I didn't know what to expect from
Tetris: Evolution... I had played an earlier remake of
Tetris, named
Tetris Worlds, and found that some subtle changes to the gameplay did it an injustice and took away some of the fun. I am happy to report that
Tetris: Evolution offers the same modes that were introduced in
Tetris Worlds, but allow the player to change option settings to determine which of the aforementioned "subtle changes" they want to play with.
The change that seems to have the largest effect on the gameplay (especially when playing against another player) is the "Lockdown" option. This option determines how long you can rotate a piece once it comes to rest atop another piece. There are three available "Lockdown" settings: Classic (short), Extended (more forgiving), Infinite (ridiculous). The problem with the Infinite Lockdown setting is that if you want to stop the pieces from coming in the top of the bin, you can simply rotate your piece forever. With luck, your opponent will make a few mistakes and end up in a bad spot themselves before your fingers get too tired and your timing fails.
There are several other settings that you can play around with, such as the rate that blocks fill from the bottom (on play styles that include this feature), the goal you are trying to reach, etc. In addition to these per-game settings, there are game options, such as what the background looks like and what music should play and there are even per player options, such as the "skin" for your game board and your player icon. It's nice to be able to tweak the settings so much; this allows the addition of twists on the game without forcing newfangled changes on "purists."
For those who aren't "purists" and are just looking for a fun, new twist on Tetris, there are eight modes to choose from: Marathon, Ultra, Cascade, Race, Score, Hotline, Go Low and Eraser modes.
Marathon mode is your classic original game. Ultra mode is a timed version of Tetris, where you can select goals of 1, 3 or 5 minutes. Cascade is a variant in which you can cause chain reactions to score bonus points. Race and Score are both "competitive" modes; you can play them alone, but they're really geared for playing against an opponent. Race is just that, a "race" to a certain number of completed lines, whereas Score is also a "race", but your goal is a certain number of points. Hotline is a version of Tetris in which you can earn bonuses for completing lines on specific, highlighted lines in the matrix. Go Low is, as the name implies, a version where points are awarded based on the highest block in the matrix when a line is completed, where lower height means higher scores. Finally, Eraser is a variant that begins with a certain number of lines on the Matrix that the player must clear as quickly as possible. The goal for this mode can be 4, 6 or 8 lines.
There are three multiplayer styles to choose from: Versus, Hotseat and Independent. Versus is just what it sounds like; you're pitted against your opponents. Independent is also true to its name; players are playing at the same time, but are unaffected by the other players. (Well, I guess you could jeer and taunt your opponents if you're in the same room, but as far as the game knows, your games are independant.) Finally, Hotseat, which seems to me to be a bit of a weird name, is a Co-operative game mode in which players take turns playing on the same gameboard. This is a really interesting mode. I played this mode with my wife and we both found it very difficult to keep it straight whose turn it was, even though it alternates back and forth each turn. This got worse as the level (and speed) increased. What seemed to make this effect even worse is when we both would have made the same move. Then, if you think it's your turn and you're "moving" the pieces the way they are actually moving, you don't have any feedback to indicate that it's not your turn. Well, it is indicated on the bottom of the screen and the "skin" of the puzzle changes appropriately, but you can't pay attention to that when you're "in the zone."
