Tetris Appraisal and High Score

Screengrab of High Score:

Student Name -- Evan Elden Eller

Today’s Date -- 10/29/2010

Game Title Examined -- Tetris

Year of Publication -- originally developed for the PC in 1984, released on the Game Boy in 1989

Game Publisher -- Nintendo, Atari, EA, etc.

Game Developer -- Alexei Pajitnov

Game Genre (e.g. shoot-em-up, racing, sports, puzzle, MMORPG, ‘sandbox’, music sequence following game (e.g. DDR, guitar hero) -- puzzle

Type of game ‘world’ or environment (e.g. flat environment, puzzle/maze space, 3D world?) -- a flat 2D rectangle, basically a "well"

Perspective taken by player (e.g first person, third person perspective, top down, isometric) in relation to main player controlled character. -- side-view of 2D well of falling blocks

Gameplay – what does the player have to do? -- The player has to organize falling blocks into lines. By maximizing the efficiency of the storage (not leaving "air bubbles"), you make the blocks disappear. You organize them to delete them, and they fall down forever, and this gets faster and faster.

Is the gameplay intuitive? (i.e. is it easy to understand what to do without instructions?) describe. -- Well all you can do is rotate and move the blocks around, so I think you'd discover the goal pretty quickly without instructions.

Is the gameplay patterned (game does the same thing over & over) or is it random (happens differently every time?) -- Random. The blocks appear in a random order every time.

What does the type of graphic approach used as well as the audio tell you about the limits of the technology at the time the game was published? -- Originally the graphics were basically ASCII characters, and then solid colors without outlines. The IMB Pajitnov used was definitely very limiting by today's standards. But I believe Tetris has withstood the test of time, especially with its music.

Describe your views about the game from the point of view of

1. ease of play -- It's very easy to learn, definitely a "pick up and play" title for anybody.

2. enjoyability -- It's very enjoyable, but in the later stages it requires so much focus that it becomes very hard work.

      c. level of engagement/immersion -- All the way immersed. This game sucks me in and puts me in the zone, and it's hard to stop playing. But then, the only thing harder than stopping... is continuing.

Had you played this game prior to this time? If so, when? -- I played this game in 1989 when it came out with the Game Boy. I've probably played it every year since, either on the Game Boy, NES, SNES, web browsers, phones, the DS, or the Wii.

Describe other games it reminds you of. How does it do this? -- Tetris doesn't remind me of anything else. But any other game that has falling blocks of any kind reminds me of Tetris. These include Dr. Mario, Puyo Puyo, Lumines, Meteos, or the official Tetris clones like Hatris and Wordtris.

Notes on the Tetris Effect -- I do believe "the Tetris Effect" is real, and by that I mean that I do believe that Tetris has beneficial effects. I'm not exactly sure what they are, but I think that playing Tetris makes me use certain parts of my brain that I don't use too often, and it makes me focus very hard on using them for a very long time, so I just assume that it's a healthy exercise.

After playing Tetris for a long period of time, I usually start feeling relaxed as I get "in the zone." But if I play Tetris for over an hour, or I play it right before I go to sleep, I WILL have Tetris dreams. It never fails.