Tetris Forever is an excellent documentary, but a disjointed game collection

digitaltrends.com:

Tetris Forever is the most uneven Gold Master Series game from Digital Eclipse yet.

This series of games are playable documentaries that recount certain slices of gaming history by placing various interviews and assets on a timeline while also serving as a collection. Atari 50 focused on the massive history of one company. The Making of Karateka homed in on telling the story of one game and its impact. Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story provided an overview of an innovative game developer’s career. Now, Tetris Forever recounts the fascinating history of what Digital Trends deemed the best game of all time.

Tetris Forever succeeds in telling the story of Tetris‘ history. Its interviews with Henk Rogers, Alexey Pajitnov, and more are insightful and give an in-depth history of the Cold War tensions, rights issues, and bold decisions that got Tetris where it is today. It’s a must-play for anyone wanting to learn more about that. Unfortunately, it’s spottier as a game collection. While deep cuts are included, Tetris Forever is missing games that are critical to the series’ story, leaving it feeling a bit incomplete.

A stunning documentary

If you watched Tetris on Apple TV+, you may already be familiar with the story behind the game a little bit. Alexey Pajitnov designed Tetris for the Electronika 60 while working in the USSR, but the popularity of his addictive game eventually breached the Iron Curtain because of the efforts of a man named Robert Stein. Stein didn’t really own complete rights to Tetris, but he acted like he did and made several deals that ultimately made the rights surrounding Tetris a mess.

• Tetris Forever includes a new game with a time-warping twist
• Tetris Forever is an interactive museum celebrating the best game of all time
• How Digital Eclipse redefined the remaster in 2023 with The Making of Karateka

Henk Rogers got involved in all this when attempting to license Tetris for release in