Tetris

The most addictive game ever created.

Review By Brick Boy

This review is about Tetris for the Game Boy especially.

Tetris. For any gamer that should immediately ring a bell. Tetris is a very, very old game. Old as they come. In fact, I believe it was developed shortly after Pong. Not sure though. Tetris was a Russian game, or should I say is since it is still immensely popular. I'm not sure but I know for a fact that it is one of the only games to be ported to ever major system ever to come out (this includes the Atari, NES, Master System, Genesis, SNES, PSX, Gameboy, GBC, GBA, PS2, XBOX, Saturn, DC, N64, Gamecube, Neo Geo, and Wonderswan). 

That's alotta systems. And alot of people debate over which version is the best. In 3rd place is the original Tengen version, followed by the Nintendo version (where Type A is the Nutcracker tune). However, most people will agree the best version universally is the Gameboy version. Why? I'll discuss it in this review.

The graphics are those to marvel at. Even now it still deserves a good ole 10/10. What do you expect? It's a bunch of blocks. Yeah, most people will think that even as a 2d game that it should look better. So, if you look at it that way it should get a 1. Or, you could look at it my way. This was for the Gameboy. The system is weaker than the NES. So, it's impressive that it looks just as good as the NES version. Also, I don't think anyone can really tell when the game came from. Just by lookin at a screen now on the GBA you could even think its a new GBA game because they made it so efficient that nothing actually looks bad. 

Next, we get on to the gameplay. Ha, the gameplay could be summed up in a sentence, but few people realize why it is so good. Most people just think it's a good puzzle game. Some people, like me, recognize its true genius. The game is very VERY simple. All that happens is there are a bunch of falling blocks. The blocks consist of 4 squares re-arranged to make different shapes. 

You must take the blocks and arrange them in order to make perfect lines. When you do, the blocks will disappear. The objective is to see how long you can go before the blocks overflow to the top of the screen. Pretty simple, huh? Yeah, it is. It was done on the Atari, and I could probably program a game in basic to do it. But, here is where the genius comes in. It is very simple to make, but the game is so complex that its mind boggling how it was made.

You'd think it would be one of those games that you play once and have fun with it, then walk away and never look back. How wrong you are. The game is a black hole that sucks you in. Once you play it you can not put it down. And I am serious. Playing the game is actually very easy. They throw blocks at you, you take them, and press a button to manipulate them in such a way that you can connect them together and make straight lines. Something as simple as re-arranging blocks could never have been dreamed to be so much fun. Whether you're 3 or 30 the game is always fun. It can be played by anyone, and it is one of those games you spend a life-time trying to master. 

It's basis follows: Every 10 lines you make you go up a level. The blocks start to fall a little faster. Seems simple enough, right? Hahaha. The more you play it the more you realize how simple it is not. As you play it you become better and increase your reflexes to learn where you can place a shape, what shape you should try to make a space for, and ways to setup areas where you can get a Tetris, or four consecutive lines with one block. All the while the game is speeding up, and you must speed up with it. 

The game never ends. For all we know someone with no life at home one day might've gotten to level 49. No one can ever end it. While most people think the purpose is to see how many lines you can get, that is not the case. The purpose is actually your high score. You could have 5000 lines, but if your score wasn’t 100,000 you wouldn't get to see the rocket blast off. Another thing about the game. It is totally weird. 

Getting a score of 100,000 results in seeing a little rocket blast off. A score of 200,000 gets a big rocket. And, beating Type B at level 9 results in Russian Dancers (?). So, basically it means you'll never stop playing. It's like Pac-Man where you could have had the game for 70 years but you can still play it and try to get a higher score.

Anyway, off the gameplay and replay value, I'll get to Sound and Music. Hehehe. It's very odd that you'd think a game with nothing to work with but beeps could have one of the best soundtracks ever. On the majority of the systems, the Type B and Type C tunes are exactly the same. Type B is a very fast paced weird but kinda cool battle song. 

It's a good tune to play if you're starting on level 9 and the heat is building up. Type C is still rather good, but not nearly as good as Type A (or type B for that matter). Anyway, finally we get to type A. This single track alone is what separates this Tetris from every other Tetris. This is what makes this Tetris better than the NES version, which arguably is the second best one. Why?

Because while the Nintendo one has a very good tune from the Nutcracker, this has Korobeiniki. Korobeiniki is an Old Russian tune, which they decided would be good to put back into the gameboy version. And let me say, this is probably the second best game tune of all time. It's such a simple tune. I mean, the thing is nothing but beeps arranged into a line which could probably be done in a song about 15 seconds long just repeatedly looping, but somehow it is just so amazing, like the game. 

That's the best way to describe it. It's exactly like the game. A very simple thing on the surface but awesome beneath it. As for the sound itself, it's fine. The only sound you can actually hear is when you twist a block or make a straight line. 

Finally, there's the control. Some people I have heard complain that it is not as smooth as the Nintendo version. I have no idea what they are talking about. The control is perfect. You use the gameboy's D-pad to move the blocks around and press A to rotate them. Very simple and very easy. Because the game moves very quickly and the control is so good, often you'll be making full 360 spins to fit the piece in just the right place.

So, overall, on your hands you have one of the greatest games ever made on a portable game machine. What could be better? The game has great graphics, the most addictive gameplay ever known to man-kind (Yes Starcraft, Tetris beats you. I'm sorry, but we still love you), one of the best soundtracks ever, perfect and smooth control, and just awesome polish. 

If all of this wasn't enough Nintendo was so nice that you can play as Mario and Luigi and play against each other! If you have not heard of this game get out of the rock you've been under for 20 years, and if you haven’t bought it yet shell out the 15 bucks it'll take to buy an original gameboy and this game. 

NAME: TETRIS

SYSTEM: Every system that exists