Tetris Effect review: The puzzle game of my dreams, literally

Before you start playing the new game this week, Tetris effectI was tempted to compare it to other versions of the puzzle series. It's an easy trap to fall through – a sort of magnifying glass of settings, features, and differences – and it's pretty hard to handle with decades of Tetris games to compare.

But soon after I plunged into Tetris effect, with a PlayStation VR headset firmly attached to my head, my thought about this game is somewhere that surprises: not at another game or a sequel, but at an event. Specifically, I thought of the last Tetris Classic World Championship, which was held in Portland, Oregon, in October.

A 16-year-old Joseph Saelee conquered the world of video games by beating seasoned veterans of the 1989 NES version of the game and winning it all. You saw Tetris before, but never like that – with a multi-camera platform showing the faces of professional players during super-fast sessions in an incredible way (assisted largely by a "hyper-tapping" technique used to maintain sessions beyond "Kill Screen" version). I will never forget what I saw. What happened was not revolutionary, but his presentation, his drama and the feeling of an old man born again made the competition particularly exciting to watch.

One can also find this level of excitement – the familiar and amazing slam, all wrapped in a blanket of tetrads – Tetris effect. This testifies to the brilliant guiding principle of the game: do not surpass Tetris but to celebrate it recently. In October, I saw Saelee win as a winner, then clumsily hold a tetrad-shaped trophy fighting through tears, clearly behind him. What brings me closer to the emotional state of Saelee comes from playing Tetris effect.

Potential for subconscious molding

This is not to say that this game does not create intriguing tweaks or changes from what was previously available in dropgame video games. But any conversation about Tetris effect should begin with an emphasis on the word "Effect" in the title.

Improve recent games Tetris The press tour included stories about the hypnotic effect of the series on the human brain, whether through anecdotes or formal research. The phenomenon of closing your eyes and seeing endless falling Tetris shapes or feelings as if the gameplay had invaded your dreams (or sometimes nightmares) had been explored to some extent by scientific studies. Researchers have even explored how people with amnesia have retained Tetris-linked information after playing the game at length.

In an interview, producer Tetsuya Mizuguchi confirmed to Ars that he wanted to make an official statement Tetris game for years. He even tried to secure the series license before developing rhythmic puzzle games like Lumines and Meteos in the early 00's. These series revolve around levels where blocks, backgrounds, music and sound effects are synchronized. in LuminesIn any case, this aesthetic touch also affects the game, as a stopwatch determines exactly how you will fall and break the puzzle blocks of the game.

Tetris effectthen marries Mizuguchi's "visual and sound" design philosophy with the subconscious molding potential of Tetris. If we see all Tetris in the corners of our mind – in the milky darkness of sleep and dreams and meditation – so why not imitate this powerful feeling within an autonomous game?

If you play Tetris effect in VR or on a standard TV, you can still expect a game that looks a lot like another classic, old school game Tetris Games. This means that players will focus on a standard 2D chart consisting of falling pieces (10 blocks wide and 20 feet high), as opposed to a mess of 3D pieces at the top. Tetrisphere.

In VR, the standard Tetris A table appears at a distance that I would call roughly an arm, while this table fills the middle of a 2D mode TV screen. (In either case, you can fine-tune the zoom on the main board, either via the pre-game menus or by pressing a joystick in the middle of a live session.) Tetris effect The difference is how it fills the virtual space around the board, whether in VR mode or on a TV screen. A clear vision cone means that you will never lose sight of the painting and its falling blocks, but the entire periphery – everything above, below and around – may glow with particle effects or burst with elements such as creatures, planes and distant planets.

During our review period, we discovered about 33 playgrounds (called "skins"), which have a greater impact on your game. Meteos than Lumines. Visual elements, block shapes, colors, sound effects and music are all related, but they have no impact on the basic gameplay. Tetrads assemble and fall in the same way in the level of the aquarium as in that of the great desert.