1011th played so far
Genre: Puzzle
Platform: Wii
Year of Release: 2008
Developer: Hudson Soft/Blue Planet Software
Publisher: Hudson Soft/Tetris Online Inc/Nintendo
I don’t think it’s controversial to say that Tetris is one of the most successful games of all time. It’s the second-best selling video game franchise of all time – and that comes after Mario, who after platforming also went into racing, RPGs, tennis and puzzle games has a lot more ground to cover than Tetris, which just has the variations on the one puzzle game – and according to our Play That Game analysis, reviewers and other people who ranked games it is the best game of all time. And as I’ve seen plenty of times – including with Mario before – there have been uncountable variations on the block dropping genre.
Tetris Party is a more recent variation on the game, and it seemed like a good place to finish the genre – with a new take on the one of the best games of all time. I hope it’ll have enhanced the game, rather than the mess making it worse as we saw with Pac Man Championship Edition.
Puzzle
There are so many different games in the puzzle genre that it feels hard to describe all of them. In fact, although I have almost always enjoyed them, I doubt that anyone will enjoy the genre as a whole. Personally, although I’m finishing on a block dropping puzzle game, I think I’ve seen more than enough to last me a lifetime through this list, and similarly the match three genre has worn me out. Of course, in the genre they are easier to put together than something with set puzzles like Myst, The 7th Guest or the Professor Layton games. It’s nice to see the storytelling that can be combined with these types of true puzzles, some shoe horned more than others.
Next to that, it feels like puzzle games are also a good way to explore new concepts by indie devs. Crayon Physics Deluxe and Grow, for example, aren’t big projects, but they are incredibly engaging games that I keep coming back to. There’s a level of innovation here that, looking back through the games, makes me want to go back to a lot of them to actually see those concepts again.
Our Thoughts
I’m sure I don’t have to go into the basics of Tetris. The standard game mode works as well as it always does, and the various versus modes work as well. The game’s more interesting parts, though, are were they add different modes that use the basic mechanics that change your goals. For example, there’s the climber mode, in which you have to place your blocks in such a way that a climber can get up them and build them a set of stairs to reach the top of the level. It’s a bit clunky – the climber isn’t the smartest – but it’s a neat different puzzle. Another that turns it more towards action is the stage racer mode, where you need to keep your block (using the different shapes) falling down an endless ravine. Having to use the moves that normally feel like the advanced turns at the bottom of the screen is quite nice, but you don’t have the time to think about it.
Special modes aside though – and they feel like novelties that I couldn’t see myself for a long time – I did also enjoy the smaller modifications of the other modes. Just a time limit is quite nice ot have as you can play in a more constrained session.
Final Thoughts
There are two ways in which Tetris Party excels. On one hand, it lets you play Tetris, both in the original form and with several variations that build on the existing gameplay and give you some other options to play. On the other hand, the game has a lot of minigames that play with the formula and engine to give you quite a different type of gameplay. Both sides work, at least to a point, and it feels like it adds to the game without ruining it.