In 2018, I chose Tetris Effect as my Game of the Year. It was an audio visual experience that elevated the classic as something more than just Tetris, all the while keeping the same great Tetris gameplay intact. It captivated me the same way that Pac-Man Championship Edition DX did. And aside from the Sony first party exclusives, it’s disc lived in my PS4.
This summer, it was announced that Tetris Effect would be making the jump from PS4 and the Epic Games Store to Microsoft’s consoles and it wouldn’t just be the base Tetris Effect but instead Tetris Effect: Connected and as the name implies, this version would be bringing multiplayer to the game.
Personally, I mostly play Tetris by myself but even so, no competitive multiplayer (even on the local level) seemed like an oversight to me. The game is both visually and sonically captivating so when my wife would come in, she’d get mesmerized by the game but I couldn’t just start up a game where we both could play against each other and let her experience the game with me. It was lone wolf or bust.
Connected rectifies that oversight and it does it in grand fashion.
While you can certainly play the standard competitive modes, both online and off, the titular Connected mode is the real draw of the new set. In Connected mode three players do battle against an AI boss (or on weekends in Connected Vs. a real life player). Each of the three players gets their own board to clear and the AI boss will dump junk on each in an effort to throw them off and eliminate them. Where things get interesting is when the players clear enough lines to connect their boards, creating a giant Tetris board (three times as wide) where each player takes turns making moves to clear lines which translates at the end of the connection into an attack on the boss. Each match has three different AI bosses to defeat and there are four tiers of difficulty to attempt. It’s great fun, although it can at times be a little frustrating with randoms, and an excellent addition to the game.
Still, the draw of the game is its Journey mode, which I’ve run through two more times (Beginner and Normal) and it is as great an experience as it was before and Expert difficulty is still insanely trying (and I’m not sure how I beat it two years ago). The groups of levels are still challenging in the right ways but the game is never overly punishing to the player (except on maybe the final stage).
At its core Tetris Effect: Connected is just Tetris but it’s also an audio visual masterpiece that combines those elements in interactive ways with the tried and true Tetris gameplay. It’s the best way to play Tetris at home and I’d gladly triple dip if they chose to bring it to the Switch.
5*
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