This game was the entire reason I went for the $1-for-3-months-of-Game-Pass-deal on Christmas. To be clear, I am a Tetris nut and have been playing it since Tetris Friends was a thing on browsers. (RIP.) After Tetris 99 came out on Switch, I devoted a ton of time to play that game too (and yes I made it into the VIP room), so when a new Tetris game came out on PS4 and VR, I was veeery tempted to get it... But without a VR headset nor sufficient interest in one, I was worried that the experience would be watered down without one.
Then they announced the free multiplayer expansion, Connected, so I decided to wait for reviews. In the meantime the game came out on the Epic Games Store, and with the $10 coupon they were giving out during sales, I was almost tempted to just get it there, although like an old codger I was quite reluctant to dump a single cent of mine into that company.
But when Connected came out to rave reviews and also went straight into Game Pass, it would be a crime not to play it via the XBOX Games Launcher...right? Even without VR, people were praising it non-stop, so I took a leap...
And discovered that they were right.
Note | This post is only going to cover my impressions of the base game, which includes the Journey mode and the Effect modes. A separate post will cover the multiplayer Connected mode when I get high enough of a rank in it.
This post is a work-in-progress as long as this note is up. I'm going to be adding things in the coming days as I get more thoughts on the Effect modes.
Tetris Effect's name is based off of the "phenomenon" where once you play Tetris for a while, areas of nothing start to resemble the Tetris matrix and then you can't stop imagining Tetrominoes falling down out of an imaginary sky that you "play" with your brain when the game isn't even running or you're dreaming or something. As someone frequently afflicted by the Tetris effect, I was wondering where they were going with the title -- surely you wouldn't add a story to Tetris the way they did Puyo Puyo, right? But what the developers did was so much better. Instead of adding "word" stories to Tetris, they added an entire "world" around it via images, movement, and music to create an experience that will last in the mind of players for a long time.
Here is some information from the official Microsoft store:
Tetris Effect is Tetris® like you've never seen it, or heard it, or felt it before—an incredibly addictive, unique, and breathtakingly gorgeous reinvention of one of the most popular puzzle games of all time, from the people who brought you the award-winning Rez Infinite and legendary puzzle game Lumines. Music, backgrounds, sounds, special effects—everything, down to the Tetris pieces themselves, pulse, dance, shimmer, and explode in perfect sync with how you're playing, making any of the game's 30+ stages and 10+ modes something you'll want to experience over and over again.
To be clear, this game is NOT a rhythm game (one of my favourite genres) and the music and sounds are there to enhance the Tetris experience, not change it. It would have been a crazy feat for the developers (who made Lumines Remastered, which is sitting in my backlog) to transform Tetris into a rhythm-based game, and to be honest I'm sort of glad they didn't. I don't think it would have worked out (feel free to disagree)!
Instead, the player is immersed into a series of environments surrounding them with colour and light...
JOURNEY MODE |
Beginner |
Normal |
Expert |
EFFECT MODES |
Classic ||
Marathon |
Ultra |
Sprint |
Master |
Relax ||
Chill Marathon |
Quick Play |
Playlist: Sea |
Playlist: Wind |
Playlist: World |
Focus ||
All Clear |
Combo |
Target |
Adventurous ||
Countdown |
Purify |
Mystery |
Secret! ||
THE SOUNDTRACK |
I always need to talk about music in video games because I've been listening to it ever since I was in my mother's stomach and it's been an integral part of my life through studying, competitions, and training. And boy...the sound experience in Tetris Effect is phenomenal.
More here later.
You can find Tetris Effect here!
Playstation Store (US, also available worldwide)
Oculus Store (VR)
You can find Tetris Effect: Connected here!
It's coming to Steam summer 2021, along with free updates to PS4 and Epic's version!
You can follow the creators here!
Thank you for reading this far!
Storm
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