Friday, February 10, 2012

Top 50 Video Games: Number 16


Platform:
Just about every platform I've ever owned or played a video game on
Absurdly Specific Genre: Being the best 3D platformer/shooter ever - that's not really a genre, is it.
Difficulty: From 1 to 10, depending on how fast that damn block is dropping
Beaten: A close as it can be, I suppose.

Seven shapes. One goal. Endless permutations. A video game that has pretty transcended the medium (admit it, you don't even really think about it as a video game anymore).

Tetris is, of course, the game that most of us can play by now simply by closing our eyes. It's the first game in which I had even a modicum of skill.

The elegance of the game is obviously is absolute simplicity. A child can learn to play passably within minutes, yet a player who has been playing for years can be tripped up in a humblingly short period of time with just a few bad blocks (usually those damned 'S' and 'Z' blocks).

Yeah, screw you. You're not welcome here - and by 'here', I mean 'anywhere'.

I haven't played the game properly in a long time now, but the next time I do, I'll feel that same exact way that I have on countless occasions - enthralled, with nothing required of me but reflexes, and all manner of enjoyment to gain. Tetris is no ordinary timewaster, it's the supreme timewaster. None can hope to match it.

Now, if I could just get that 'l' block...

4 comments:

  1. I'd be torn on where to place this in a list. On one hand, it is an historical and transcendent game. I've also spent many, many hours playing it. On the other hand, I'm pretty much done with it. I haven't had any strong desire to play Tetris in about 10 years. I mastered Level 18, Height 3 and that was about as far as I could go or wanted to go.

    I did adore the two-player game one could play if you had two Gameboys. That I would still play.

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  2. It's not Tetris's fault, but there's still that annoyance factor due to so many damn knockoffs (the only memorable one being Wordtris).

    I remember two player was fun, but not how it was played. Did it add a line to your opponents side everytime you completed a line yourself?

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    Replies
    1. I think it added 1 line if you completed 2 at a time, 2 if you completed 3, and 3 if you got a Tetris. But I might be wrong about that.

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