Review: Tetris

Overview From the iTunes’ page: "Tap into Tetris on your iPhone! Drag, Flick and Poke your way through 15 challenging levels. Push your touch screen to the limit in Marathon Mode and earn amazing powers in new Magic Mode. Give your fingers a workout by clearing rows to rack up points. Take Tetris for a spin on your iPhone today!"

Gameplay

Ah, Tetris. One of the most classic video games ever made. We've seeen Tetris, originally created for PCs in the early 80s, explode onto the market with it's renowned GameBoy version in 1989. Since then, it's expanded onto Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, and Vista, Nintendo GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance, and DS, as well as almost every mobile platform in the world. But Tetris on the iPhone brings a new twist to this oldie but goodie. With a beautiful, high-resolution touch screen, the iPhone provides a lot of good looking real estate to flick, tap, and drag on. The game begins with a nice intro animation and continues on to the 'Main Menu'. There are two types of gameplay, 'Marathon' and 'Magic'. Marathon is classic Tetris action, perfectly integrated for iPhone usability. Instead of buttons to control moves and a D-Pad or Arrow Keys to control movement, you use the touch screen to execute your (hopefully) well thought out moves! A tap turns pieces 90 degrees and a drag to the left or right moves the piece to the left or right on the grid. A slow drag of a finger down the screen drops the piece a bit faster than normal, while a quick flick downwards drops it instantly. 'Magic' is a brand new mode that sprinkles fun and engaging items into the mix, such as: bubbles, wrenches, and more items that "pop" and "pinch" your board, changing it in your favor. Each level you play adds 5-10 more lines to your goal for the level. It's a natural evolution of the classic 'falling brick' genre that Tetris popularized, a necessary move as competitors in the space like Trism and Bejeweled make noise of their own on the iPhone.

When you start the game, there is an option to go through the tutorial; there is one for each the 'Marathon' mode and the 'Magic' mode alike. I highly recommend you do both, just to get your hands dirty with the touch screen controls. There are 12 levels in 'Marathon' mode, each getting progressively tougher as you go on, just like typical Tetris versions.

The 'Pause' menu of the game let's you select from 'Resume Game', 'Restart Game' (for when your stuck in a Tetris pickle!), 'Options', 'Help', and a link back to the 'Main Menu'.

Review

Review time. Now, I am no stranger to Tetris. I remember playing back in the day on my grandpa's old PC (which is hopefully at a dump by now) and it has always represented a fun pastime for me and my family. So I have a bit of a connection to the game to begin with... but along with that connection comes high expectations. I've played some great Tetris versions, from the classic Windows 95 edition, to the one on my iPod Video 30GB, to the Nintendo DS rendition. So to make yet another version worth my while, it's got to bring something to the table. Does Tetris on the iPhone do this?

Overall? Yes. I have a few gripes with the game, but for the most part it's proven to be very entertaining. First off, the controls work, which is a big plus when you're dealing with a new breed of user-interaction like the iPhone. They are easy to use, fun, and make perfect sense. No glitches at all either, which is always good. The 'Magic' mode is fun, with some unique things about it as mentioned above, and overall proved to be pretty good. Some things I did not like were, for one thing, the fact that there were only two game modes -- a few more could have been provided. Also, the soundtrack for the game is limited: only 2 short songs that will loop many, MANY times, which can get a bit annoying. I recommend switching off the music and playing your own in the background. So, while there's room for improvement, Tetris proved to be a fun and addicting game just like the other variations I've played.

Summary

Among the many Tetris versions, this one overall stands out, and brings some uniquenesss to the table, and is a fun, addicting game. Although $9.99 is a bit steep (I would have gone with $6.99 personally) I think that it's a worthwhile buy and a game you should pick up if you are a Tetris fan. Rock on Tetris, you've got a special place in my heart.

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