Tetris Forever Review (PS5) – The game compilation that is Tetris Forever has become a fixture of the modern release calendar as we know it. As newer games take longer and longer to develop, with greater costs, the idea of having a game that repurposes the old is a tantalising one that many publishers have capitalised on. Without sounding too cynical, it feels like it can sometimes be more of a decision of obligation rather than passion for the industry.
Tetris Forever is a fascinating instance of this historical compilation, where it truly feels like the history of Tetris is being put at the forefront and pushed onto players to immerse themselves in the story of one of the foundational titles of the entire industry. This interactive exhibit is a new gold standard for compilations and puts a clear emphasis on history over gameplay.
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Tetris Forever Review (PS5) – Tetris and a Whole Lot More
Explore Around
One of the most striking aspects of Tetris Forever was how it immediately throws you into the documentary portion of the package. You click through the title screen and you’re presented with 5 key chapters of Tetris history to explore at your own pace, with bespoke footage and interviews with developers, as well as photographs of key moments throughout history, as well as general education on the origins of the puzzle!
It becomes very difficult to review Tetris Forever as a “game” in the traditional sense just because of how much emphasis is put on the historical journey, but I absolutely loved sifting through the footage and available resources here.
It reminded me of an interactive museum exhibit in my own home, with the opportunity to play the games at my own pace, without interruption. The target audience here is clear, and while there’s a new Tetris game included in this experience, it certainly isn’t the reason that many will be picking it up.
An Exhaustive Library
Including Tetris Time Warp as the newest iteration of Tetris, there are 17 individual games in this collection which are all fantastic blasts to the past that supplement the historical timeline. As you work your way through the history of Tetris, you’re given the opportunity to immediately jump into a game of whichever game is being talked about at that moment.
This small decision blends the game and history aspect brilliantly, and speaks to the importance of interaction when talking about games like this. Describing a game to someone is all well and good, but it’s vitally important to let them form their own experiences with it too. In terms of games being covered, it mostly represents games that weren’t available on modern platforms before this point.
While the documentary section does cover modern Tetris releases, this isn’t a game that gives you access to games like Puyo Puyo Tetris or Tetris Effect, purely down to the fact that these games are already available on the platform. At first you might feel like that’s Digital Eclipse and Atari being stingy – but the reality is that it would’ve been a development and licensing nightmare to include absolutely every single version of Tetris there ever was available to play in one package. Making every Tetris release ever was also never the goal of Tetris Forever, but every version of Tetris is mentioned in the documentary half of the game.
There are recreations of the very first iteration of Tetris, as creator Alexey Pajitnov would’ve seen it on his primitive hardware of the time, the Electronika 60. The MS-DOS version of the original is also included, alongside games that aren’t even related to Tetris but are still a part of the journey, like Igo: Kyū Roban Taikyoku.
Dropping Blocks
For a casual player interested in only playing the games on show here, you might find yourself slightly let down by the selection here. The value is in the insight, rather than the games themselves. These Tetris games are rudimentary in how they’re recreated and they aren’t remade for modern sensibilities and what we expect. Getting used to not having a hold button for most of the games here was shockingly tough and speaks to how the game has changed over the course of years.
But Tetris is Tetris, and this package gives you an incredible amount of variety for what you’re buying. Just experiencing how many iterations of the classic formula there are was a joy, and the standard suite of emulation settings and features we expect are also still here to take advantage of. Features like rewinding time, save states, clear recreations of manuals and instructions speak to how the team here want to make this a well-rounded experience.
There are no issues on the technical side of things, with quick loading times in and out of games, and responsive controls across the board that are vital for an optimal Tetris experience. In all ways that matter, this is the best way to revisit these old games.
Renewing a Legacy
The totally original Tetris offering in this collection is Tetris Time Warp, and it falls far more in line with what we expect out of modern Tetris experiences. You’re able to hold pieces, fast-fall and everything else we expect. The unique spin here is how special tetrominoes – when put in a line – can trigger a time shift back to one of the other classic games in this collection.
These are very brief intermissions that feature special challenges outside of your own board, which are great ways of racking up points. And while the gimmick itself of travelling through to other versions of Tetris is a fun one in concept, in practice it feels a bit too isolated from the main game to feel like anything more than a distraction from the core game.
This largely isn’t helped by Time Warp itself having a generally quite flat visual presentation in its own right, that ironically falls short of the variety shown in previous games. I’m not sure if my standards are too high after playing Tetris Effect last year, but I was left feeling slightly wanting by this new game, despite how it embraces its own legacy.
Ultimately, that’s the most important part of Tetris Forever. This is a stuck moment in time that chronicles the long and winding journey of Tetris from a humble solo project to the titan of the gaming industry that has been the backbone of pick-up-and-play since its inception. Whether we like it or not, Tetris really is a game that can be played and iterated on forever.
This collection proves that, and much more.
Tetris Forever is available on PS5 and PS4 on November 12, 2024.
Review code generously provided by the publisher.
