If you have a Tetris-shaped whole in your 3DS library then this game will fit it perfectly. It’s a high-quality Tetris game with lots of modes, robust online play and eight player local wireless play with a single cart. It doesn’t have the great puzzle modes that Tetris DS had or the fun Nintendo mascot stylings, but it does have a varied selection of modes including local download play and, of course, 3D eye-candy.

Tetris gameplay hasn’t changed since the DS game. Pieces made out of four blocks fall down from the top and you move them left and right and drop them, trying to make lines. You can store a piece for later using the shoulder buttons, and you can see up to five pieces in the future. As you play the pieces fall faster and faster until they’re hitting the ground instantaneously. Fortunately you still have a bit of time to spin them around a few times so it never gets impossible. In fact in the DS this was a failing of the game – you could play it for hours and not die, the only thing stopping you was the need to eat or drink. I haven’t tried that in the 3DS game, but it is a little more difficult because you can’t spin a block around endlessly – you only get about 10 or so spins before it places it where it is and moves on to the next block. Even so the Marathon mode is designed to end at 150 lines, a sensible number.

A Plethora of Modes

There are four Featured Modes. Marathon is standard Tetris, and you can either do 150 lines (the default) or endless. Please ensure your 3DS is plugged in if you try this. In Computer Battle you battle against AI characters that all look like variations of Bomberman. In Fever you play on a narrow Matrix and try to clear as many lines as possible in 60 seconds. In this mode there are coins to collect which allow you to buy items which improve your scoring opportunities. It’s a very fun mode for short bursts of play. Survival is also played on a narrow Matrix and the twist here is that lines push up from the bottom at increasing pace, making things more and more frantic.

In addition to the Featured Modes there are the Party Modes which are bigger variations on the Tetris theme. You have things like Jigsaw, where you place puzzle pieces instead of Tetriminos, and attempt to recreate a picture. Or Shadow, where you place Tetriminos to try and fill up a shadow of a background without placing blocks outside the shadow. In Fit, the perspective is changed – you see your Tetrimino falling into the screen as a plane of blocks comes towards you. This is very effective because of the 3D screen. Tower Climber is another one that makes good use of the 3D. In this mode a little man climbs up blocks you place around a tower. You have to place carefully as he can only climb one step at a time and if you don’t guide him past hearts scattered around the tower on the way up he will die before he makes it to the top.

In Bombliss Plus, you place Tetriminos with bombs in them. In Stage Racer you race a Tetrimino down a course, maneuvering it through sticky spots by spinning it at the right time. Capture is a mode where you have to capture stars by covering them with the same colour Tetrimino from the front and back. Each time you drop a Tetrimino in the spot where the start is the stage spins around to the other side. Master mode is simply a normal game at top speed from the start. And finally, Sprint mode is a race to see how quickly you can clear 40 lines. There is significant variety in the modes available, so each time I come to the game there’s some other challenge to overcome.

I should make a brief mention of the AR modes. There are two included, but they’re really not much fun.

One cart, eight players. Online is great

Of course there are also multiplayer modes. You can play online against up to three other players in a World Battle and the game will match you against like-skilled players. If you beat the others your ranking score goes up; if you lose it goes down. You can also choose to just play with 3DS friends in a Friend Battle. In both battle modes items are also in play. Items are earned by clearing a line with a flashing block in it, and they do a variety of things from clearing a section of your Matrix to adding random blocks to an opponent. The most powerful is the swap item which swaps your Matrix with an opponent. This can be used cheekily by filling your Matrix up to the top and swapping with your opponent. Of course, if he or she has a swap item in hand then it will backfire!

You can also play up to eight players in local download play, which means only one person has to own the cart to play. Three modes are available – Marathon, VS Battle and Fever. If you all own cartridges you can also play some of the Party modes in multiplayer – VS Stage Racer, Co-op Tower Climber, VS Shadow Wide and VS Capture. Finally on the topic of multiplayer there are world ranking leaderboards for just about every mode in the game. The online play is very smooth too, although I wish it would update the world rankings behinds the scenes for you instead of you having to update each one, one at a time.

If you want to play Tetris on your 3DS there are a number of options: the DSiWare Tetris Party game, Tetris DS and Tetris Party Deluxe (also for DS). Out of all of them I would recommend this one. There are more modes available here than in any of the others, it’s got the most attractive graphics with good use of 3D in the form of backgrounds, some great music (along with some annoying music), more modes in eight player download play and great online. What more could you want from a Tetris game?

Purchase:

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