Tetris Evolution

You have to love the Xbox 360 and its ability to download, via Xbox Live’s bountiful Marketplace, various games that range from old-school classics to a number of puzzle games. What’s more fun than spending Marketplace points purchasing games like Lumines and Zuma? Why Tetris hasn’t made it as a downloadable game is beyond me but THQ manages to bring this Russian puzzler to the Xbox 360 with Tetris Evolution. Still, even if you’re fond of Tetris after all these years, the $30 price tag and a few weak spots might make you pause before you pick up this game.

For one thing, Tetris Evolution offers the same game of Tetris we have been obsessing over since it first came out and that’s a good thing if you love this puzzle classic. While it was a perfect fit for the PC and then on the Game Boy handheld (and lastly on the Nintendo DS), somehow the game just doesn’t feel right on the Xbox 360 … but more on that a bit later. If you’re new to Tetris, the design is simply that you guide colored pieces within a game board or grid called the Matrix to stack them with like shapes and colors. Your job is to clear the Matrix without letting the pieces fill the board. It sounds easy enough but it really isn’t and you’ll see the moment you start playing.

Evolution offers eight different ways of playing the game thanks to the different style of game modes available. Marathon, for example, is the classic way of playing the game while Ultra mode is a timed version of the game. Score mode, on the other hand, has you attempting to reach a set score as quickly as possible while Race mode has you racing to clear a target number of lines as quickly as possible. Cascade is a mode that has you clearing lines that cause cascades (an occurrence when the remaining blocks that fall after you clear a line drops to clear yet another line) and Hotline mode has you earning points for clearing certain lines within a Matrix. In Go Low mode, points are awarded based on the position of the highest block when clearing a row while in Eraser mode there are certain numbers of lines you must clear from the Matrix as quickly as possible.

All eight game modes offer enough variety to give Tetris fans plenty to do and each one is challenging in their own unique way. There’s even offline and online multiplayer modes and they’re actually very good. All the eight game modes from the single-player game can be found here, although you can play against other players to see who scores the highest points or play co-op through its Hotseat function that allows you and a friend to take turns manipulating pieces to net a combined score at the end. Online the game flows perfectly and supports voice for when you want to spur on the other play in co-op.

The best feature just so happens to be the game’s ability to let gamers customize their own matches as well as deciding what tunes and backgrounds you’d like as well. You can set the conditions for every aspect of the game and thus creating your own mode you can share with others thanks to the Custom Match feature. In short, Tetris fans won’t be bored with the number of options available.

Unfortunately, the game runs into a major problem. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a weak spot that will make even the most hardcore puzzle fan stop to rethink a purchase and it comes in the form of how the game plays on the Xbox 360. Tetris just doesn’t play the same on the Xbox 360 controller and things will feel awkward. No matter how many times I try to avoid it I almost always accidentally hit the Hard Drop (it’s located on the D-pad) that simply ruins a line. Fumbling to manipulate pieces is one thing we should worry about since this is a game that requires you to think every move. This is actually frustrating since other copycat puzzle games on the 360 seem to play more smoothly than this original.

When it comes to the graphics, Evolution looks like any other version of Tetris except there are various backgrounds that actually do look pretty good. You can switch between various backgrounds and they work nicely but when it comes to the visual effects you will not be impressed. Even the soundtrack leaves much to be desired since games like Lumines brilliantly works music into the gameplay.

If all the puzzle games already available for the Xbox 360 aren’t enough, Tetris Evolution might just be a game you should consider buying but be warned that it’s not the best console version of this classic. While the eight different game modes and excellent multiplayer modes are good, the controls aren’t exactly the best suited for the gameplay style. Buy this one if you really need another puzzle gaming fix for the 360 but just don’t expect perfection. 

Gameplay: 6.6
The gameplay isn’t the strongest on the Xbox 360 and this is most unusual since Hexic and Zuma work nicely. Still, there are eight game modes to sink your teeth into and there are customizable options that allow you to design your own matches. There’s also online multiplayer that works beautifully.

Graphics: 6.0
The matrix and colorful pieces are what you might expect from this puzzle game but at least you can select different backgrounds that range from sunsets to a neat aquarium. There’s the usual effects here so don’t expect much in terms of visual razzle-dazzle.

Sound: 5.9
The rather slim selection of tunes just doesn’t cut it so I see gamers playing their own tunes. The sound effects are typical of this puzzle classic so nothing new on this front either.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Puzzle gamers who remember how challenging and addictive Tetris is will find enough challenging matches to wrap their brains around in this game. While Marathon is pretty darn challenging, you will be really get a workout from Ultra mode as well as Score.

Concept: 7.0
There are eight different modes of playing the game and all eight are nicely challenging so Tetris fans will appreciate the gameplay variety this game offers. You can even customize your own match and add your own backgrounds and music. There’s online and offline multiplayer and it works perfectly either way.

Multiplayer: 7.5
Evolution does multiplayer right and with the ability to do four players perfectly, this is puzzle gaming done right on Xbox Live. While I had trouble finding many challengers online, the few online multiplayer matches I played ran smoothly. Offline co-op works great as well here.

Overall: 6.5
For what it’s worth, Tetris Evolution delivers all the juicy Tetris action but falls short in terms of the controls that make this a game that would have been more appropriate as an Xbox Live download. The Xbox 360 controller might not be the best fit for this puzzle classic so at the purchase price you might want to reconsider a purchase and stick with the puzzle games already available as downloads.