Screenshots from Game Spot

Year released: 1996 (Playstation, Game Boy, and maybe SEGA Saturn)

Number of Players: 1-2 versus or non-competitive

A professor and his assistant search for ancient treasures... but danger awaits them.

Graphics: Good. How interesting can Tetris graphics get?

Play control: Same as the original Tetris. However, in puzzle and vs. mode, a ceiling (starting from the top of the room) goes down a line every once in a while. There's a professor walking around, and if the ceiling hits him, he dies--game over! You have to clear the blocks under him to lead him to the very bottom, where he can escape. He only fits in two by two mini block holes (assuming that each tetris block is made up of four mini blocks--basically, the professor needs as much space as a square Tetris block takes up). If you place a block on top of him, he will climb up it.

Sound: Puzzling music is never that interesting, and Tetris Plus continues the tradition. However, there's voice acting both for the professor (he laughs when he wins, for example) and voices for whenever you clear lines (there's a guy that says "single!" or whatever you got).

Challenge: Basically, you have to get the professor to the bottom and save him from the ever-lowering ceiling. This means thinking out how to go about the stage--what do you clear first? By which route do you plan to lead the professor out? Tetris Plus means having to map out a simple plan and adapting your blocks to that plan. Not easy, but not hard. As stages progress, you have to think more and more about what to go about first. You will sometimes have to clear out areas so that you can get to the area you want to clear out! Oh, yeah, you can save after every single stage, too.

Gameplay: A twist on Tetris that really works--forcing you to think in new terms. 80 original stages, plus a vs. mode that employs the same save-the-professor gameplay to see who can win first (or in most cases, who ends up dying first). There's a mode included with no professor and plays just like the original one, but no vs. function is included for that one.

Bottom line: If you like Tetris, you should appreciate this twist. You can even make your own puzzle stages--!

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