Though I can beat my sister at nearly every video game, there is one where she trounces me, and always has: Tetris. We've been playing Tetris from the beginning, thrity years ago, and Tetris Ultimate for the Nintendo 3DS means will be playing it a lot this holiday season. Oh the humiliation.
By the way, do you know the word for the blocks in a game of Tetris? Tetriminos. Really. I'm going to psych out my sister with that bit of trivia just before our first match.
Of course, the beauty of Tetris is that none of that matters. Tetris is about staying cool under pressure, not getting rattled when the blocks, er, tetriminos start coming in fast. It is about seeing patterns, how things fit together. No wonder my sister always wins.
Having Tetris on the 3DS is great because I can practice it on the way to her house for Thanksgiving. It works great as a single player game when you're on the go, and a multiplayer game when the whole gang gets together. If you've got a couple of kids in the back seat, each with their own 3DS they can play against each other wirelessly. In fact you can play up to 7 other players online or 10 offline! So, the game can continue even after the holiday get-togethers are distant memory.
There are lots of variants on the original game play - in fact, there are over ten modes that will test your visual acuity and concentration. There are time challenges, point challenges, boards where the more you play the more lines you have to clear, and crazy modes where the blocks become invisible as they drop, or where they can't be rotated.
However you play, single mode, or with friends on-line or off, Tetris Ultimate is great fun, easy to pick up and difficult to master.
Tetris Ultimate will also be available for digital download this winter on Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Windows PC with PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system releasing in 2015. Ubisoft is a sponsor of the JamesGames.com SMT.
