Ah, good ol' Tetris.
Tetris DS has many game modes ranging from your clas-sic standard mode to the new Touch mode. Though you won't fall in love with all of the modes, there is enough here to keep you going a hours at a time. Let's take a look at each of the game modes.
Standard Mode is simply normal Tetris. You go through trying to clear lines and earning points. After 200 lines, you beat the game and unlock Endless mode. Endless Mode has you going till you lose the game hence the name. You can also play Line Clear in this mode which is simply clearing 25 lines on any level and starting with so many lines clogged up. You can also face off against the CPU in a mutiplayer version of Tetris where you try to force your opponent to hit the top before you do.
Mission Mode can be played alone or with friends. You try and clear "missions" within the time limit and try and beat your high score. When you're playing with friends you can never lose the game the way you would a normal Tetris game, but you lose by not getting enough points.
Push Mode is a lot like playing against a CPU controlled opponent in Standard Mode, but you are both on one screen and you're trying to push your opponent out. This one is always two-player because of this.
In Catch Mode, you have a single black and you try to catch pieces as they fall from above. You can rotate the block to form a 4x4, or bigger, square. Once you've done this, you try to have a few seconds to blow up a Metroid to move on. You lose once you lose all your energy by any Tetriminoes fall beyond the boundaries, the central block is hit by enemies, or a falling Tetrimino touches the central block while it is being rotated, or if your center piece is bigger than the screen.
In Touch Mode, you try to move blocks with your stylus and make rows to bring a cage of balloons down to the ground. There is no timer and pieces don't fall from the top, but only blocks on the lower screen can be moved. There is also a set of puzzles you can clear in this mode that are like the puzzles in Puzzle Mode, but are in Touch Mode form.
The last mode is Puzzle Mode. Here you can try and clear up to 200 puzzles. You must get rid of all the blocks in a puzzle before it's complete. Each puzzle you complete will get you Tetris Points. Tetris Points show how much of the game you've played. You can also earn Tetris points by getting a new high score in the other game modes or beating a time in Mission Mode.
As I said before, this game is playable with friends. You can play DS to DS or over Wi-Fi Connection. The game modes you can play are the following: Standard Mode, Push Mode, and Mission Mode. With Standard Mode, two players can play without items and four can with items. Push Mode is only two player and Mission Mode can only be played DS to DS.
The game uses backdrops of many NES games. Standard mode has 10 from the Mario series and other NES games. Push uses Donkey Kong, Catch uses Metroid, Touch uses Balloon Fight, Puzzle uses Yoshi's Cookie, and Mission uses The Legend of Zelda. The graphics are fitting and colorful. The game also uses music from the game that is the backdrop. So the first 10 levels of Standard Mode have Mario music. This is true for everything but levels 16 through 19 in Standard mode which share a song called "Rushed Tetris" that is epic if I might add.
Over all you'll be spending a lot of time with this game as you try to rake up Tetris Points and take on friends. Anyone who likes Tetris should like some parts, if not all of this game.
Pros:
+Endless Mode
+NES backdrops and music
+Unlimited Replay
Cons:
-Fingerer cramps
Scores:
Gameplay: 9.0
Graphics: 8.0
Story: NA
Sounds: 8.0
Fun Level: 9.0
Replay Value: 9.0
Overall: 8.9