Tetris II Review

TETRIS II

On the occasion of SINTECH acquiring the licenses for this game, I would like to present TETRIS II here.

Tetris is already an interesting little game, but in Tetris II it has become even more captivating; the two-player mode is almost superfluous here. In some levels, wall remnants are preset that need to be cleared away, unusual tetromino shapes do the rest, and the music adds to the fun, being quite good to dance to as well. Although Tetris II is a very good and recommendable game, it is already quite old. I wonder why Thomas didn't acquire the license for Tetris VI instead. But let's take things one step at a time:

Right from the start of the game, one notices the well-crafted, albeit not extraordinary, graphics, with the backwards "R" visible everywhere, including in the scroller. Strictly speaking, this letter is read as "ya", but that has never bothered any Tetris cloner, even if Russians read the title as "Tetyas"!

In the selection menu, you have the following options to configure the game:

• Normal Tetris (the old, boring one!) / Tetris 2 (more on that later).
• Next, you can set whether both players receive identical pieces or different ones, though this only takes effect when playing with two players.
• The next interesting option is the number of different pieces: Normal (seven) or Special (14), with the latter making the game almost unplayable.
• The final interesting option is the sound: 48K effects or 128K music, where I would definitely recommend the second option.
• Finally, you can redefine the keys for both players!

In Tetris II mode, you have to complete small objectives: either clear away all existing wall debris or make a specific number of certain lines (e.g., one quadruple line and ten single lines) to advance to the next level. It's hell of a lot of fun!

Now, however, for the dark sides of this Tetris: unfortunately, there is no key autorepeat. This means that if you want to shift a block three positions to the left, you have to press and release the "Left" key three times — a shortcoming that took me quite a while to get used to. The DROP is also uncontrollable: if you see that you made a mistake by one position, all you can do is watch and pray that the right blocks appear to remedy the blunder. You clearly have to get used to very precise play.

Well, now that I have dissected the game, let's move on to the final strike: the ratings!

• Graphics: 7
• Music: 9 (128K) / 3 (48K)
• Tech: 6
• Gameplay: 8 (1 Player) / 10 (2 Players)

Conclusion: Old, partially poorly coded, but nonetheless huge fun. I recommend it to any puzzle game fanatic.

— Tiger's Claw