‘Tetris Effect’: Music and Movement 

There’s no shortage of Tetris out there. Tetris 99, for a long time, was my favorite version. It kept me locked in for months. My highest finish was second place, and I only lost that one because my finger slipped. But, Tetris Effect rewired my brain in a way I never expected. 

I’ve made no secret of my love of music. I even passed that on to my daughter. One of her first Christmas gifts a couple years back was a mini piano, and I just bought her a drum set this past Christmas. So, seeing that Tetris Effect tied music to the gameplay had me intrigued. 

MAKING ‘TETRIS’ A RHYTHM GAME

At no point would I have expected Tetris to work as well with music as it did. But, when you get the creators of Rez and Lumines involved, it’s an obvious slam dunk. Tetsuya Mizuguchi understands how to pair music and gameplay in a pleasing way, and this was no exception. 

Make no mistake, Tetris Effect is a rhythm game. Even if the overall goal of clearing lines remains the same. Every Tetromino movement clicks with the music. The way the music builds with each line cleared, and how the background morphs and moves with the music is hypnotic. Just look at this video and try to pull away from the screen.

And this hypnosis is strengthened by the game’s “zone” mechanic where time slows and you can clear more than the standard four lines for a Tetris. The feeling that comes with hitting that zone is incredible, especially in the dark with a good pair of headphones on.

MASTER BLASTER

My first few games resulted in almost immediate panic when I realized the music and the blocks were linked, and I blew some decent runs. But when it all clicked for me, there was an obvious synergy between my button presses and the game. After a while, I started hitting that zone more often, and I couldn’t stop playing.

Tetris Effect revived my love of the franchise by uniquely combining music and gameplay. I still go back to it regularly, and I can’t imagine how fun it is in VR. If you haven’t played it yet, I highly recommend it.