Digital Eclipse are back again with another one of their interactive documentaries, this time covering everyone’s favourite block stacking puzzle game. We’ve covered both their Jeff Minter and Karateka retrospectives before and found them to be informative and well worth looking at.
The mix of detailed documents and interviews mixed with
selections of games is an enticing mix and when done well lifts these collections
above some of the money grab compilations out there. It’s always trickier when
collections surround one particular game though as you are effectively going to
get multiple versions of the same thing, as is the case here, although there is
more variation than you may be expecting.
Before we get on to that, it’s worth saying that if you are
a fan of Tetris and want to know about its history then this has been expertly
put together and curated. It follows in great detail the intriguing story that had
people rushing around Moscow trying to get hold of the rights. A story so
compelling it was turned into a half decent film. There’s also a lorry load of
documents and interviews that cover pretty much every aspect of Tetris up to about
1999.
While the history is complete, it does show up some of the gaps
in the game library. There always going to be rights issues and limits to what
is possible when it comes to these documentary style compilations and
unfortunately there was no way that Nintendo was ever going to release the
rights to Tetris on the NES or Gameboy. This is of course problematic as the
Gameboy version in particular is the one most closely associated with the franchise
and the global conquering success that is had. All the information about it is
present, but the game itself is nowhere to be seen. Nintendo has since released
both the NES and Gameboy versions on its own Online service so at least they
are out there somewhere.
If that doesn’t put you off though you get a sizable catalogue
of block rotating action. There are 19 games in total, and they aren’t all
Tetris in its traditional sense. You get a host of different versions of the
classic title ranging from the Electronika 60 up to Super Tetris 3 on the Super
Famicom. Along with this there are versions of the various spinoffs such as
Hatris, Welltris, Bombliss and the Battle Gaiden versions. All of which have
their own appeal and work the format well.
Exclusive to this collection is a new version of the game
called Tetris: Time Warp which is a fun take which occasional throws in random
versions of retro Tetris games into the mix as you are playing, allowing
players to earn bonus points. It works very well and while it’s probably not
worth buying the whole collection for, it certainly is a very good and welcome
addition to the collection that takes the sting out of some of the key versions
being missing.
Overall, whether you need to get this collection rests on a
couple of key things. That being, how bothered are you going to be that the
most iconic versions of the game aren’t here, how much you care about the
Tetris story and how much a new version of the game excites you. It’s enough
for us to recommend it though as the whole package is so well put together.
Overall 8/10
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