Players can also tweak the game to their liking, too. Endless is essentially marathon mode with a different name. Ultra is a points-based game, with the goal of hitting the largest possible score in three minutes. Sprint challenges players to destroy 40 rows as soon as they can. Battle is like Battle Ultimate, only without the power-ups.
Marathon offers a vanilla Tetris experience, with the goal of hitting the 15th level. Purist should know that Battle Ultimate is just one of several modes, so they won’t have to worry about mustaches taking over their revered game. Like a lot of people, I’ve been playing Tetris for decades now, and it’s great to see something different added. I played several rounds of the game, and I liked how the power-ups added some variety to the matches. Haunted Well: In an homage to Tetris: The Grand Master, this one makes your opponents’ side of blocks invisible until they drop four blocks. It’s fun to watch, but not fun when it happens to you. This one drops garbage blocks into your opponents’ side for a brief period of time, fouling up their plans. Let it Rain: Do you like to be the worst person possible? You’ll love the Let it Rain power-up. Clear it, and three rows will be shaved from your well. If you’re not paying close attention, it’s easy to drop your blocks in the wrong spot, or for previously advantageous openings to temporarily disappear as your well of blocks is rotated at the bottom.īuzzsaw: This is the only defensive power-up in your arsenal. If you get hit with this, your rows will slowly shift to the left for 13 seconds. This can be good or bad news for them, depending on how their well is shaping up.Ĭarousel: This merry-go-round is particularly unnerving. Hip to Be Square: If you destroy this mustache-emblazoned block, your opponents’ next four tetrominoes will be in the square-shaped configuration.
Destroy the block, and the associated power-up with activate. I played some head-to-head matches in the new Battle Ultimate mode, which adds some crazy power-ups to the core Tetris gameplay.īattle Ultimate is basically competitive Tetris, only you’ll occasionally get a falling block marked by one of several power-up icons. Ubisoft is marking the event with the release of Tetris Ultimate, a downloadable game for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Vita. I believe that the core success of Tetris Battle is due to the quality of the game (competitive aspects) itself coupled with other strategies that encourage continued engagement.This year marks Tetris’ 30th anniversary, which is an impressive milestone for a game that remains relevant. – An energy meter that drains after each round but replenishes over time or through monetization – A daily bonus spin that offers players with special items as a reward for playing the game consecutively
– A leveling system to pair themselves with other players with equal skill and to unlock new game modes Other pull strategies to encourage continued engagement include the following: Unlike usual Facebook games, Tetris Battle does not have an obligatory friend-adding mechanic where a player cannot continue playing unless they send game invites to friends instead, players are intrinsically motivated to share the game with friends to generate a greater pool of competitors and to fuel their competitive standing in the game.
There are over 3.1 million active users visiting the social game each day and 80% of users are a result of word of mouth promotion! One might ask, what is the key to Tetris Battle’s success? After reading the article titled “ Inside Tetris Battle, Facebook’s top multiplayer arcade game” found on a social gaming blog site, I was fascinated to learn about the large amount of marketing efforts put into developing each tiny aspect of the game. Tetris Battle is a remake of the classic video game developed in the 80s with additional features that include numerous types of multiplayer modes with enhanced competitive aspects.
Sitting at the back row in Henry Angus’ room 098, I am always able to have a view of a full on Tetris Battle tournament between students.