“Play Tetris, my friends.” It’s the quote that opens Digital Eclipse’s latest offering, and one that hits the feels right from the start for those aware of its history.
We outright refuse to believe that we have to explain Tetris to you, because with more than 202 million sales across its numerous versions it’s one of those rare games that have entered the public lexicon. People who have never touched a controller before know what Tetris is.
Not everyone knows its history, however, and even those who do may not be aware of the full story. Tetris Forever, the third game in Digital Eclipse’s exceptional Gold Master series, attempts to tell it in the ‘interactive museum’ format the studio has adopted over the past couple of years.
Given the state of the world in the mid ‘80s, with the Cold War nearing its end and US-Russia relationships thawing, the story of how the rights to Tetris were acquired is always a fascinating one every time it’s told.
It’s not often told to this level of detail, however, and with the key players providing their first-hand accounts. This time, with new and extensive interview videos with some of the major names including its creator Alexey Pajitnov and rights-hunter Henk Rogers, Digital Eclipse does a magnificent job of retelling a fascinating story.
The extensive video footage provided also includes older material, including the home movie of Rogers meeting Pajitnov in Russia, with Pajitnov uttering those immortal words to the camera “play Tetris, my friends” – a nice enough statement on paper, but also a touching one given the relationship between both countries at the time (hence the aforementioned feels, especially when you consider where the world is nearly 40 years later).
As in its previous interactive documentaries (Atari 50, The Making of Karateka and Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story), Tetris Forever presents a story told over a number of interactive timelines. Each of these covers a different chapter in the game’s life – its creation, the
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Chris Scullion
Mike Mika