Tetris Party Hands-On

There have been many variations of Alexey Pajitnov's Tetris over the course of 20 years since the game was first released on the PC. It's only natural that it would make its way to the Nintendo Wii. Tetris Party includes traditional favorites as well as a fun list of new modes to play through by yourself or with friends. Even with all the variations we've played through the years, we tend to go back to the traditional mode. However, developer Hudson Soft has added some clever new twists to the game of rotating tetrominoes. We had a chance to play with Tetris Party at the Nintendo Media Summit, and it was difficult to put the controller down.

The basic game of Tetris that we all know and love, in which we pile tetrominoes in a fixed area to clear lines, can now be accomplished with the Wii Balance Board. You can use the board to play beginner Tetris, where the pieces are smaller and the matrix area has been downsized. This mode also gives you a nice lower-body workout because you're doing squats to rotate the pieces--so tighten those glutes. Leaning left and right will move the pieces, and leaning forward or backward will speed up the pieces. The controls are surprisingly easy to get the hang of and are responsive. However, since we played in the beginner mode, we didn't have to do too many fancy tricks that required an extreme amount of dexterity.

A tricky but fun new mode is Field Climber, where you have a little climber at the bottom of the screen who needs to climb to the top where the goal is. You need to build stepping stones for him, one block at a time, without boxing him in or piling tetrominoes on him. If you do, you'll have to clear them out of his way, but since this is also a multiplayer mode, it's a race to see who can get a climber to the top while hitting all the checkpoints along the way. It's really easy to just plop a piece down and box in the climber by accident, but it's a great challenge and it requires you to use the pieces in a different manner.

Shadow mode is another interesting mode where you can compete with others. You are given a silhouette in your matrix, and you'll need to use the Tetris pieces to fill out that gray area. The trick is staying within the area and ensuring that there are no spaces either. There is a slight penalty for missing, so since this is competitive, you'll have to try your best to stay within the zone. You also have the option to skip a piece, but you're limited to skipping 10.

Stage Racer has you racing a single tetromino while trying not to get stuck in narrow hallways or tight corners. The screen will automatically continue to scroll upward, so your job is to continue pushing down while rotating your piece to get to the finish line. You'll need to learn how to get your pieces out of a sticky situation quickly, because you'll have to be fast if you want to win.

One of the more addictive modes in Tetris Party is Duel Spaces, where two players take turns placing a tetromino in a larger area and the goal is to take up the most real estate. You're trying to block off as much empty space as you can, so you'll need to think carefully before placing your pieces down since you don't want to give your opponent the advantage. It's a slower-paced game since you are taking turns, but it makes you think and approach the game from another angle.

If you're tired of competing, you can play in a co-op Tetris mode where two players share a wider area and play traditional Tetris. Communication and cooperation are required if you intend to pass the levels, but it's a nice change from the usual race to the finish or "let's try to mess our opponent as often as we can."

You can still mess with your opponents, though, because Battle mode will take you into a traditional multiplayer game, where you use items with the Wii Remote. Sometimes you might need to wipe smoke off your part of the screen or you can shoot blocks at your neighbor. Either way, items never really make the game fair, but that's all part of the appeal.

The traditional Marathon mode is included, along with the Hot Lines mode that involves clearing the lines that are highlighted. Up to four players can play offline in several of the modes, so there's a lot of variety and replay value in this WiiWare title. If you want to play online, you can do so with up to six people. You can choose to play just with friends in Friend Battle mode or take on the best Tetris players in the world in World Battle mode.

Even after 20 years, Tetris still has a strong appeal to gamers of all ages. Its addictive and easy gameplay lures people in, and it's hard to play just once and put it down. Tetris Party certainly changes things up with its new modes, but the presentation is clean and simple so that there are no distractions. The party is supposed to start soon, but we weren't given a release date. When it's ready, you can download Tetris Party for 1200 Wii points.