Tetris Party Deluxe

While Metroid: Other M hogged the media limelight, it was another Wii release that’s been getting shoppers excited – Tetris Party Deluxe.

As the name suggests, it’s (yet) another version of Tetris, the timeless Russian block arranging game that’s more addictive than the contents of Amy Winehouse’s left nostril.

It’ll come as no surprise to hear that Tetris has lost none of its compulsive and elegant magic. Indeed since its creation in 1984, only Bejeweled and the smartphone game Drop7 have truly come close to matching it.

But with so many versions of the classic out there why would you want to buy this incarnation? Nintendo obviously asked themselves the same question and has padded out the game with numerous twists and variations on the classic Tetris formula.

But as ever in the history of Tetris, nothing matches the original. You can play it multiplayer, but single player is still better. You can play using the Wii Balance Board but the novelty of how silly it is soon fades.

And then there’s the variation where you steer and twist a tetromino through a vertically scrolling maze. It is truly terrible; a throwback to 1970s coin-op driving games where you move a car left and right to avoid other vehicles on a straight road.

So once you’ve tried and dismissed the new versions of the games, there’s only the brilliant original left. But when you can get it on your mobile phone for less or play Tetris online for free it’s hard to see why Tetris Party Deluxe would be your Tetris of choice. Then again, it’s still mighty moreish.