PSP Minis Review – Tetris
Tetris, the world renowned tetrinome-stacking puzzle game, has graced nearly every game console known to man. Now, over 25 years since Alexey Pajitnov created it, it’s been re-released as one of Sony’s new Minis for the PSP and PSPgo.
Almost all gamers have played or at least heard of Tetris. For those few that haven’t, Tetris is about stacking different shaped blocks and clearing lines. A line of blocks is cleared when a horizontal line is completely filled with blocks, meaning there are no spaces in that line. This is done by manipulating the block shapes to fit any open spaces. The more lines cleared before the screen fills up, the higher the score.
So what does this version of Tetris offer that past versions don’t? There are 12 different variants here that alter the way Tetris is played. One such variant is the Treadmill variant, which sets the blocks on a conveyor belt, moving the blocks one space to the right with each block dropped. This isn’t game changing, but it does offer a fresh new twist to the Tetris players know and love.
In the end, this is Tetris, and there really isn’t much that can be changed about it without it being a completely different game. It’s fitting for a PSP Minis release, since it’s the type of game that can be played for 5 minutes here or 10 minutes there. However, the game’s price of $9.99 is definitely not fitting, since it could probably be found for 25 cents in a flea market bargain bin. Only players with a serious hankering for Tetis should invest in this one; everyone else should skip it.
PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score
Perfect to play in short bouts Overpriced for such a simple game |
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9 Responses to “PSP Minis Review – Tetris”
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November 7th, 2009 at 5:02 PM
Ouch! Poor Tetris! I agree with you on the price point, but then again, it’s Tetris, it’s hard to justify calling the PSP a handheld without it.
November 7th, 2009 at 7:27 PM
I find it interesting that this is cheaper in the Euro store.
This is one of those games you give away to promote your system not sell for $10 to crap on the system. Honestly I don’t know what the hell Sony is thinking with their Mini line of crap. I thought they were trying to win-over iPod users not drive them back to the iStore.
November 7th, 2009 at 7:44 PM
that’s ood. It got a low score because it was overpriced. l thought this was about a game review and not economic marketing. Anyways l love teris and the tetris minis is very fun to play with and unlocking the other variants is addicting as well
11/07/2009 at 7:55 PM
Actually it wasn’t because of the price. It was because of the value for the price.
If the game was feature packed, and was worth the $9.99 it would have only got a 3.
The game offers barely anything new, and what is new isn’t worth the purchase.
November 8th, 2009 at 4:56 AM
I have to agree as a game it is as fun as all previous itterations, but the $9.99 price point can not be ignored. I got tetris for free as a flash game and the only difference is the 12 different game modes. So sure price should not always be considered, but when a game is as overpriced as this one is you have to consider this.
November 8th, 2009 at 6:07 PM
I can think of several things that could have added to the score and the value of paying $9.99..
- Custom soundtracks
- Ability to add you own backgrounds
- PSP Mini Trophies
- Ability to play it both on the PS3 and PSP
- PSN Multi-player
I personally love Tetris for a long time. I would also prefer to buy it for the PSP than the iPhone but I can’t be expected to pay $5 more on the PSP vs the iPhone. I know it will come down but as it is now I have to hold off on that.
I think the PSLS score was justified for what its worth.
November 8th, 2009 at 8:48 PM
Yeah I agree with the score as well. I ended up buying it just because I wanted to own one Minis game, but on a system known for making Lumines popular, the game should’ve at most been 4.99.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:12 AM
All i want is me and my katamari to come to ps store.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:16 PM
$10 ftl. This is the dawn of a very bad day, my friends….
tetris at 10 is a bad sign of things to come…
March 14th, 2010 at 12:41 AM
I play a lot of puzzle games for free on the net, so $9.99 looks like $49.99 to me. But, I do love Tetris and am itching to put it in my handheld library…
BTW here’s a Mini i saw coming out at a price I can more easily justify ($2.99):
http://www.agetec.com/catalog/news_detail.php?id=41