Tetris Effect: Connected Review

Tetris Effect: Connected

Release: October 11, 2020
Publisher: Enhance
Developer: Monstars
Genre: Articles, PS5 Reviews, Xbox Series X Reviews
PEGI: E
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Comment

When Tetris Effect came to PS4 and PSVR in 2018, I largely wrote the game off because, well, Tetris is a game I’ve been playing all my life. It’s a great game, obviously, but I’ve never been particularly great at it. And why would I pay $40 for yet another iteration of the game?

Well, I was wrong. Tetris Effect is worth every bit of $40. Two years later, Tetris Effect: Connected has launched alongside the Xbox Series X and straight into Gamepass. It takes the 2018 hit and adds a surprisingly fun and engaging multiplayer suite to the proceedings.

In case you haven’t played the core game yet, Tetris Effect: Connected takes the 30-plus-year old classic gameplay and adds hypnotic visuals and a banging soundtrack, turning the puzzler into a pseudo rhythm game. And, for the first time in a long time, I feel somewhat competent at Tetris itself.

The game’s Journey mode, which takes you through about 20 audio-visual feasts of challenging gameplay had me enthralled throughout. When I was stuck on a level, I couldn’t wait to get back and try it again. Journey became the thing I had to beat before I could move on to anything else on the Series X.

I don’t knot the technical terms about what makes Tetris Effect Connected so arresting to look at. It’s bright; the music is awesome; the game works perfectly and the gameplay is addictive. I see tetriminos when I close my eyes. I hear the music in my head at all times.

Aside from Journey mode, there is plenty of single-player content to come back to. There’s also traditional score-chasing — I may have beaten Journey mode, but I rarely beat more than two levels consecutively. I need to go back through and build up my score.

What sets the 2020 release apart even more is the addition of a multiplayer suite. There is a slew of modes that can be played in Ranked mode, online with friends or locally: Classic Score attack, which is basically the original game and a fight for the highest score; another score attack that enables T-spins and other tricks; a Zone Battle mode than incorporates the base game’s Zone attacks to force your opponent to an early demise; and the titular Connected mode.

I haven’t touched the score attack modes yet, though not for lack of trying: I couldn’t find a match. Apparently everybody is playing Zone Battle and Connected. And those game modes are extremely fun. I’ve played a handful of Zone battle matches, and each one is fast and frenetic, lasting anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes depending on the matchup. The key is to keep up an onslaught of attacks on your opponent, sending over lines as much as possible, while balancing big and small attacks.

Connected mode, however, truly shines. You team up with two other players to take on an AI boss. Each player gets his/her own board. After building up a meter, the three boards are connected and you’re working to send as many lines as possible over to the boss, in order to fill the boss’ tower. Each level has three bosses to work through, with the obstacles getting progressively harder. It’s amazing how much teamwork really shines through in this mode, even between players who have no form of communication beyond sending down Tetris blocks. I adore Connected mode, and it’s absolutely worth playing.

Tetris Effect: Connected is an amazing game. It’s the classic Tetris experience, but wholly modernized and turned into a rhythm game. It’s challenging and hypnotic. Beautiful to look at. Easy to lose time in. The absolute definition of a must-play game.

Tetris Effect: Connected was reviewed on the Xbox Series X by Gamesreviews.com contributor Seth Roy.