A Great Game For All Ages!

Tetris is one of those games that everybody knows. Use the falling blocks to form complete rows, and stop your Tetris wall from reaching the top. Tetris DS is essentially a new, updated version of this, with a few new ways to play thrown in.

The graphics on it are very good. The blocks are very vibrant, it's easy to see what your opponent is doing as well as yourself, and the whole thing appears to be bright, fun, and welcoming. Though it's easy to slip and accidentally put a block in an entirely random place, the controls are easy to use and it doesn't take much skill or experience to be able to play.

Each of the games is themed around a Nintendo character; ie. Zelda features in Mission Mode. This is a nice idea, but you don't really notice it.

Standard Mode:
This is the Tetris you've already played. It's simple enough - you have to complete 20 levels (10 lines in each) as the pieces start falling faster and faster. This is a fun game to play - it's easy to see what you're doing, and it tells you what the next 6 pieces to fall are going to be so you have time to work out moves beforehand. As you're playing, the top screen features Mario, clearing different levels of his own. It's from the old super mario gameboy games and though it's fun to watch, it doesn't really serve much purpose apart from to seemingly attempt to distract the player!

Within standard mode, you can also play a game against the computer (who is in the top screen). Whenever you clear two lines or more the blocks you have cleared appear at the bottom of their screen, and vice versa. It's very simple but a lot of fun.

Push Mode:
Against an opponent, you must push the Tetris pieces to their side, whilst they attempt to do the same. This can be quite a tricky game, as you must clear multiple lines at once in order to move it even slightly. This game is definitley an interesting version of the original, but I don't really find it very fun as it's too time consuming - but then I'm probably just very bad at it!

Touch Mode:
Tetris, but with the touch screen. You don't have to deal with the trauma of falling blocks, everything is just piled up for you and it's up to you to slot them around. This is kindof like a slow version of the original game, where you get to take your time to build a wall.

Puzzle Mode:
You are given a tetris wall, and a certain number of set pieces. You must choose the order to place the pieces you are given, so that it clears the wall. This is surprisingly difficult to do but is good fun if you like logic puzzles.

Mission Mode:
Basically, complete tetris based missions! For example, you may be asked to clear 5 lines at once with your tetris pieces. This is quite a good game, and can be quite challenging as well.

Overall I really only play the standard mode games, but the others are a nice addition and definitley worth a try. The games are all interesting and I can see why they would be fun - they just don't really appeal to me! There is another game, "Catch Mode", but I haven't really played it enough to go into detail about it.

Multiplayer mode is my favourite feature of this. I haven't tried online play, but I assume it to be the same as playing with the people around you. Though you need a DS for every person playing, you only need one copy of the game. It's a lot of fun, and very easy to play. You can play "Standard", "Mission" and "Push" through this. I have played all against my boyfriend and parents, but again, Standard is the winner. You can play with up to 9 people - their grids all appear in the top screen so it's easy to see how you're doing compared to everyone else, which really makes you feel more competitive!

Overall this is a good game. If you liked the original, it's well worth a buy. It's been improved a great deal, and though some of the new features seem a little pointless, overall it's still a very fun game.