As cool as this was, and I don’t blame anyone for completely disagreeing with me… I’d rather just play the most basic Tetris possible. The spectacle is fun to look at but it kind of gets in the way. Even the classic mode has some extra flair to it which is fine, but just doesn’t do it for me like the simple presentation of the Game Boy version. I might also just be coping because I suck at this, but I was able to beat the Journey and I’ll be playing the online modes for a while because I see myself slowly improving. I also played some couch co-op and the boss fight mode was neat, specially how all your boards connect (boards? fields? grids?). Anyway, I’ll play this if I want a tactile, immersive experience, but I’d pick up my Analogue Pocket if I just want to play Tetris.

No one can deny the bafflingly obvious truth that Tetris stands as one of the few perfect videogames. Even Effect understands this so well that it extends its brilliance on a cerebral level with just some light yet largely impactful tweaks on the gameplay.

The mix of euphoric visuals, some harkening back to the classic Tetris backgrounds, along with an adaptive collection of syncopated soundscapes may appear quite simple in this one string of statements. But believe me, an effect must be felt not articulated.

Here's my Steam review, verbatim:

I've marked this review as "recommend to other players", but don't let that fool you into thinking that I think this is a satisfying entry in the Tetris series. It is satisfactory at best, but at worst it is a deeply underwhelming experience. Also note that I haven't used the VR mode, which may dazzle me so much that I completely change my mind, but to be honest I sort of doubt it.

This game is by no means a bad game. It has a decent main campaign (if you can even call it that), and a passable selection of side modes. People who just want to play some Tetris will find that this game scratches that itch, and hardcore Tetris fans... Well, you've already bought it.

The issue is the fundamental selling point of the game. It's sort of an immersive VFX showcase with Tetris plopped into it, and I think that that works perfectly well--It's certainly exciting first time around--but it fails to introduce anything seriously dramatic or brilliant visually. Do not expect an experience like Disney's Fantasia. You're more looking at a VFX student showreel with middling 2000s pop music.

The audiovisual experience is, to put it nicely, thematically trite. It's a lot of stereotypical stuff nicked from a bunch of different cultures without ever seriously engaging with them on a deeper level. The entire game feels like if the Beatles went through their psychedelic era but displaced by a couple of decades. I found myself thinking the word "Oscarbait" from time to time, and I think that term is actually decently accurate; at least to the idea of it being a very milquetoast and surface level gesture towards introspection and soulfulness.

You know, there's some really interesting stuff to say about Russia and its history with mysticism, religion and spirituality. It would be really great if a Tetris game about those themes could actually bother engaging with its own source material and origins. Maybe people like me would actually risk learning something new about stuff that we don't usually see portrayed in media. Hey, and where the hell is A-Type? Onion domes? Hello? Tetris already had culture in it that I really appreciated, you know.

I don't know which Tetris game added this feature, and I'm going to assume that it's this one, but I am not a fan of the letter-grade ranking system, at least for the side modes. My goal in Tetris is to beat my own high score, not to be told to beat someone else's ideas about what my high score should be looking like. Did anyone ask for this?

If you're going to commit to having one place to consistently come back to for your live-service Tetris experience, you could do better. If you want one place to come back to now and then just to try beating your own high score, then you could do better. Tetris DS has some fun side-modes, and Tetris NES is always there, and always a lot of consistent fun.