Review: Tetris Party Deluxe (Wii)
Tetris Party Deluxe for the Nintendo Wii does include Tetris so you can breathe easy now. In addition to this, there’s a robust set of games modes for single and local multi-player sessions. There’s far too much in this game to go into any sort of satisfying detail for all of them, but we can hit some of the highlights.
Field Climber has you helping a little dude get to the top of the well by forming a path hitting certain checkpoints on the way. Shadow gives you a picture made of gray blocks and you have to overlay them with falling pieces to match the shadow and reveal the picture. Stage Racer tests your skills and helps train you for some of the advanced Tetris tricks like T-spins and its kin as you guide a piece down a tunnel through 400 lines. Bombliss Mode takes away your ability to clear lines in the traditional way, but instead gives you bomb-blocks that do the work for you. The goal in that mode is to clear all the blocks at once so you’ll want to wait until you can hit a lot of bombs at once.
With the exception of Bombliss Mode, all of the above are available in competitive local multi-player versions as well as a few multi-player only modes (like Hot Lines and Duel Spaces). You can play with up to 4 players simultaneously on your own Wii and this is where the “Party” of Tetris Party Deluxe comes into play (deluxe-ness of your party may vary based on attendees and beverages).
On top of all this local content, Tetris Party Deluxe supports up to 6-player battles over Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection. A very forward-thinking move by the developers is online cross-compatibility with the WiiWare Tetris Party title released nearly two years ago. That should help open up the player base. Additionally, Wii Speak is also supported so you can transmit all the noise of your occasionally deluxe parties to strangers and children online. While I never played a game with more than one opponent, I never had to wait long to find that opponent.
Nearly every Wii controller type is supported. WiiMote turned sideways, Classic Controller, Mario Kart Wheel, and the Balance Board. Wait, what?! I have no idea how you play Tetris with the Wii’s Balance Board and I don’t own one to test it out. I’m definitely interested in hearing any first-hand experience with it so if you know, let me know!
If you like Tetris, you don’t really need me to tell you if you’ll like this. Everyone knows what to expect. The question is if the new modes and local and online multiplayer are worth buying it again. I’ve always enjoyed Tetris and I enjoy this iteration. The Wii seems to be the best home console for online longevity with a title like this, so if you’re interested in testing your skills against other fans over the world it’s an easy recommendation.
