Tetris Effect: Connected Review

Avec multiplayer sans VR

Reviewed by A.J. Maciejewski playing an Xbox One on November 10, 2020

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Tetris Effect released a couple years back and it was a hoot in VR but here's a new Connected version that features multiplayer fun.

I won't go on and on about Tetris Effect's core mechanics because I've already reviewed it back in 2018 so if you'd like to learn more about it then feel free to read my full review via the link below. In short, it's the same Tetris that we all know and love except with stellar visuals that compose distinct eye-popping level themes which is similar to developer Enhance‬'s other puzzler Lumines. In addition to the familiar decades-old gameplay formula, Tetris Effect features a Zone mechanic that lets you enter a mode where you can continuously drop pieces and make lines which doubles to give you more points as well as helps get you out of sticky situations so unleashing it at just the right moment is part of the challenge. Well, that's basically it so let's take a look at what's different this time around.

Tetris Effect: Connected for Xbox One is basically the exact same game as its previous vanilla incarnation yet it doesn't have VR support. However, it does feature a comprehensive multiplayer mode which the original unfortunately lacked entirely. In this mode, you can play either competitively or cooperatively with local or online players. Although this is cool, you can't mix local and online players which is a bit disappointing. Anyway, the cooperative mode (Connected) is the main event where a few players take on a boss and it offers an enjoyable and welcome challenge. The main competitive mode is Zone Battle which basically incorporates the Tetris Effect mechanics in 1-on-1 matches. Finally, Score Attack utilizes the basic Tetris rules while Classic Score Attack is totally old-school as you can't even hold pieces. This is certainly a solid collection of modes that'll make Tetris fans like myself want to play at least a few online matches.

On the other hand, I sincerely miss the many Tetris variations that were introduced over the years with my favourite being Cascade Tetris which debuted with The Next Tetris for PS1. I mean, the Zone mechanic is nifty for sure but having a bunch of quirky modes and gameplay rules would have went a long way to extend Tetris Effect: Connected's replay value, especially within its multiplayer component because every match is basically the same thing with the only substantial exception being if you're cooperating or competing. My other significant complaint is that I can't believe there's no VR for Xbox consoles yet. It seems like they're too busy designing the latest refrigerator model and don't really care much for the future of gaming. Who knows? Maybe they'll announce it soon...

Tetris Effect: Connected is 2 steps forward and 1 step back from the original 2018 release so if you want to play Tetris online, I can't think of a better option than this. Oh, right; Tetris 99... but that doesn't have a cool single player campaign like this does.