Tetris for NES&GB REVIEW

C'mon. Everyone knows this game and has played it in some iteration.Whether on an iPod Touch, via Facebook, or on the Gameboy, Tetris is everywhere. Full Review after the jump.

Created by a russian programmer back in the 80's, Tetris was originally programmed on an Elektronika 60 and in 1984 and ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System and Gameboy a few years later. In the US, the best known version of Tetris was the Gameboy version, selling over 33 million copies. In this review, I will be playing both.

Gameplay is very simple. There is no real objective. No underlying story is to there be fast-forwarded through. That is one of the great things about Tetris; it is pure game play. All you have to do is align all the incoming blocks to create a straight line at the bottom of the screen. Seems simple, but after awhile the game gets very complex and fast paced. Once you get on the more advanced levels, the most helpful shapes become more scarce and you are forced to actually think about where you are placing all the pieces. The pieces also move increasingly faster as you progress throughout the game.

I have never personally tested the theory of "Can you play tetris forever?", but I know you can have many hours of solid game play (the most I have clocked has got to be about 1 or 2 hours). This said, it is an appropriate, relaxing game that could be played on long trips.

Both NES and Gameboy editions do not have saves (of course), so once start a game, you are pretty much sucked in. But since there are no saves, whenever you start up a new game you can select the mode and level you were previously on (if you can remember). This is good for "pick-up-and-play" game play. The only downside to this is the fact that your glorious high-score will not be kept.

I personally prefer the NES version of the game, even though both versions were practically the same exact game. I only like the NES version over the Gameboy one because of its colorful graphics and very, very catchy music.Besides, the only thing the Gameboy version added was multiplayer.

Newer versions of Tetris have added bunches of new features and have been retooled for different types of game play; an example being a 3D version of tetris for the 3DS.

But for guys like me, the originals could never be topped.