, Wario's Woods, Dr. Mario are probably the others). I don't have any of the visual complaints (full-frame field of play, lots of contrasting colors), but I really find the music annoying. It's impressive that the timing your movements can affect what rhythms you hear and it doesn't sound like a garbled, cacophonous mess, but it's REALLY not my style. The same holds true in Tetris Effect. I'd rather be listening to "Korobeiniki."
I'm not sure why, but, to me--an unsophisticated enthusiast--, the gameplay feels a little off. I'm sure some of it is that I don't really like clicky-clack-ness of the Xbox Series controller (my first since the Duke); I had more misdrops than playing with the Nintendo pro controller's defective d-pad (the joy-cons work great, and the Switch Lite's d-pad is exceptional). More than the tactile physical inputs, I found myself feeling like maybe things weren't registering immediately. I frequently went one column too far, and I'm not really sure why. I know there will be differences when changing platforms after so many years of playing a certain way, but it just feels off.
Also, the timing of pieces settling feels shorter, which would be a fine new challenge, but each seemingly early halt results in a cascading catastrophe with a half-dozen misplacements before catching up and settling down. I'm not saying anything is explicitly different, just how I perceived it, under the conditions it was played, was noticeably different than Tetris 99.
Then there's The Zone, what I was most eager to experience after seeing a couple early hands-on with the vr version. I barely used it. Once I completed the 18-line challenge, I felt no reason to revisit it. Rather than increasing my focus, I found it distracting. The shift in cadence was an additional obstacle and the transition out was completely disorienting. I imagine the effect would lessen if I spent more time with it, but that isn't going to happen.
I really appreciate experiments with old favorites, and I'm disappointed this didn't land with me. I can see how it's appealing for people, and I think the work the developers did is commendable, ultimately, this version just wasn't for me, and that's okay.
- Played for a few hours... beat Journey mode on expert, played a few alternative modes and challenges. Very good: ★★★☆☆
I'm even style-agnostic. I still love classic Tetris, but I think guideline Tetris is great too. It was an unwelcome shock the first time I played it in an internet browser, circa 2010, but I eventually grew to appreciate the changes. I just want to be able to drop some blocks then beat my score.
When I first started buying video game consoles again, a decade after my GBA reliance began, nothing felt better than playing Tetris Ultimate--which doesn't even seem like a particularly beloved Tetris--on the 3ds. Then Tetris 99, my favorite iteration so far, came out, and I learned about different styles (four-wide combos) instead just of relying only on tetrises and t-spins. I'm not a particularly impressive player (win rate is 1 in 6 games), but it's so addictive and so rewarding. It's the same adrenaline to dopamine hit that comes with the best platforming challenges, like Celeste or post-Bowser Mario levels.
Recently, I broke my Nintendo dependency and purchased a Series S. Tetris Effect: Connected was one of my most anticipated games, but it was just... fine. Tetris is Tetris and that does the heavy lifting, but I don't think the aesthetic variation improves the experience in any way (in many cases it actively detracts).
I frequently had trouble seeing what was going on. The matrix was small and the action in background was distracting or, worse, seemingly misrepresenting occupied spaces at high speeds. It wasn't until the Switch release announcement that I realized the extent to which you can change the appearance settings, and I only looked because I thought it'd be impossible to play in handheld with such a tiny field of play. My experience significantly improved when I started playing on a large, opaque and colorful matrix, but it really, really clashes with the rest of the visuals. I'll keep doing it, but playing that way feels like I'm actively insulting the game's director and visual team, which doesn't feel great.
I really enjoyed Lumines Remastered; it's a top-five falling blocks puzzle game (Panel de Pon, Wario's Woods, Dr. Mario are probably the others). I don't have any of the visual complaints (full-frame field of play, lots of contrasting colors), but I really find the music annoying. It's impressive that the timing your movements can affect what rhythms you hear and it doesn't sound like a garbled, cacophonous mess, but it's REALLY not my style. The same holds true in Tetris Effect. I'd rather be listening to "Korobeiniki."
I'm not sure why, but, to me--an unsophisticated enthusiast--, the gameplay feels a little off. I'm sure some of it is that I don't really like clicky-clack-ness of the Xbox Series controller (my first since the Duke); I had more misdrops than playing with the Nintendo pro controller's defective d-pad (the joy-cons work great, and the Switch Lite's d-pad is exceptional). More than the tactile physical inputs, I found myself feeling like maybe things weren't registering immediately. I frequently went one column too far, and I'm not really sure why. I know there will be differences when changing platforms after so many years of playing a certain way, but it just feels off.
Also, the timing of pieces settling feels shorter, which would be a fine new challenge, but each seemingly early halt results in a cascading catastrophe with a half-dozen misplacements before catching up and settling down. I'm not saying anything is explicitly different, just how I perceived it, under the conditions it was played, was noticeably different than Tetris 99.
Then there's The Zone, what I was most eager to experience after seeing a couple early hands-on with the vr version. I barely used it. Once I completed the 18-line challenge, I felt no reason to revisit it. Rather than increasing my focus, I found it distracting. The shift in cadence was an additional obstacle and the transition out was completely disorienting. I imagine the effect would lessen if I spent more time with it, but that isn't going to happen.
I really appreciate experiments with old favorites, and I'm disappointed this didn't land with me. I can see how it's appealing for people, and I think the work the developers did is commendable, ultimately, this version just wasn't for me, and that's okay.
- Played for a few hours... beat Journey mode on expert, played a few alternative modes and challenges. Very good: ★★★☆☆