Tetris Effect was a surprise reveal during the many pre-E3 reveals this year. Developed by Tetsuya Mizuguchi and his team at Enhance, it is the classic Tetris experience but more sensational, with some strong and trippy visual and audio feedback that should get you into the zone, or rather the flow state.
While we now know that there is a new mechanic in Tetris Effect, how well does the game jive with the Tetris purists? YouTuber Nick Robinson managed to get pro Tetris player Trey Harrison to try out the game, including the VR version. Harrison has been competing in pro Tetris as early as in the late 80’s where the Nintendo World Championships was a thing, and participated in the Classic Tetris World Champioships, which uses the NES version of Tetris.
Harrison himself has never used the PS4, the PS4 controller, PS VR and never experienced VR, so it’s the perfect testbed to see how well the game is as a Tetris game.
Here’s the rather well-made video:
While it takes some time, Harrison managed to be comfortable with the game, and scored one of the first Decahexatris- four Tetris line clear- which translates to 16 lines cleared- with the use of the Zone mechanic.
Interestingly, the PS VR’s 120Hz refresh rate, which is faster than the usual TV screens, helped Harrison to play much faster than his first go, though it could also just be him getting more comfortable with the controls. And of course, it could also attribute to him getting into the flow state.
Tetris Effect will be out for the PS4 and PS VR sometime this year.