Tetris DS review

There are a few games that Gamestyle has ploughed more time into than any others, reflecting a coming together of enjoyable play mechanics and sufficient free time to invest in them. There is one game, however, that has stayed with us through various phases of life, expanding to fill hours when our days were long and empty, yet still able to slot into a spare five minutes when life had become more hectic. The game is Tetris, and most recently we have been playing Nintendo's latest incarnation, Tetris DS.Sid Meier is often quoted regarding his stance towards an enjoyable game dynamic. For him, the player needs 'an understandable and enjoyable stream of decisions'. Reading a recent interview, we were reminded again of the wisdom of this statement, proven not least by an impressive catalogue of well-received games. However, we are not so sure it needed to keep him within the turn-based genre typical of the majority of his games. It is possible to deliver these decisions within a real-time interacting environment and this is something Gamestyle has found Tetris excels at; the ever-descending blocks provide the player with a steady stream of decision-encounters. Extended play uncovers increasing nuances to each decision. As the game develops, one decision affects the other as the simple play mechanic takes hold. Each Tetris piece presents its own unique conundrum, a delicate balance between the immediate progression of completing lines, the deferred pleasure of creating possible lines in the future and ensuring your Tetris 'well' remains neat and tidy.These things are true, to a greater or lesser extent, of any Tetris game. However some versions deliver and refine this experience better than others. Tetris DS does a great job of drawing on some of the classic aspects of the game whilst introducing a few novelties of their own. Graphically, the game benefits from the DS's excellent screens and Nintendo's wide and varied intellectual property (the game takes in art from Metroid, Mario and Zelda). The bricks are well-defined and brightly-coloured without being too saccharine and achievements in both the single and multiplayer games are well signposted. The two screens are put to best use during the multiplayer sessions where you can keep track of the exact progress of any of the other players via a mini-representation of their 'well' on the top screen.The music is what you would hope for and expect from a Nintendo Tetris game. There is blend of various midi style sound tracks drawn from a variety of old Nintendo games. The gameplay is also punctuated with plenty of bleeps and blaps; although not to the extent of Meteos' open music creation, this still adds to the whole experience. The gameplay provides the same solid mechanic as the old Gameboy original - blocks feel solid and land with a suitable clunk.But things are not left here; as we mentioned above, Tetris DS then draws on innovations that have been introduced to Tetris in its short life, along with a few new ideas for this particular outing. One of the most surprising discoveries was that Tetris has its own physics model. Without going into all the ins and outs, you can force blocks into tight corners by placing one end under an overhanging ledge and rotating it in the appropriate direction. The ledge acts as a lever-point to push the block down into a position that would not have been possible to otherwise reach. Known in the trade as a 'spin', this is capitalised on in multiplayer mode where achieving a spin with a T piece sends your opponent six lines, and is called a 'T-spin.' Another aspect of the game that has developed since the 90s Gameboy are the back-to-back awards for performing two achievements in a row. This results in additional rows being sent to your opponent in multiplayer. Performing a second four line clearance (Tetris) scores more points and sends five rows to a competing player.T-spins and back-to-back achievements will already be familiar to avid Tetris players, however Tetris DS stamps its own identity on the game with some innovations of its own. The power-ups, for example, can be collected by clearing particular blocks and provide a variety of special abilities that can be used against competing players. Gamestyle was surprised how well the attacks had been matched to the familiar Nintendo collectables. To name a few, mushrooms make the play speed up, bananas make the controls mixed up and koopa shells clear a line of blocks as they shoot across the screen. These all add another dimension to multiplayer play and, much like in Mario Kart, serve to enable players lagging behind to have a few more chances to catch up without hobbling the main mechanic of brick stacking.As you can probably tell, our favourite part of the game is the online multiplayer, which totally changes the feel of the game. Starting a game against other people (either locally or disparately over the world) gets the adrenaline pumping so much more than challenging the computer players or your own high score. Your ability to clear down the junk lines you are sent becomes crucial. It changes from an entirely offensive game to one where defence is also an issue. Should you save your four-line Tetris to counteract the next attack or try and get it in first? Should you go all out for speed, or try to keep your row height down? We found ourselves developing set openings, much like a game of chess, those first moves that set out your stall and present the other player with a number of challenging questions.If you have been even slightly attracted to Tetris in your gaming life (or indeed are keen on puzzle games in general), this is well worth a look. The classic single player and the revolutionary multiplayer makes this a great little package.