Really glad I found out this was on Xbox game pass on Windows--I really wanted to check out Tetris Effect, but not enough to download something called "Epic Games." All I have is my integrity.

As for the game: it's good! I find its whole "extreme tetris/yoga tetris" vibe kind of hilarious, and its maximalist aesthetic arguably detracts from what it is I love about tetris (its brutal simplicity), but it's nice and fun and there are a few single player themes that I really love. The single player "campaign" is a bit odd, yo-yo-ing between speeds so inconsistently it almost makes it feel kind of cheaply difficult, but I got used to it. Online multiplayer is fun when it works but it doesn't always, I'd say 1/20th of the time I disconnect before the game starts, and I've had more than a few matches where my opponent seemingly kamikazes a couple minutes in (I've almost exclusively played in...I think it's the "score attack" category? The one that's like marathon and whoever gets the higher score wins). I say "seemingly" because they were playing pretty well, I take my eye off of them for like 30 seconds, and then suddenly the match is over and I won--there's a chance they just got sloppy and lost naturally, but it's really happened a lot. It's an easy win, I guess, but I don't really care about making my virtual rank number go up all that much--I just want a good competitive game. Which I do get sometimes but it's just an odd trend I've encountered where a lot of people will just "end" their game.

Overall: had a great time with this. "Completed" in that I've done the journey mode a few times and played a couple hours of multiplayer, but I do expect to keep playing this pretty regularly--for as long as I keep paying for game pass. I don't "need" all the extra effects and music and stuff, but it's nice enough, and this is the first time in my entire life I've even entertained the specter of a desire to buy a VR headset.

Reviewed on Apr 21, 2021


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