Tetris Party Deluxe

By - Richard J.

It all started with the Gameboy, and a little Russian game that could. After selling nearly 33 million on the portable system alone, everyone across America in the early '90s was fitting tetrominoes together. Over the years, Tetris has made its mark on nearly every home and portable video game console. The latest Tetris game(s) to invade home and portable consoles is Tetris Party Deluxe. Tetris Party was originally a WiiWare game developed by Hudson Soft, but due to it's popularity has received an upgrade to full retail game on the Nintendo Wii and DS systems. Despite this being a new game, it's really just a new coat of paint on a classic game. However if I do say so myself, this is one hell of a coat of paint. This review is specifically for the Nintendo DS version of Tetris Party Deluxe. If you wish to know more about the Nintendo Wii version, my review is located here.

Tetris Party Deluxe! Throws you right into the gameplay from the beginning. Like all other Tetris games, they don't try and force a story and characters down your throat, and that's a good thing. Well, that's technically not true. There is a little man in the "Field Climber" mode, but that doesn't really count. On the subject of game modes, Tetris Party Deluxe is full of them. The huge amount of game modes is what puts Tetris Party Deluxe above most other Tetris games. The single player option in Tetris Party Deluxe features eight different quality game modes. The game modes are as follows:

Marathon

Basic Tetris gameplay where you clear as many lines as you can. This mode has both an endless "on", and an endless "off" option. Endless "on" has you playing for the highest time and score until you get "game over". While endless "off" has you playing for the highest time and score until 150 lines are cleared.

Computer Battle

In this mode you must defeat the computer in a head-to-head Tetris battle. Each time you clear two or more lines, lines appear on the computer's screen to push their blocks up. Your ultimate goal is to defeat the computer in the fastest time.

Field Climber As mentioned previously, this mode features a little man (known as the climber) which you must force to the goal zone using Tetris blocks while avoiding crushing him. However, if you have "Everest" set to "on", then you must keep the climber going until the climber gets crushed. While you climb, you can also collect flags along the way.

Shadow

Shadows are displayed on the back of the Tetris board and you must line your Tetris blocks along the shadow to form a shape. If a piece doesn't fit, you are able to swap it. Be warned though, you only get a limited number of swaps.

Stage Racer

A Tetris block must be guided to the bottom of a 400 line maze while the obstacles become harder and harder. Flipping your tetrinoes is essential to getting through the maze. The time you take is your score, except for the endless "Abyss" mode in which the line you reach is your final score.

Sprint

40 lines must be cleared in the fastest possible time. The faster your time is, the higher your score is.

Master Mode

The goal in this mode is to clear as many lines of Tetris blocks as you can while the blocks drop at their fastest speed. The same rules as the "Marathon" mode apply to this mode.

Bombliss Mode

Special bomb pieces are used to clear lines of Tetris blocks.

Apart from the regular single player modes, there are also two special "Beginner's" modes. These modes incorporate much larger Tetris blocks. These two modes are meant for younger children or those who are frustrated with regular Tetris.

Beginner's Marathon

The exact thing as regular marathon mode, except with much larger Tetris blocks. Exact same rules apply.

All Clear Sprint

The goal is to clear as many lines as you can in the shortest time. Unfortunately, this mode isn't very clear as the description for it was typed incorrectly. Here's what the description says in the game:

Try for the high score by completing 20 All Clears in the shortest time. (The capitalization of "All" and "Clears" is in the mode description).

Although there are many single player modes, there are a few multiplayer modes in Tetris Party Deluxe for the DS. These multiplayer modes are available for local and Wi-Fi multiplayer. The two game modes are "Battle" and "Duel Spaces". "Battle" is the multiplayer equivalent of "Computer Battle", and it follows the exact same rules. "Duel Spaces" has you stack Tetris Blocks on top of one another in order to form a border around the biggest space possible. The player with the most space bordered wins.

For the most part, all of these game modes are great. A couple like "Marathon" and "Computer Battle" are better than others, but there are none that are terrible. One great thing about the multiplayer aspect of the game is that Tetris Party Deluxe features "DS Download Play". This great feature - which is absent from most multiplayer DS games - allows you to play multiplayer if only one DS has a copy of the game. However, not all of the multiplayer is good. While the online works well, there is no one to play with. When I first received the game a few days after the release, there were a few people online. By the third day, there was online one other person online. I literally played a match with them, exited to search for another player, and ended up playing them again. Now as I'm writing review, there is no one online, and it has been like that for a while. It's kind of disappointing that such a fun game has no online community online a few weeks after its release.

While playing all of those fabulous game modes, you will see that the graphics in Tetris Party Deluxe are quite bright and vibrant. With the game being the same basic game that was on the original black-and-white Gameboy, they couldn't exactly innovate. I'm quite fond of what Hudson Soft did with what they had, but definitely don't expect incredible graphics when you pick up the game; just a lot of crazy colours. One thing I'm not fond of with the game though is its attempt to make Mii-like avatars. The avatars are as simplistic as they could possibly be, and they end up looking pretty ugly. However, there is a bright side to the avatar system. The game has a few highly detailed avatars which look really nice. Especially the Bomber Man cameo appearance one. Finally, you are able to change the background of the Tetris boards, which adds some customization and some great looking pictures. Their aren't graphically stunning, but visually there are quite nice.

Along with the the great graphics of Tetris Party Deluxe, comes the amazing sound. The game features a vast amount of amazing Tetris themes that have collected over the years. Due to the gameplay getting repetitive after a while, the sound playing in the background can do a lot to keep a long game entertaining. With the music being so pleasant to your ears, I recommend wearing headphones while playing the game. The poor quality speakers of the DS can really ruin how much you enjoy the music in the game.

Despite the gameplay getting a bit repetitive after a while, Tetris Party Deluxe has a ton of replay value. With all of the modes and the ability to play multiplayer locally with those who don't own the game, this is a perfect DS game to have for playing with friends. However, don't buy it if you only plan on playing online, I might be the only person you see! Jokes aside, if you enjoy pick-up-and-play games on your Nintendo DS, it doesn't get much better than Tetris Party Deluxe. If having a version of Tetris on nearly every video game console not enough proof to show you that Tetris never gets old, I don't know what is.

Ultimately, Tetris Party Deluxe on DS is a perfect game for Tetris fans. It takes the basic Tetris formula, and expands on it with a ton of enjoyable modes. However, if you aren't a huge fan of Tetris, you will likely want to skip on this game. The amount of fantastic game modes, the eye pleasing graphics, and the amazing sound make this one great game. What makes it even better is the $29.99 price-tag which is likely to go down farther. For a cheap, pick-up-and play game like this which expands on a classic formula - instead of changing it, or destroying it - I cannot recommend Tetris Party Deluxe enough. Just don't go into the game expecting too much.

PROS

• Classic gameplay done right
• Fantastic use of colours
• A plethora of outstanding game modes
• Ear pleasing sound
• Incredible replay value
• Bomberman makes a cameo as an avatar
• Cheap price

CONS

• Some game modes aren't as great as others
• Graphics aren't the best
• The Mii-like avatars are so basic that they are ugly
• Only recommended for Tetris fans

RATING: 8.0/10