The best puzzle game ever finally gets a definitive update, thanks to puzzle experts H2O.
Martin Kitts

Tetris again, anyone? After more than 10 years, countless appearances on every Nintendo console and two previous, semi-disastrous N64 versions (Capcom's Magical Tetris and the Japan-only Tetris 64), you could be forgiven for preferring to stick with the original Game Boy version rather than shell out for more of the same.

Not so fast! Unlike most of the previous updates, which added everything from bombs to new block shapes in an attempt to offer some extra oomph and, almost without exception, succeeded only in ruining the simplicity of the gameplay, The New Tetris is supremely playable. The few new innovations it does have are excellent and add a new strategic dimension to the game. You can still play it as if it were the original Tetris, in which case you'll probably wonder how Nintendo could get away with calling it 'New', but dig a little deeper and you'll find that it actually does merit the name.

The most basic change is to the scoring system. Instead of being rewarded with points for getting rid of the blocks, you just get a simple lines total, which is a much fairer reflection of your performance. Getting a Tetris, by removing four lines at once, adds a bonus line to your score. The second new feature is multi- and mono-squares, which add a bonus of five or 10 per line.