Tetris: Evolution is the latest rendition of the old arcade classic that came to us from Russia with love. The idea behind Tetris is fairly simple, as were the graphics in the original game. There are seven different possible "Tetronimos" that can be made. These are playing pieces that are constructed of four squares which are all attached to each other in some configuration along their edges. Each of the seven pieces has its own color, allowing for easier recognition of the pieces, just like in the original Tetris game. While the original game's graphics did everything that was needed to play the game, Tetris: Evolution flexes a little bit of the graphical muscle made available in the 360 and mixes things up a bit by offering video backgrounds. This is an interesting change that can definitely have an effect on the gameplay; some of the videos are quite relaxing, while others are much more frenetic.

The music is great in Tetris: Evolution; there is, of course, the same Russian score that graced the original, but in addition, there are several songs which seem to be either inspired by or adapted from this song. There are specific songs intended to compliment the different backgrounds, but you can also select backgrounds and songs independently of each other, if you so desire. I found several background / music combinations to be very relaxing, specifically the school of fish background, the mountaintop background and the space background.

I didn't know what to expect from Tetris: Evolution... I had played an earlier remake of Tetris, named Tetris Worlds, and found that some subtle changes to the gameplay did it an injustice and took away some of the fun. I am happy to report that Tetris: Evolution offers the same modes that were introduced in Tetris Worlds, but allow the player to change option settings to determine which of the aforementioned "subtle changes" they want to play with.

The change that seems to have the largest effect on the gameplay (especially when playing against another player) is the "Lockdown" option. This option determines how long you can rotate a piece once it comes to rest atop another piece. There are three available "Lockdown" settings: Classic (short), Extended (more forgiving), Infinite (ridiculous). The problem with the Infinite Lockdown setting is that if you want to stop the pieces from coming in the top of the bin, you can simply rotate your piece forever. With luck, your opponent will make a few mistakes and end up in a bad spot themselves before your fingers get too tired and your timing fails.

There are several other settings that you can play around with, such as the rate that blocks fill from the bottom (on play styles that include this feature), the goal you are trying to reach, etc. In addition to these per-game settings, there are game options, such as what the background looks like and what music should play and there are even per player options, such as the "skin" for your game board and your player icon. It's nice to be able to tweak the settings so much; this allows the addition of twists on the game without forcing newfangled changes on "purists."

For those who aren't "purists" and are just looking for a fun, new twist on Tetris, there are eight modes to choose from: Marathon, Ultra, Cascade, Race, Score, Hotline, Go Low and Eraser modes.

Marathon mode is your classic original game. Ultra mode is a timed version of Tetris, where you can select goals of 1, 3 or 5 minutes. Cascade is a variant in which you can cause chain reactions to score bonus points. Race and Score are both "competitive" modes; you can play them alone, but they're really geared for playing against an opponent. Race is just that, a "race" to a certain number of completed lines, whereas Score is also a "race", but your goal is a certain number of points. Hotline is a version of Tetris in which you can earn bonuses for completing lines on specific, highlighted lines in the matrix. Go Low is, as the name implies, a version where points are awarded based on the highest block in the matrix when a line is completed, where lower height means higher scores. Finally, Eraser is a variant that begins with a certain number of lines on the Matrix that the player must clear as quickly as possible. The goal for this mode can be 4, 6 or 8 lines.

There are three multiplayer styles to choose from: Versus, Hotseat and Independent. Versus is just what it sounds like; you're pitted against your opponents. Independent is also true to its name; players are playing at the same time, but are unaffected by the other players. (Well, I guess you could jeer and taunt your opponents if you're in the same room, but as far as the game knows, your games are independant.) Finally, Hotseat, which seems to me to be a bit of a weird name, is a Co-operative game mode in which players take turns playing on the same gameboard. This is a really interesting mode. I played this mode with my wife and we both found it very difficult to keep it straight whose turn it was, even though it alternates back and forth each turn. This got worse as the level (and speed) increased. What seemed to make this effect even worse is when we both would have made the same move. Then, if you think it's your turn and you're "moving" the pieces the way they are actually moving, you don't have any feedback to indicate that it's not your turn. Well, it is indicated on the bottom of the screen and the "skin" of the puzzle changes appropriately, but you can't pay attention to that when you're "in the zone."

Tetris: Evolution is really what you make of it. The game, at its core, is the original game we all knew and loved. The various options can either make the game more challenging or less so - if you know what you're doing.

If you have a problem determining where a piece is going to land, you can turn on the "ghost piece" option. This creates a translucent copy of your current Tetronimo in the place it would be if you slammed it. This can really help you line up your placements. Another option that helps in this regard is the "grid" option. Turning this on will render a grid pattern behind the game board, helping to illustrated where pieces will come to rest.

As I mentioned in Gameplay, there is also the "Lockdown" option. Choosing "Classic" will faithfully reproduce the behavior of the original Tetris game, while choosing "Extended" or "Infinite" will offer a much more forgiving gameplay experience - nice for those who are still trying to get the hang of it.

Even settings as seemingly random as the backgrounds can actually affect the difficulty. Some are relaxing and can help you unwind, while others are overly active and add to the tension and can, on occasion, be distracting - especially if you have the game board's playing field set to be very translucent.

Tetris: Evolution provides a great Tetris experience, with lots of cool variations, while still allowing players to play to the original rules, as well. I think that one of the features that makes Tetris: Evolution a success is the ability to change these settings. Anyone who has ever played Tetris and who is a creative sort of person is likely to start throwing out ideas that could improve the gameplay, but these changes, however subtle they may be, will be applauded by some and cursed by others. Providing all of the newly added twists as selectable options or various additional modes allows each player to choose the features they like. The interface for doing so in Tetris Evolution is also easy to use, allowing the various applicable settings to be set and stored per game mode. This way, when you set up a particular game mode the way you like it, it will stay that way until you want to change the settings for that mode again. In other words, you can have the Lockdown setting set to Infinite on Cascade Tetris' settings, but leave the Lockdown set to Classic for Ultimate Tetris. This prevents the player from having to change the settings every time they go to play a game.

While there is software support for online play via Live, it seems to get less support from the populace at large. I found that there were several times that I would go to play a Ranked Match and would be informed that all other players had left the game session. Even when I was able to play a game on Live, it seemed that I would be pitted against someone with skills that were completely out of my league - something that the employed TrueSkill system should have prevented. Alas, TrueSkill can only select the most closely matched opponent from those people who are actually online playing, so if there's only a handful of us, then the "best fit" might not be anywhere even remotely close to the same skill level... just the other person looking for a game at that time.

Fans of Tetris should run out and scoop up a copy of Tetris: Evolution. It can provide the classic game from days gone by, along with new twists and the ability to play against - or with - up to three other people. Tetris doesn't get better than this.