Next Tetris: Online
Edition
System:
Dreamcast
Publisher: Crave Entertainment
Developer: Blue Planet Software
Released: 2001
Genre: Puzzle
Capabilities: VMU, Modem, and Keyboard Compatible, Sega-Net
Compatible for online play
Review Written: November 7, 2001
The Game
Tetris finally makes its way to the Dreamcast, and to make it even better it is online. This game is pretty identical to the PSX version of The Next Tetris with more features. I never have actually played any of the versions of Next Tetris, and have mostly stuck with New Tetris on N64. Will this make me change my mind? Let’s get onto the review and find out.
Graphics
All right, now I might add a little lee way for this score because we all know how the graphics for Tetris are. All the tetrads look how you expect them too. The developers try to make it better by adding several borders to the drop box. And most of them do look great, but who are we kidding? Who even pays that much attention to the borders during game play. The menus in this game are a big change from all the other simple menus I’ve seen in earlier Tetris games, but they still get the job done and I got use to them in no time. The action in this game is the same fast pace like in most Tetris games, and you’ll never want to slow down.
Sound
Most Tetris games have been regarded for great tunes during game play. And in the Next Tetris we get a slew of different tunes to hear during game play. Most of them have a neat futuristic twist to them. The music was pretty good after I heard all the tunes a few times and they started to grow on me. The sound effects are the standard you hear from most other Tetris games. All the rotations and lines breaking away after you complete them sound nearly the same from earlier Tetris games.
Game play
This game is mostly like regular Tetris, but with a few new added twists. The goal is to complete the amount of divided up garbage at the bottom of the drop box as fast as you can. Much like Tetris 2 for the Super Nintendo. You can also form 3-D Cascades to help add to your advantage during game play. You form them by matching the special colored “Multimino” pieces, much like the way you did in Dr. Mario. Once you complete all the garbage you go onto another puzzle with a tad more garbage in it.
For game modes we have the basic one player game where you keep on beating as many puzzles of garbage as fast as you can so you can improve your rank. In the two player game, two players go at it to see who can clear their garbage first. You can go on and on to see who can improve their rank the most. Marathon mode is where you go through 15 levels of puzzles with amount of garbage and speed increasing as you go along. You also have practice mode where you have a given amount of pieces to complete puzzles of garbage. And for the heck of it, Classic Tetris is thrown in there also, and it plays out just like you played it on Game Boy back in 1989. Too bad there isn’t a two player mode in there for Classic Tetris. That was a big downer. And the last mode is online play, where play over Sega Net, there’s various leagues to join and you got leader boards as well.
Replay Value
Well, there is a nice amount of modes here to keep you company, weather it’s playing Marathon mode by yourself or going against a friend in two player mode or online. The only bad thing about playing online is that there’s not many people out there with this game, and I only found a few people to play this against. And Classic Tetris being only one player was also a let down.
In Brief
+: Good ‘ol Tetris fun finally on the Dreamcast, plenty of modes, online play
-: Basic visuals and sound, not many people online, Classic Tetris is only one player
The Final Ratings Rundown
Graphics: 6.2
Sound: 5.8
Game play: 7.5
Replay Value: 8.1
Overall: 6.9
Rounded to fit GameFAQs Score: 7
Comments
The Next Tetris: Online Edition is a nice breath of fresh air in the puzzle genre for the Dreamcast. I actually like the classic versions of Tetris much better than “The Next Tetris” versions of the game. But if you got to have your Tetris for every system, you may as well add this one to your collection. Otherwise, rent first.