Tetris Elements
| Tetris Elements | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | ImaginEngine |
| Publisher(s) | THQ |
| Platform(s) | PC, Mac |
| Release | 2004 |
| Gameplay info | |
| Playfield size | 10w |
| Hold piece | yes, different in Tempest |
| Rotation system | buggy SRS with pieces starting in their "letter" orientations |
Tetris Elements is an authentic Tetris game, apparently the sequel to THQ's prior Tetris Worlds.
The game has unpredictable ARE after hard drops, which increases the tendency for misdrops.
Gimmicks
Just as Tetris Worlds included classic Tetris plus five gimmicks, TE contains classic Tetris plus five new gimmicks.
Stratosphere
- inspiration: Breakout
After each combo of lines is cleared, a meteor falls diagonally. Various meteors can add or remove blocks when they hit locked blocks in the playfield. They bounce when they hit the floor, the side walls, or the falling piece. Clearing more lines at once gives more beneficial meteors.
Fire
Use hard drops to heat up the blocks and make them explode. This is the only way to remove the garbage that is periodically added.
Earthquake
- inspiration: Vs. mode
Periodically, earthquakes cause blocks in the playfield to rise ("garbage"). The more 4 line clears you get, the less garbage is sent to the player.
Ice
Small icicles drop periodically from above the top of the playfield. If one falls on a piece, it is automatically hard dropped. A large icicle grows too, and when it falls, it adds a row of garbage that can only be cleared by clearing the line below the garbage row, and the only way to get a piece past that row is through an icicle hard drop.
Tempest
Nothing to do with shapes walking along the outside of an irregular tube. There are two playfields, and the player plays both of them one at a time. Every so often, a tornado comes, hides one playfield, and shows the other. Instead of normal hold, the hold key sends a piece to the other playfield.
Hacking
- Main article: Tetris Elements INI hacking
TE stores much of the game rules, including shapes of seven tetrominoes and five unused pieces and part of the wall kick tables, in an INI file for each gimmick.