Tetris 99

Genre: Falling Block Puzzle

Players: 1 (Local), 99 Competitive (Online)

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Review:

(Note: This is an outdated review. You can find the updated review here.)

Tetris 99 is a Puzzle game that’s… um… hard to review.

On the one hand, it’s a game with the same block-dropping gameplay that hasn’t really changed in the last 35 years. On the other hand, it’s doing something really unique and interesting with its “1 vs. 98” concept, something I don’t think we’ve seen many other games attempt. The only one that comes to mind is the short-lived Xbox 360 trivia game 1 vs 100.

In addition, we have a game that is, at least nominally, free. Well, only if you have a Nintendo Online account, and you can only play it as long as you keep that account paid. And if you want all of the game’s features, you need to plunk down the money for them. Also, a physical release for the game is due out soon, which will include more features and set you back $30. So… not quite free?

Yeah, the devil is in the details here, and while I can say right off the bat that everyone already subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online might as well get this game – at least the base version is free, after all, and it is Tetris. However, after playing a few rounds of the game you’ll quickly see the problem.

How good are you at Tetris? Are you decent? Do you enjoy it but kinda’ suck at it? Are you pretty good but not, like a pro-level player? Then you will lose. You will lose and lose and lose.

I’m in that last group – I’m pretty good, but by no means a pro player, and I found that after playing for hours I would consistently find myself surviving in a match until the last ten players or so, at which time the blocks were falling so fast that everyone was forced to make a ton of matches and I simply couldn’t keep up with the combination of speed and attacks.

What’s worse, I didn’t see any reasonable way for me to improve my standing. There are ways to change which players you target (those with “badges”, those who are targeting you, those who have taken out a lot of other players, or random – the default), but largely it seems that winning means that you have to be really, really, really good at Tetris.

The problem here is matchmaking. I felt like the game wasn’t making any effort to pair players with others of comparable skill levels, instead just tossing them in randomized lobbies. To the game’s credit, it does this quickly and smoothly, but what does it matter when I know there’s always going to be a handful of players in every lobby who trounce me?

The add-on content (which will set you back $10), includes a CPU Battle mode which does the “vs 98 players” thing but all players are bots, as well as a “marathon” mode, which is just the original Tetris… which is still pretty feature-poor for a $10 version of a game that first came out 35 years ago.

For comparison’s sake, the physical copy of the game being released on 9/6/19 will have a 49 v 49 mode, and a local wireless multiplayer mode, which is still a bit feature-poor, but it’s clearly superior to the digital version of the game. And since the physical version comes with a 12 month Nintendo Online subscription, it’s clearly superior to the version you can get digitally, even if you buy the DLC.

On top of this, the game’s graphics and soundtrack, which are both fine, are… well, you don’t really have any options there. You can gain access to new skins in events that pop up, but if you miss it, you miss it.

In the end, Tetris 99 is a bit of a paradox. It’s one of the greatest and most accessible puzzle games ever made, in a package that seems designed to really only cater to a very niche fraction of Tetris players. It’s a free game that isn’t really free. It’s something I recommend everyone who has Nintendo Online Membership to get, but a game that I think most of you will probably give up on after playing it for a bit.

tl;dr – Tetris 99 is a puzzle game that takes the original Tetris and has players fighting it out to be the top player out of a field of 99 competitors. Unfortunately, the game is feature-poor even if you pay for the DLC, the matchmaking is so terrible that most players will never win a match, and the upcoming physical release is going to be clearly superior. While you might as well download the free version of the game, odds are good that it won’t do much for you.

Grade: C

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2019 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Most Overrated, Most Disappointing

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