Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Tetris Worlds

Written by John Scalzo on April 23, 2002

Full Review: The word "Tetris" appears 44 times in this review.

I'm torn about Tetris Worlds. On the one hand it offers the most pure game of Tetris in a long time with it's options to turn off all of the enhancements developers have added to Tetris over the years. No more shadow to guide your pieces to the bottom. No more hold piece to switch in in a time of need. No more hard drop to shoot the piece to the bottom. Further purity was found in during Classic Tetris the speed of the pieces increased at about the same pace as the original. All was good.

Then we find out why change is bad. They changed the game. No longer does Tetris count up as you gain more lines further and further to heights unthought of. Now Tetris Worlds counts down as you try to reach level goals and once you get enough lines, you "win." Tetris is not about winning, it's about going forever. To further add insult to injury, Tetris Worlds changes the way pieces fall. They don't lock in anymore once they hit the bottom. Until you stop moving the piece it'll stay active. So a piece can be moved almost vertical across the screen to fit how you need it. What happened to purity?!?

I'll tell you what happened to purity. It was violated by page 6 of the instruction booklet. Because you see, on page 6 we are treated to the "story" of Tetris Worlds. The story goes that Tetris is really a system of space travel used by aliens called Minos. The more skilled you are at Tetris, the more aliens you can transport across space and you'll be better at shaping these new planets to your needs. This is all pointless as the story is never referred to again other than to have a bouncing alien helper on the screen at all times.

Advancing through the levels in Tetris Worlds isn't about lines anymore, it's about points. You score points in each game by performing the special tasks that that game calls for. Bonus points truly are the name of the game in each of the six versions of Tetris featured in Tetris Worlds. Without earning the bonuses you just can't win.

The six versions of Tetris are a mix of old and new. And most aren't that big of departures from the original except for a minor rule change. There's Classic Tetris, sorta. It follows the rules of old school Tetris, but throws in Worlds bonus system by giving you extra points for scoring Double, Triples, and Tetrises (Tetrii?). Square Tetris takes a cue from The New Tetris in that forming 4 x 4 squares gets you bonus points. I'm a big fan of The New Tetris, so this inclusion was a plus. Cascade Tetris works a lot like Class Tetris except now loose blocks will cascade to the bottom when there's nothing holding them up. Hot Line Tetris works the same as Cascade but now the only way to score points is if you clear lines on the "hot lines" set up in various spots on the board. Hot Line is the most boring of the new forms. Sticky Tetris is also exactly like Cascade except now when like colored pieces touch, they fuse together to form new shapes. I barely noticed when this happened and just thought I was playing Cascade Tetris. Finally we come to Fusion Tetris, the best of the new versions. Fusion Tetris starts you with a lot of garbage pieces and a Fusion Piece at the bottom. The only way to win is to connect single block Atom Pieces to the Fusion Piece and make it explode. It's the most difficult version, but also the most fun.

These new versions are alright, but the similarities knock a few points off. But all of the versions are used in the 15 level Story Mode. To win each version, you have to complete 15 levels. And like I said above, you complete a level by getting enough points. It's not a perfect system, but there is also the timed Arcade Mode and of course a Multiplayer mode. Multiplayer Tetris is always good, regardless of the changes they make. To add a final little piece to Tetris Worlds there is an Information section that features the history of Tetris. Good for a read through.

The graphics of Tetris Worlds are about what you'd expect a PS2 Tetris game to look like. Featuring some nice animated backgrounds of the "planet" you're on. Water, grass, deserts, it's all very classy looking, and more importantly, not distracting. There are also plenty of animated do-dads as your little alien helper is always jumping around. The "Next Piece" features the pieces dancing around. Still not distracting, but somehow, some way, Tetris Worlds manages to break the PS2. Not literally of course, but as you near the higher levels, the framerate drops considerably. This same problem would occur during the Celtic stage in The New Tetris for the Nintendo 64 as well. I guess I just don't get it, how is Tetris in any way that graphics intensive to cause these next generation behemoths to choke?

The music is your generic piece of techno music that just falls unnoticed into the background. They don't add anything and they don't take anything away. They're just there. I miss the Russian themes and that's really all there is to it.