Developer: SoMa Play Inc
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platform: 3DS, Vita, PS4, Xbox One, PC
Tested on: Xbox One
Tetris Ultimate – Review
Tetris, the all-time popular hit game that appeared on your television in 1984, is still around and has had many remakes, reinventions and spin-offs along the way. The last few editions have all been presented to you by Ubisoft and they have made it more accessible when it comes to multiplayer features. Tetris Ultimate has found its way on to the next-gen consoles and does its best to stack up the fun.
Story
If you’re looking to find a story in Tetris Ultimate, it seems the franchise has passed you by completely. Stack blocks, clear lines and that’s pretty much about it. Of course, if you have OCD it might be an adventure for you, other than that, move along and start playing.
Graphics
Tetrominoes (or Tetriminos) are back and they still bear the same flashy colors as always but it seems that Ubisoft is aiming for a more classy look, compared to the original 1984 game. You’ll notice that the colors appear to be more slick and the backgrounds look very ‘tight’. Dark colors, strict lines and basic letters give form to everything around the Tetriminos.
Whilst the game still has a basic appearance, the classy design will leave some with mixed emotions. It often looks more like a business website, rather than the original Tetris game we’ve come to love over the decades. That being said, the game still looks good, as far as you can dress up a game such as Tetris.
A small annoyance goes out to the fact that the original background is dark blue-ish, which causes the projection of the blue Tetromini to be barely visible at all.
Sound
Underwhelming is pretty much the keyword when talking about the soundtrack of Tetris Ultimate. I reckon most of you out there can immediately hum one of the theme songs of the original Tetris game and on top of that, you will be thinking about it for the rest of your day. Even though the current soundtrack sometimes gives you a glimpse of one of those original songs, it just doesn’t sound nearly as catchy as the original tune. It’s quite noticeable that Ubisoft took the ‘classy’ feel too far and created a song that’s either fit for background music in a drama or perhaps even a horror movie. You’ll get more used to it the more you play but it’s quite doubtful you’ll grow fond of the soundtrack.
Gameplay
Stack, puzzle and get points by clearing lines. This formula still remains intact after this many years, but the game has simply been made much more accessible for multiplayer purposes, be it versus, team versus or co-op modes.
The game will present you with around six modes which you can choose from, each having a solo, versus, team versus and a co-op mode. You’ll probably spend the most time with the classic mode, as it stays true to the original Tetris ‘spirit’ and you’ll dish out some punches in the battle modes on the side. Sprint or timed modes will be fun for a while but that’s it.
Battle modes vary from the simply formula of giving each other extra ‘lines’ when clearing lines in your own window to activating power-ups when clearing special blocks. These so called battle modes prove to be entertaining, especially when playing the game as a couch-versus-game. Playing online, however, proves to be a different matter. You’ll experience a lot of lag and disconnects, which hamper your ‘fun’ experience.
If you’re wondering how a co-op experience works in Tetris Ultimate, it’s pretty much two tetris windows glued together, forming one big play area. In this play area, each of the players will be able to place their Tetriminos on their side of the screen, hoping to work together to either beat another team or simply achieve the same goal. Overall a fun feature, but its forte is once again only visible when playing local co-op. When playing online, especially with strangers, it will become too hard to direct your team’s efforts in order to do whatever it is you want to achieve.
You’ll be able to add computer opponents to provide you with some ‘multiplayer’ action if you’d rather practice with or against an AI player. These opponents each have their own difficulty levels and thus it becomes quite easy to pick out the bot that you wish to practice against. Sometimes bots of the same level than yourself can actually be a bit hard to overcome but practice makes perfect. Also the fact you can play against a PC opponent whilst playing together with a friend is certainly very welcome.
Conclusion
Tetris Ultimate is in fact pretty much the original Tetris game with some multiplayer features thrown in to the mix. If you’re looking to play Tetris on the new generation, the game might be interesting but if you own any of the other recent Ubisoft Tetris remakes, you won’t be getting that much new content. Overall a fun spin-off, except for the music and the online issues. If you have many friends that fancy a few matches of Tetris, then the game will not disappoint.
Tetris Ultimate - Review,
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+ It’s Tetris
– The music isn’t