Tetris Ultimate

Genre: Falling Block Puzzle

Players: 1-10 Competitive (Local Wireless, Online), Download Play Supported

Game Company Bad Behavior Profile Page: UbiSoft

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Review:

Tetris Ultimate is an entry in the Falling Block Puzzle game series released on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, and Nintendo 3DS in 2014. This game comes to the platform 3 years after Tetris Axis, so players may well wonder just what this release brings to the table, what makes this so “ultimate”?

This game’s presentation makes use of 2D visuals for Tetris pieces, with animated 2D backgrounds. There’s nothing visually impressive going on here, and certainly nothing coming even close to the audiovisual excellence of The Tetris Effect. These visuals are backed by a dour, depressing piano theme that was probably included to make this more of a relaxing experience, but honestly, it just makes the entire experience a drag.

Okay, but how is the gameplay? Well, the core game comes with six gameplay modes, most of which must be unlocked by playing other gameplay modes. You have Marathon mode where players are challenged to clear 150 lines, Sprint mode which has you trying to clear 40 lines as fas as possible, a standard Endless mode, Ultra (3 minute max score mode), Battle mode (Vs. Computer), and Battle Ultimate (Vs. Computer with special attacks). In addition to these gameplay modes, you have four additional unlockable modes such as one that forces you to play without spinning pieces.

10 gameplay modes total… compared to Tetris Axis’s 20? Yeah, that’s pretty disappointing.

At the very least, this game supports up to ten players locally and online, and local download play being supported is nice, but don’t expect to find anyone to play against online, as those lobbies are abandoned.

There is one other thing I feel the need to mention here. At this point, if you’re looking to get this game, you’re likely going to have to get a used physical copy, as the game has been delisted on digital storefronts. Unfortunately, there is no way I can find to erase prior records and profiles, meaning that if you get a used copy, you’ll be stuck with whatever the prior owner did on it. Lovely.

If Tetris Ultimate was somehow the only Tetris game on the Nintendo 3DS, it would be a disappointing but passable version of the classic Puzzle game. However, it released years after Tetris Axis, a game with a far superior feature list. Add to that a dour presentation, and it becomes clear that anyone wanting to get Tetris on the Nintendo 3DS should absolutely get Tetris Axis instead of this terrible iteration on the formula.

tl;dr – Tetris Ultimate is a take on the classic Falling-Block Puzzle that includes 10 different game modes. Not only is this game’s feature list half of what was in Tetris Axis, with nowhere near that game’s creativity, this game also features a dour, depressing presentation. As a result, there’s no reason anyone should bother with this game. If you want Tetris on Nintendo 3DS, get Tetris Axis instead.

Grade: C-

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