Tetris 99 Review (Switch eShop)

Tetris is of course a game that has a long relationship with Nintendo. In 1989, the puzzle of Alexey Pajitnov was provided with the Game Boy and the Aida to become one of the most popular gadgets of all time. Although Nintendo can not claim any type of ownership with respect to the game, it is fair to say that this would not have been the case. enough also famous was not it for the Game Boy Edition. Given this story, it is curiously normal that the title receives what is probably its most revolutionary update on a Nintendo system.

You see, Tetris 99 is a twisted, cold and ruthless death match where players are attacking in real time. No high score is in sight, your only goal being to survive the assault and stay the last player standing. Erasing multiple lines at one time (or even simply getting combinations) can send "unwanted" lines to your opponents, raising their boards to almost dangerous levels at the top of the screen and bringing you even closer to the game. a winning dinner Tetris & # 39 ;.

The problem is that – to turn things around The games of hunger & # 39; favorite slogan – chances are never in your favor. Of course, you may be able to send an attack or two to some opponents from time to time, but there is 98 other players all do the same thing, and it's absolute chaos. With a nice touch, you can see the 98 enemies on your screen left and right, almost like a sadistic game show. You can even watch each attack unfold in real time, with "flashes of light" projected from one player to the other.

Even if you succumb to this early confusion, we invite you to stay with her, as she slowly but surely begins to set herself up – just like the Tetriminos. You will notice that four different types of attacks are assigned to the right lever (or left, if you choose to change the setting in the Options menu): knockouts, badges, attackers, and random. If you are attacked by several players at once, you will probably not be able to do anything to survive, but mastering these four options is certainly your best choice.

The names refer to the type of other player you are about to attack: Random will pick random players; The attackers will target everyone who attacks you. KOs are aimed at those who are about to be knocked out; Badges will target those who have accumulated KO badges with other players to steal them by yourself (these badges give you attack multipliers to inflict more damage). As you can see, battles can become very strategy-oriented and sometimes we have seen better results when we change the attack mode according to our situation.

That said, forming a plan under pressure – especially when panic grows as you enter the last 50, and again with the last 10 – is incredibly difficult. You'll do well to keep up to date. We still have not managed to win a single victory after dozens of attempts, even though we have been in the top 10 several times. Once in the top 10, death can happen quickly and without warning, even if you have a virtually empty playground. There may be fewer players who will throw your junk, but fewer opponents also mean more targeted attacks, and we've seen cases where a simple "junk drop" wipes us out completely – a situation that is exacerbated by the speed at which the blocks fall this point of the game.

As a free experience (of course, after paying a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online), it's a pretty little game overall. There are no modes other than Battle Royale, you have to play online, and the lack of tutorial for attack modes seems to be a puzzling omission – so things are not perfectly perfect – but the nature the content that is there is still worth the detour. Rumors suggest that more modes will be included in the fullness of time, but we are still pretty satisfied with what we have, especially free to all Switch Online players.