Tetris Forever, last year’s excellent interactive history of the classic block-dropping puzzler, has added two more games plucked from the series’ past as part of its “biggest-ever update”.
Tetris Forever, if you’re unfamiliar, follows the format of developer Digital Eclipse’s previous (and consistently superb) interactive documentary experiences – Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, and The Making of Karateka – combining archive material, new interviews, and playable games into one fascinating whole.
At launch, it featured 15 games – ranging from a recreation of the original Tetris on Electronika 60 to Digital Eclipse’s new Tetris Time Warp – and additional versions, including Welltris, have been added since then. And now the roster is expanding further, this time adding MS-DOS versions of Spectrum Holobyte’s 1991 Super Tetris and 1988’s Tetris (AcademySoft) v. 3.12.
Super Tetris, Digital Eclipse notes, was an early attempt at creating a Tetris “sequel”, requiring players to earn bombs and clear a Matrix already half full at the start. Tetris (AcademySoft) v. 3.12, meanwhile, is the final version of Tetris created within the Soviet Union, and includes a Phantom mode featuring invisible O-Tetriminos.
Alongside its two new games, Tetris Forever’s latest update brings enhancements to Tetris Time Warp. Its single-player modes now run to Level 30 instead of the previous Level 15, for instance, while multiplayer mode’s Time Warp Tetriminos have gained the new Shield power.
Additionally, its single-player 1989 Mode now lets players turn off “modern gameplay” for a more historically accurate experience (and its possible to reduce Matrix rows down from 20 to 18), and there’s the new 40-Line Challenge, tasking players with clearing 40 lines as quickly as possible. That’s on top of a much-expanded Tetris Time Warp options mode, enabling far greater customisation of visuals, sounds, and gameplay.
Elsewhere, there are adjustments to the Electronika 60 version of Tetris to make it “even more historically accurate”, and “many other minor tweaks, bug fixes, and enhancements.” All this is available now across all platforms as part of Tetris Forever’s latest free update.
And if you’ve even a passing interest in the history and legacy of Tetris, Digital Eclipse’s Tetris Forever is well worth your time. Christian Donlan called it a “gorgeous documentary compilation” in his four star review last year.
