Tetris Foreveris the most uneven Gold Master Series game from Digital Eclipse yet.
This series of games are playable documentaries that recount certain slices of gaming history by placing various interviews and assets on a timeline while also serving as a collection.Atari 50focused on the massive history of one company.The Making of Karatekahomed in on telling the story of one game and its impact.Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Storyprovided an overview of an innovative game developer’s career. Now,Tetris Foreverrecounts the fascinating history of what Digital Trends deemed thebest game of all time.
Tetris Foreversucceeds in telling the story ofTetris‘ history. Its interviews with Henk Rogers, Alexey Pajitnov, and more are insightful and give an in-depth history of the Cold War tensions, rights issues, and bold decisions that gotTetriswhere it is today. It’s a must-play for anyone wanting to learn more about that. Unfortunately, it’s spottier as a game collection. While deep cuts are included,Tetris Foreveris missing games that are critical to the series’ story, leaving it feeling a bit incomplete.
A stunning documentary
If you watchedTetrison Apple TV+, you may already be familiar with the story behind the game a little bit. Alexey Pajitnov designed Tetris for the Electronika 60 while working in the USSR, but the popularity of his addictive game eventually breached the Iron Curtain because of the efforts of a man named Robert Stein. Stein didn’t really own complete rights toTetris, but he acted like he did and made several deals that ultimately made the rights surroundingTetrisa mess.
Henk Rogers got involved in all this when attempting to licenseTetrisfor release in Japan. His efforts ultimately resulted inTetrisbecoming a Game Boy pack-in and the strong gaming brand it is today. While theTetrismovie sensationalized aspects of the story to play up the Cold War tension,Tetris Foreveroffers a much more realistic, if sugarcoated, take on the history ofTetris.
That makes it worth checking out for anyone who has ever gotten addicted toTetrisor experienced theTetriseffect.Tetrisis one of my favorite games, and I love that its history is immortalized in gaming form. It certainly has the story to warrant a Gold Master Series game. I love what Digital Eclipse is doing with their Gold Master Series, and hope it doesn’t stop making these kinds of games anytime soon.
A lackluster collection
AlthoughTetris Foreversucceeds as a documentary and playable retelling of the history of Tetris, it’s spottier as a collection in terms of what people can actually play. Right now,Tetris Foreverincludes the following 18 games:
Some important deep cuts from the history of Tetris are included here. It’s amazing to see the original version of the game for Electronika 60 represented here.GogameIgo: Kyu Roban Taikyokuis a more random inclusion, but also one necessary to understand the relationship between Henk Rogers and Nintendo. ManyTetrisfollow-ups, likeHatrisandBombliss, get the spotlight in this connection, whileTetris Time Warpis an entertaining celebration of the franchise’s history.
The problem is that this grouping of games doesn’t quite align with the storyTetris Foreveris most interested in telling. Ancillary games like Henk Rogers’The Black Onyx, as well as actualTetrisgames and sequels like Bullet Proof Software’s original versions ofTetris, Nintendo’sTetrisfor Game Boy, Sega’sTetrisfor arcades, Tengen’sTetris, andWelltris, are all missing.Tetris Foreveris also light on details and history in regard to theTetrisfollow-ups that make up most of its game catalog.
That’s what leads to the uneven feeling ofTetris Forever. This collection explains how rights issues around classic versions ofTetrisare a mess, and you can see that in the games that Digital Eclipse struggled to include. While I understand companies like Nintendo were probably protective over letting their games be included in a multiplatform collection and that some platforms are harder to emulate than others, these missing games makeTetris Foreverfeel incomplete as a game collection.
Thankfully, Digital Trends has shown withAtari 50that it’s willingupdate its collections to add new titlespost-launch, both for free and as DLC.Tetris Foreverdeserves that same treatment so it can truly become the ultimateTetrisgame.
Tetris Foreverlaunches for PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch on November 12.
