I’ve been playing Tetris since I was big enough to hold the classic gameboy. Although you did have to have big hands to do that. In the old days of Tetris, there was no hold button, there was no ghost brick, you could even hide the upcoming block. Yes, block. Not a list 0f blocks. A single upcoming block. I’ll admit now that back then, I sucked at Tetris. I think I made it to around level 11 once – Maybe.
Tetris these days has come so far and added so much. In Tetris Party Deluxe DS there are 9 single player modes and a few multiplayer ones too. There’s even beginner variants with large blocks and a half sized grid.
However, the standard grid is somewhat small compared to the grid of the brilliant Tetris DS, which also had far more innovative modes and was much nicer sound and graphics. Plus, the old one has remixed music from classic nintendo games.
There is an endless mode, which pleases me greatly. Theres also a 40 line sprint, a vs CPU and a Master mode where the blocks drop instantly to the floor. This is a great challenge and something I have seen once before on the PSP minis version of Tetris by EA.
The new modes, although most return from Tetris Party for Wii Ware, are stage climber, shadow, stage racer, a multiplayer mode called co-op Tetris and a brand new (as far as I know) mode called bombliss mode.
In stage climber you have to build up to the top of the grid with one block differences per layer so a small stick figure can climb his way out the top. Each level has more random junk blocks throughout the grid and the blocks move faster as you would expect.
Shadow has you try and match a pattern as closely as you can. The challenge here is that you can still clear lines and most of the patterns only have one block from the side. the Christmas tree level can get irritating. Thankfully there is a skip block option replacing the hold function.
Stage racer has two courses, normal and advanced, for each type of block except the square and line blocks (because that would get boring) and tests how skilled you are at navigating a nearly full grid with hard or manoeuvre pieces. This variant also has an endless mode called abyss, which randomly picks the sections of the course as you play. I love this game type and only wish there were some more, harder courses.
Co-op Tetris gives two players a huge shared grid. This can be challenging for two players of different skill levels and without communication you can wind up stacking each others blocks on top of each other and making it harder to clear lines. This mode is fun although it is somewhat harmed by the size of the screen. On the Wii version this is much easier to play.
Bombliss mode feels like a new version of square Tetris, a game type I haven’t seen in a while. You cannot clear lines in bombliss. each level comes with a pre-stacked pattern and each piece has at least one bomb brick. When a line is formed, the bombs on that line detonate and the more lines you form in one drop, the larger the detonation radius. You can also stack four bombs together in a square which doubles its power.
This is one of the more unusual Tetris variants I’ve played but its still enjoyable. I tend to prefer the more standard modes however.
There is also the standard verses mode for multiplayer, however I’ve never really enjoyed this mode much. I’m not certain whether it includes items or not either, though I imagine it doesn’t as the vs CPU mode doesn’t.
There is a large multiplayer component to the game as the name would suggest. up to 8 players can play via download play meaning only one copy is needed for a group of people with DS’s to play. There is also online multiplayer using the archaic method of Friend Codes, although I cant really fault the developers for Nintendo’s online short sightedness. There is also a matchmaking service of sorts.
Overall this game is actually somewhat disappointing to me, despite the reduced price of around £20. (half standard RRP in the UK) But it is Tetris and it does have some new features that I enjoyed on the WiiWare version and am now unable to play as my Wii is back at home. The added feature of portability also helps.
Pros
- It’s Tetris
- Endless mode
- Lots of variants
- Impressive stats tracking
Cons
- Not much new
- Disappointing multiplayer
- Screen space wasted is disappointing
- Not as good as the last Tetris DS game
Overall Score – 7.5/10
Recommendation: Don’t buy it! (The new features are un-innovative and dull. But its still got good old playable marathon and sprint Tetris)
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That really is a terrible review, multiplayer is the best part of this game and its entirely skipped over