Hail to the (puzzle)King!
I am not going to explain to you what tetris is, because anyone with just the slightest of gaming experience knows what you have to do with the "tetronimos", that's right, creating horizontal lines of blocks without gaps. And everybody knows that when you reach the ceiling and can't make no more lines, you're game over, right?! Gosh, I explained it now, ok everybody happy..
No, instead of this, I am going to explain to you why I think this is the best tetris game ever, and one of the best DS games in history.
+ Great 8-bit NES presentation, with all the classic games and tunes.
+ 6 different tetris modes, with push as a fantastic variation
+ great online support
-If you hate the 8bit theme, you might get irritated with the overkill
-Some modes are not that interesting
-Storing a tetronimo could make things a lot easier
So what does it have to offer? That's right, 6 different tetris modes, and I will explain them to you in short:
Standard: quite obvious right? standard tetris play, with categories Marathon (clear 200 lines with improving levels), line clear and vs CPU. I give this mode a 9.5, classic gaming for sure!
-Catch: a variation with a core of tetronimos involved. You have to catch the falling blocks, and fuse it to the core. By creating a set of 4x4 the core explodes and give you points. Try not to let the tetronimos fall, and watch your enemy meter and the falling metroids! Yep, it's a metroid theme! I give this mode 6, it's quite boring actually!
-Mission: Complete missions (like clear 2 lines with a square) and be careful not to run out of hearts. Fun for a while, deserves a 7. A nice zelda theme!
-Puzzle: This version with the Yoshi's cookie theme is quite lame actually. You need to solve puzzles by clearing the screen of lines with only the provided Tetrominos. Pretty easy, bores within minutes and best left alone. It deserves a 5.
-Touch: This is really the version made for the DS: You must use your stylus to move, rotate and clear blocks. Do this by making them fall into empty spaces. Falling blocks above them could fill another line, and this gives a combo with increasing points. This has the balloon-fight theme, and is great, great fun. Deserves a 9!
-Push: OMG, this mode is possibly more entertaining than the standard mode! Your goal is to clear lines to push your opponent to the bottom of the screen. Clear 2 lines or more to push the matrix toward to your opponent. In the background you see the donkey kong theme, with also the level of your position. If you get pushed to the top, you lose. Whenever the edge is nearing, the music gets more exciting, which adds to the atmosphere. This mode is also playable online, which is also the best online mode. I give this a 10!
And there are some online possibilities, 3 modes, to be exact standard vs2, standard vs 4 (with bonus items, a bit like mario kart but then with tetris, fun!) and (also mentioned above) the brilliant push.
An important note: now there is the possibility to store a tetronimo which you can't use at that moment, or want to use later on. This makes thing a bit easier, but does not have to be a bad thing. In a versus mode, you can actually see it as a weapon. This way you can make a 4 line push down, to bring your opponent into problems.
After all these years, I am still playing this game. After getting a Dsi, this is one game I have been looking for to recollect, which says everything!
I know, some modes are not worth playing, but with the fantastic new additions of push and touch, and also the classic play, combined with the solid online play, this is easily the best tetris game since the gameboy version, equal or even better.