Tetris Effect on PS4: Wow! Just WOW

When I saw that this game was gaining traction in the charts of top-selling games I was a little curious how it is that something as old as Tetris could possibly be doing well as far as sales were concerned. I also had my doubts when I saw that it was just as expensive as far more involved games such as Witcher, Red Dead Redemption 2, and well, insert whatever massive game you want in here and you get the idea.

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I likely would have never gotten involved because it's Tetris, right? It would be a silly idea to shell out $30 for a game that I kind of wore out on my Game Boy back in 1989 (date not accurate, but it was a long time ago). But then the next wave of heavily discounted games hit the Playstation store and since the price was reduced to around $15 I watched the trailer and honestly, it looked pretty damn awesome.

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It's difficult to really explain what is going on here because other than a couple of tweaks such as the ability to freeze time a limited amount of times it is basically the exact same Tetris game that has been released 1000 times in the past 30 years but they have done something truly magical with the sights and sounds that take place during the game and make it an oddly immersive experience despite the fact that there is very little in the way of surprises as far as the game is concerned. I suppose if I was to point out one thing it is that the levels actually do end at some point unlike the Tetris of old where the entire objective was to just continue listening to that amazing original song and racking up as many lines as you possibly can.

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I do not have a VR headset because from what I have heard most of the PS VR games are a load of shite and the tech isn't really all that great. However, from the people I know that do have that add on they have said that this game is the first one of the VR bunch that has truly "wowed" them with how it ends up working.

The music, to a certain degree, responds to the moves that you make and the surrounding graphics change depending on how you are performing as well. There is also a "map" of sorts as you progress through the various levels and this suggests to me that DLC will be easily added in the future.

I could include a myriad of images from the game but I think that their trailer actually does a much better job of showcasing all of that than any amount of words could possibly accomplish.

Last night I sat down to play the game for what I thought would be just a couple of rounds. I was half-expecting to feel duped by clever advertising after that point but instead, the next thing I knew it was 3am and I was completely immersed in the game because the visuals, the music, the advancement to the next level was all done in an absolutely perfect sense.

They recommend that you use surround sound or headphones and in my case I found myself turning my headset up to maximum for the first time that I have ever done so since I bought them over a year ago.

I can't believe I am saying this but Tetris Effect might be the best purchase I have made in a while.

It is currently 50 or 60 percent off in the PS Store and seriously. I think you should check it out because I would be genuinely surprised if you end up being any less impressed with it than I am.