Tetris Evolution xbox 360

[watusi]

Picked this up from VG+ as it was cheap and region free (even though it really should have been a live arcade game). Turns out its a relly great version of Tetris.

Ain't that much to say about it really, its Tetris! That's all you need to know. It's 4 player Multiplayer over live and on the same 360. There are a number of different modes (Race, Ultra, Marathon, cascade) but most amount to Tetris with slightly different scoring rules - they add a little variety though.

Online, ranked matches can only be played as a marathon matches. Its a bit quiet at the mo but not too hard finding a match and it gets very addictive.

Graphics are nice and clean, the playfield has animated backgrounds (there's a choice) and they look pretty. Sound is pretty basic but the music is ok. There's even a remix of the gameboy tetris theme.

All in all I love it. its a great version of tetris, it play well, looks and sounds nice, and has some good multiplayer action too. Well worth the £20 I paid.

Here's a linky to some more info and some screenshots:

http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1567/Tetris-Evolution/p1/

[Bort]

I'd have to disagree with watsui. It isn't a great version of tetris. Just a plain and basic tetris cash in. There is no way a retail release can be justified over a Marketplace purchase, even at a budget price.

The art work is sub popcap. It feels like all the art was done by freelancers that had never seen/played a copy of the game. Some of the backgrounds can merge with the ghost piece/tetriminos so it can becomes hard to read the board depending on what opacity you choose.

The music and sound effects are poor. The hard drop sound effect sounds like someone being whipped and the rest just sound like generic filler. I've had to turn both the music and sound effects ff as they were really pissing me off.

Controls are quite poor but can be learnt over time. The dpad feels especially poor.

As for the actual offline gameplay. It won't challenge good players and mediocre players (like myself. Highscore of 390,000 in tetris DS.) won't get much of a challenge.

Some issues, you can't rebinding the clockwise and counter-clockwise buttons (i'd prefer them to be reversed). When you are playing a game and your net/live connection goes down you are kicked out of the offline game you were playing. When you hold a piece to one side as you are trying to force a t-spin an annoying sound effect repeats and sounds like a broken egg timer, very annoying.

[watusi]

Wow, there's two massively opposing views!

Probably worth noting that I am using the Dead or Alive stick to play as it feels better than using the D-pad.

[peeveen]

Am I right in saying that this is a translation of the Tetris Grand Master game that's been out in Japan for a while now?

[Hulk Davidson]

This is not the same game as TGM Ace.

[phillai]

Does the blocks stick when you get to the bottom and does it allow you to move and slot into place, Tetris DX style?

[Kubrick]

Does the blocks stick when you get to the bottom and does it allow you to move and slot into place, Tetris DX style?

Up to you. You get the option to have infinite spin, extended, or none like the classic GB version.

Personally, I think this is well worth a look. Being honest, I prefer the audio/visuals in TGM Ace but there's some good play modes in this - Like Go Low, where you have to clear lines as low down the "matrix" as possible otherwise your score is almost worthless. It goes against all your normal Tetris-playing instincts.

The achievements are mostly easy for someone with half-decent Tetris skills, but some are pretty tough. I still have 6 to get but I think I'll get them eventually.

[Bort]

Found a nice feature today. Go to the High score lists and press Y to have it replay your best time/score.

Just 16 seconds off getting the Score Gold medal. Need to get that one tonight.

[watusi]

The achievements are mostly easy for someone with half-decent Tetris skills, but some are pretty tough. I still have 6 to get but I think I'll get them eventually.

I'm stuck on the 40 lines in less than 2 minutes race achievement. can't quite do it every time. GRAH! I'll get there eventually though.

[ozzzy189]

tetris needs a patch !

Hi all, i`m new here but been reading the main site for years. I sent an email to thq usa, as i have a few issues with this game, this is what i received back.

`Sorry you are experiencing difficulties we will be patching soon. Let me
try to address the three issues.

We have fixed quite a few obscure crash bugs and will be releasing an update
path in the next few weeks.

Game Over can happen without blocking out in many ways. In Marathon and Go
Low, once you have cleared level 15, 150 lines, it's game over. In Ultra,
there are specific time limits. In Race there are specific numbers of lines
to clear before game over. In Score, achieve the target score and it's game
over.

As far as high scores being wiped, there are a couple ways I can think of
that might appear as if this is happening.

If you have an MU and a hard drive, there could be a different saved game
file on each. These are two completely separate files. Achieve a high
score on one, load from the other and it will appear gone. The other way is
if you are not signed into a profile we can not save the high scores. They
will NOT appear to be there, we don't grant a non-signed in player the
ability to make the high score table. Always sign in to a profile on the
same storage devise to ensure that your game data is safe.

Hope that helps. The patch will make things better. If you have further
questions or more detailed accounts of bugs you are experiencing, please let
us know so we can address them`.


Colin Thompson
Customer Service Supervisor
THQ

Anyone else miss square and sticky tetris ?

[Strider]

When I tried to download off partnernet, it said you couldn't download it unless you had the original game. If that's the case for the retail version then they can get stuffed.

Why shouyld I pay even £20 for something im not going to play, just so I can purchase the online version that I do want.

Let's for god's sake hope this isn't a sign of things to come...

[Bort]

Game Over can happen without blocking out in many ways. In Marathon and Go
Low, once you have cleared level 15, 150 lines, it's game over.

Can't remember the terminology they used but that isn't a bug (if you thought it was one). ?Standard? (150 lines) / Variable (600 lines) in marathon. Second to last option.

[ozzzy189]

tgm ace

Is this better than tgm ace anyone ?

[Kubrick]

For me it is because you actually get a score. TGM Ace is just time-based.