Flash Game Review: “Tetris Friends” makes brick dropping social

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

There’s no doubt to the timeless nature of Tetris. Easily one of the best designed puzzle games that can go on near-limitlessly, the classic brick dropper designed by Alexy Pajitnov has never strayed too far from formula. Sure, you’ve had the occasional version with bombs, or the ability to save a piece for future use, and Tetris DS threw a multitude of modes at players, but Tetris Friends Online Games adds something unique: a social feature.
Free to play online (and with a limited version on Facebook), Tetris Friends (in Beta) currently has ten modes of play. Marathon is classic Tetris that goes to level 15, Sprint sees how many points a player can amass before hitting 40 lines, Ultra is the same but within 2 minutes, Survival is Marathon but with a 20 levels instead of 15, N-Blox is a graphically basic classic game, Sprint 5P allows five players to race to 40 lines, and Battle 2P and 6P lets players throw garbage at each other by completing lines. Tetris 1989 tries it’s best to recreate the Game Boy franchise hit, and Tetris Acorn Drop is a tie-in with Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs, collecting acorns for Scrat; don’t worry, it plays like normal Tetris.

Some modes are rather weak. N-Blox feels as if they acquired a fan version of the game and decided to host it. With it’s moderately flawed “as soon as a brick touches the bottom, it’s done” style that will instantly end a game if you’re slightly flawed, you’re likely to not spend much time playing it. Same with Tetris Acorn Drop; it plays just like other modes of Tetris, only with the Ice Age theme. The concept that you’re getting acorns is definitively flawed in the fact that you’re only ever going to get them in multiples of ten. On the other hand, Sprint and Ultra are great for a minute or two breaks, and Survival and Ultra are excellent for lengthy play sessions. Tetris 1989 is great for it’s novelty and memories.

… and then we get to the multiplayer sessions. You’re goal throughout them is to send as many lines as you can to your enemy, or to beat their speed. It adds a competitive edge, in a game in which your main goal is usually “don’t screw up, put this piece there and that piece here.” One of the secret pitfalls of the game seems to be it’s false social feeling. Marathon, Sprint, Survival, Ultra, Tetris Acorn Drop, Tetris 1989, and N-Blox are all single player, so no real question there. Players go about their business clearing lines with whatever stipulations that game has set up. Tetris Battle 2P, 6P, and Sprint 5P miraculously always has opponents for you. That wouldn’t be in question outside of the fact that there is no waiting time, and I played two of the same account one time. I would imagine that Tetris Friends keeps the recorded gameplay from other modes, and has you play against it in sort of a “ghost” challenge. At the end of rounds, the game shows you your recorded play, so it’s obvious they track your skills, if only for your own amusement. Still, consider it a social play as you are ranked, but being able to chose your opponents would be a great feature.

Every time you play a match, if you meet certain criteria, you earn Tokens. These Tokens can go to unlocking more modes of play and alternate brick designs. Over the course of a week, I unlocked both locked gameplay modes and the “Monotone” brick design, which is obviously the classic Game Boy sprites. By logging into the game every day, you’ll accrue tokens as well. These tokens definitely improve the addictiveness of Tetris, as you’ll soon find yourself trying to get all of the possible pieces.

For free, the game is a great site to bookmark. Tetris is timeless, and Tetris Friends brings it into the internet social world of 2009. Assuming more and more iterations of Tetris are added to the online game set, and it expands it’s social reach, and tetrisfriends.com will easily be another of the great internet time-wasters.