The Final Word game review

Tetris 2 -- Nintendo

Experience the fun of Tetris with a new twist in this sequel to the Nintendo classic. Several new modes are offered, including a two-player head-to-head mode, a standard mode, and a challenging new puzzle mode that requires players to cause complicated patterns of blocks to disappear with a minimum of moves. Tetris 2 is available now.

Ferrari Man
This game is sure to be an arguing point for many people. You pretty much so love it because you are a puzzle-maniac, or you hate it. The game does not have the flair, or addictive traits of the original. Nor is theplay intuitive. In the original Tetris I could sit down and figure out what to do without a hint of guidance. In this version, however, even after several minutes of playing, I still referred to the instructions to find what I was supposed to do. Once I cleared this small hurdle, I still was un-impressed. The games main mode just didn't appeal to me. There is, however, a second puzzle solving mode where you are given a limited number of pieces (ie 1-3) and must figure out where to place each one to solve the puzzle. This mode was fun, but fairly easy. If these qualms were not enough, Nintendo only worsened the music form Tetris 1 to make this games musical themes nothing short of annoying. This game would have been much more appropriately named Dr. Mario 2. Puzzle fans rejoice, Tetris fans--hold on for a Tetris 3.

????
Tetris has arrived for the Super Nintendo. Tetris 2 is a combination of Tetris and Dr. Mario. It uses the familiar Tetris blocks and has a couple modes of play, one is similar to Tetris where the goal is to eliminate certain blocks and deal with the faster speed. There is also a puzzle mode in which you try to make all the blocks disappear by placing a few pieces that will cause the whole thing to collapse. There is also a two-player versus mode in which you can take on a friend or the computer. This mode has a lot of ways to mess up your opponent. Just like the original Tetris this game is very fun and very addicting. Excellent sequel!

R.I.P.
My first reaction was "Wow! Cool!", but the more I've played this title, the more mixed my feelings are towards this cart. While I find the graphics superb, and the puzzle logic of play even better than the first Tetris, I find the total lack of variety in backgrounds a disappointment, and the lack of originality in the intermissions surprising for a Nintendo product. Definitely worth checking out if you are a Tetris fan in any event. Oh yeah, be sure to turn off the music when you play; someone must have decided that since the music in the first Tetris sucked, that the music in Tetris 2 had to suck as well...

Salamander
This title was really a mixed bag for me. I really liked the puzzle mode; the brain-teaser style game could keep me amused for quite some time. However the other modes got old quickly. The gameplay was there, but it was too slow, and it just didn't feel like the game was progressing. The backgrounds were completely static and the music was annoying to say the least. I'd stick with the original.

>>>>> 63.5/100 <<<<<		Ferrari Man	????	R.I.P.	Salamander
Graphics		3.5	3.5	2.0	2.5
Sound		1.5	4.0	1.0	2.5
Gameplay/Control		3.0	4.0	4.5	4.5
Longevity/Playability		2.0	4.5	4.0	3.0
Overall		3.0	4.0	3.5	3.0
Total		13.0	20.0	15.0	15.5

Originally appeared Vol 2, Iss 5 (11-12/94)