Tetris Effect: Connected (for Xbox) Review

 


Tetris Effect: Connected (for Xbox) Review

I don’t just love Tetris, I honestly think it’s one of the few perfect video games. Its core mechanic of dropping and clearing blocks is so solid it forms the foundation of the entire puzzle genre. It’s hard (though not impossible) to mess up Tetris, but truly improving it takes impressive skill. So we were 

blown away when 2018’s Tetris Effect turned the simple game into a flat-out spiritual experience. While it’s not entirely a new game, Tetris Effect: Connected takes everything that worked in the Editors’ Choice original and enhances it with brilliant multiplayer and a gorgeous next-gen skin.

Tetris Effect: Connected is an expanded version of the original Tetris Effect, not a true sequel. Think of it like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Nintendo Switch, which added a revamped battle mode alongside the content from the Wii U version. With Tetris Effect: Connected, you get added fidelity from next-gen 

console power and an entirely new set of multiplayer modes. The lack of multiplayer was our only real disappointment with the original game, so that’s a great change.

Right now, you can get Tetris Effect: Connected for $40 on Xbox consoles and Windows PCs. If you bought the original game for PlayStation 4 or VR headsets, you’ll receive the new content as a free expansion in 2021.

Those already familiar with Tetris Effect may feel tempted to dive right into the new stuff, but I recommend acquainting yourself with the original solo experience. Not just because it’s an incredible

 

 game (although it is), but also because Tetris Effect is so much about the journey that you should start at the beginning. In fact, its initial mode is actually called “Journey.” If you think that sounds like a pretentious way to describe a puzzle game, you aren’t ready for Tetris Effect. Tetsuya Mizuguchi, 

genius Japanese puzzle designer behind Lumines and Rez, slathers his psychedelic aesthetic obsessions all over the Soviet game to create a worldly fusion of sights and sounds. As you clear lines, the scenery morphs around you, taking players from the deepest calming oceans to the interiors of dark space 

 

obelisks. The “Tetris Effect” is a real pre-existing neurological term that describes how puzzle games rewrite your brain to notice their patterns and act on instinct, shutting out the world around you. Tetris Effect intensely enhances that feeling by tying its gameplay to strong audiovisual stimuli. It’s synesthesia nirvana.