Tetris DS - 9/10
Anyone who has owned a Nintendo Gameboy will know Tetris, who am I kidding the whole world knows what Tetris is, it’s a classic puzzle game where you rotate various falling shapes to make horizontal lines to clear them, with out letting them reach the top of the screen.
I’ve been a big Tetris fan for years now, the simple yet addictive game play made me go through a ridiculous amount of AA batteries back when I had a Gameboy brick, so I was pretty happy when I saw the DS version on the 2 games for $40 table at the local EB.
GAME PLAY
Tetris DS comes with 6 different game modes all with their own Nintendo theme to it, standard, catch, mission, puzzle, touch and push.
STANDARD
This is my personal favourite. You are presented with the choice of marathon, line clear or vs the CPU. You play in the bottom screen using the D-pad to move the shapes and buttons to rotate them, this game mode has a Mario brothers theme to it with the top screen displaying Mario travelling trough various classic Mario Brothers stages and as you clear lines
CATCH
This mode has a Metroid theme to it, where the objective is to move and rotate the core at the bottom of the screen and slot in the shapes falling from the top screen to create a 4x4 set of blocks, this will make the core explode rewarding you with points, but if you run out of energy or the core gets big enough to touch the bottom or top of the screen it’s game over.
MISSION
This mode has a Zelda them to it, your mission will be displayed on the top screen, which you must complete before your hearts run out, basically the hearts represent a timer. Once you have completed a mission you will receive another. There are 2 modes to mission marathon and time trial.
PUZZLE
This mode has a Yoshi theme to it. There are 200 puzzles to choose from with no set time. With the top screen displaying the puzzle that requires solving and the bottom screen displaying what shapes you can use to solve them with.
PUSH
This mode has a Donkey Kong theme to it. The top screen is your area and the bottom screen is your opponents. To push your opponent down you must clear 2 lines at once, push your opponent to the bottom and you win but if you get pushed to the top you loose.
TOUCH
You have 2 choices tower and touch puzzle. This is the only game mode that utilizes the touch screen of the DS, tapping the shape will rotate it and touch and drag the shape to move it into pace.
I don’t have to go into to much detail on how to play each mode because Nintendo was kind enough to include a helpful tutorial for all modes.
CONTROLLS
5 out of 6 modes just use the conventional D-pad and buttons to execute the required moves, only the touch mode requires the use of the stylus and touch screen, my only complaint is the touch mode is slightly unresponsive but still useable.
To navigate the menu and options you have the choice of both D-pad/buttons and touch screen.
GRAPHICS
It’s a puzzle game so you can’t ask for to much, crisp bright colours make it easy on the eyes, and a classic Nintendo theme to each mode was a nice touch.
SOUND
The sound is pretty good, each Nintendo theme is matched up with its original sound track, for example the standard mode with its Mario brothers theme has the music from Mario brothers, and this even change depending on which Mario brothers stage is being displayed at the time.
MULITPLAYER
In multiplayer mode you have 3 game mode choices standard, mission and push all of which are great fun. In Wifi mode you have 3 options standard 2 player no items, standard 4 player with items and push.(Warning there are hackers out there on wifi that ruin the game for honest players)
OVERALL
It’s nice to have a classic puzzle game remade to suit the DS, with the original game untouched served with a side order of extras. I find this game to be an excellent time filler, although at times I seem to exceed the time I intentionally wanted to fill.
Defiantly a must have for any DS collection.
Submitted by Guyver
25/05/2007
9
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