Tetris Worlds (Game Boy Advance)

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Each version can be played in marathon mode, where the game goes on for as long as you can; ultra mode, where you're charged with completing specific objectives within a limited amount of time; or head-to-head versus mode. Tetris Worlds institutes two gameplay conventions that may prove helpful for the novice and the expert alike. The hold function lets you remove a piece that is in play and save it for later, making it easier to plan out and execute a full four-line Tetris. The ghost piece gives you a better idea of where your piece will end up once you drop it by projecting an outline of the current shape in play on the bottom of the screen. These additions can make playing Tetris a lot less frustrating, and in the case of the hold function, slightly more strategic, though both of these functions can be turned off for those who detest any form of handholding.

There is one aspect of the gameplay that unfortunately cannot be turned off. Once the piece in play reaches the bottom, you can continue to spin the piece infinitely, which will keep it from setting and keep the next piece from dropping. While your Tetris piece is in this limbo state, you can also move it side to side, giving you ample time to decide where it should go. This change effectively castrates the game, removing any challenge it might have presented. We were able to tear through the game's 15 levels of difficulty without breaking a sweat, thanks to this infinite spinning bug. The point of Tetris has always been to push the player to think and move as quickly as possible; with Tetris Worlds, there is no point.

Which begs the question, did THQ and Blue Planet make this gameplay alteration for the benefit of novice players, or was this simply an oversight? Either way, Tetris Worlds does what countless iterations of the game haven't managed to do in the past--it actually breaks Tetris.

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