Tetris Runner

Procedurally-generated environments seem to be the future for some genres, mainly because they facilitate replayability and they keep the players from getting bored. The algorithms are still pretty basic right now, but they keep getting better and better every day. Minecraft is a good example in this case, especially since it is now able to generate villages and a variety of different biomes.

Tetris Runner is an arcade runner in which your sole purpose is to avoid the obstacles and get as far as you can. There is no actual end, but given the fact that the speed at which you are running constantly increases, it’s only natural that you’ll die at some point. Although you can simply move left or right to avoid some of the barriers, it’s also necessary to jump sometimes.

The name of the game is given by the fact that the environments are actually Tetris pieces, and they are all positioned in such a way as to make your journey very difficult. There is also Pac-Man following you, but you only see him in the beginning, since you cannot turn around or adjust the camera in any way.

Every now and again, you’ll stumble into a slightly larger room, which contains a lot more Tetris pieces. You need to react fast in order to avoid the walls and the barriers, but there is also lava to deal with sometimes. Usually, you can just jump a couple of times to get past most of the obstacles, but some of the dungeons require you to react very quickly to avoid dying. In fact, some are almost impossible if you are going fast enough.

The procedural algorithms are not exactly perfect, since you’ll come to recognize some of the patterns after only a few sessions. Hence, most of the dungeons are more or less the same, which allows you to find the best route through them and keep using it on a regular basis. The graphics are nice as well, but there’s not much to see anyway, other than the Tetris pieces.

All things considered, Tetris Runner is both fun and engaging, but it gets stale after you become familiar with the patterns. Still, the game is entertaining enough to keep you coming back to it every now and again, if only to challenge your previous high scores.