Tetris Effect is another release of the classic game Tetris, but of course, it will put its own spin into things. At its core, it is Tetris, and controls exactly like you would expect. The gameplay involves falling tetrominoes, which you can rotate, soft drop and hard drop onto the bottom. The aim is to clear lines, which are only cleared if there are no gaps within that row. It’s a simple premise, but one that persists as being incredible addictive and surprisingly complex in its strategies to this day.
The game has heaps of single player content, with the main single player mode being Journey. This is like the “story mode” of the game, although there isn’t a story to go along with it. In this mode, you will play through various stages, and each stage has the objective of clearing 30 lines. The mode is comprised of 30 stages, and each stage has a different background, so aesthetically, each stage in this mode is different. It’s a short mode, depending on your skill level, it can be finished from an hour to two hours.
There are three different difficulties to pick from in Journey mode, and after each stage, you are ranked from E to SS, which is based upon your high score. Scores are awarded based on how you play, and this is where the complexities and depth of the game come in. There were ways to rotate the tetrominoes to slot it into places that may at first glance be impossible. If you clear lines back-to-back with each falling tetrominoes then there are bonus points. If you can clear the maximum number of lines at once (four), then that’s more points.
The game introduces a brand-new mechanic to Tetris, called Zone. A gauge will fill up as you play, and you can activate it at any time, which will stop the tetrominoes from falling. It affords you some time to get you out of a pinch, or if you’re good, you’ll just start hard dropping the tetrominoes like crazy to clear the lines and gain a ton of bonus points. It is a useful mechanic though and doesn’t feel shoehorned into the game. It helps during this mode since the stages like to rapidly increase the falling speed of the tetrominoes, rather than gradually like in normal Tetris games. It’s synced to the music, and so it creates this fantastic sensory experience.
The biggest draw of this new version of Tetris is the graphics. They are stunning, being bright and extremely sharp. It uses HDR to great effect, and this is a game to play to show off the capabilities of your OLED TV (or any other TV that has good HDR capabilities). Combined with the music where are synced with the falling speed of the tetrominoes, and it is unparallel in terms of immersion. The different themes of the stages are hit and miss though, since some can be too busy and distracting, detracting from the gameplay.
Apart from Journey, there are still heaps of other modes that you can play in single player, or if you’re keen, you can play multiplayer, whether that’s local or online. There’s still plenty enough in single player modes to get a lot of play value out of it. Marathon mode is your classic Tetris where you aim to clear 150 lines with the speed gradually increasing. There is also a version of the mode with the new Zone mechanic enables.
Purify mode has you try and clear lines with the infected blocks. They will appear at certain time intervals, gradually filling up the screen. The default has you trying to clear as many lines as possible in three minutes, but you can customize this with different difficulties and playing an “endless” version. Mystery mode is the spicy one, as random effects will come into play every so often. Most of these are annoying and have a negative effect such as playing with the UI upside down, appearance of unorthodox tetrominoes, big tetrominoes appearing and garbage tetrominoes. It can be quite interesting but often it is more bother than its worth as there will always be an effect that you’d hate.
Ultra mode is also like classic Tetris, where you aim to get the best score within three minutes of play. Sprint mode has you clearing 40 lines as fast as possible. Master mode is Tetris at the higher speed. It’s a frantic mode, as effectively the tetrominoes drop immediately and you need to think fast and preplan multiple steps ahead, otherwise you’ll get overwhelmed. Class Score Attack mode is classic Tetris, as in, the original game’s rules, so there are no holds and no hard drops. It’s also shown in classic retro graphics and does feel very different to the Tetris we know today.
Chill Marathon mode is basically Marathon mode but there is no game over. If the tetrominoes fill up to the top of the screen, then the field is cleared and you can keep going. However, it’ll retain the speed, and you’ll still have to clear 150 lines. Quick Play mode is the most customizable mode, as you can choose the level design, how many lines to clear etc. There are also three Playlists modes, these are centered around the same theme across four stages each. The speed remains constant and the aim is just to finish with as high a score as you can.
All Clear mode is like a fast puzzle mode, where it presents a predetermined scenario and the aim is to clear all the pieces using the limited tetrominoes provided to you. It’s short at three minutes but fast paced. Combo mode also uses predetermined sets, but instead you aim for the highest combo of consecutive line clears. Target mode has you trying to clear a specific block, by clearing that certain line. And finally, Countdown mode is another one of those odder modes, where I-shaped tetrominoes will periodically fall. There’s a shadow to show here they are going to fall down, and you’ll have to accommodate that.
Every game that you clear (or fail), will earn you experience points, since there’s a separate player level. Therefore, you will always feel that you’ve achieved something and managed to progress. Although the player level isn’t really anything substantial, as there are no awesome unlocks of perks, but watching the number go up is nice, nonetheless. The game also got a pretty substantial free update, being the “Connected” update, which added a decent amount of content (already covered above).
Overall, Tetris Effect is one of the best Tetris releases, as it provides so much more than just the basic Tetris experience. The graphics are beautiful and adds a lot to the feel of the game. It’s like a zen experience yet fast paced at the same time. The game has plenty of content to go through, and you’re bound to find a mode that you’ll enjoy. The game has the addictive nature of playing “one more game”, and before you know it, a few hours would have passed.
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