Tetris® Forever

I was expecting a "story mode" where you would watch a behind the scenes/interview video for each specific game and play that exact game right after, and then repeat that process for every major Tetris game released, chronologically. That's not a thing here. You have the videos/photos ("chronologically") as the main hub when you start the game, and then some games that you can play on another separate hub (also, chronologically). So if you intend to watch and play accordingly, you will have to enter and leave each hub every damn time and search for what's next. What a missed opportunity... Also, it's a game designed to play with a controller. You can play with a keyboard, but in the majority of games the directions (up, down, etc) and actions (like rotating) are set to random numbers, so you will have to manually change that for each individual game (yes, you CAN'T set your preferences to every game at the same time in some sort of menu, because THERE ISN'T an option like that).

Tetris is one of those games I make sure to pick up on every system I own just because I know I'll always want the option to play it. I have my own list of criteria that a Tetris game must meet to be a success. It is not an exhaustive list but it is shockingly rare for a single game to have all of them 1)Must have a rendition of Korobeiniki It's The Tetris Song, and it's the only Tetris song. There's a reason that among the many classical arrangements included in the many releases of Tetris over the years, this is the only one anyone remembers. Because it's the only one that's any good. 2)Holding and customizable "next piece" visibility These are both just nice quality of life features. Some games have one but not the other. Some games have both but don't let you customize how many pieces you can see coming. I like to just play with the very next piece visible. That's my preference. 3)Endless mode There needs to be some kind of endless marathon mode Tetris forever comes annoying close to including everything I want in a Tetris game. The included Tetris Time Warp game feels very nice to play, has customizable hold and "next" settings, and it has The Song. It doesn't have a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ endless mode. There's a "marathon" mode but it kicks you out after 150 lines. There's a score attack mode which is endless but there's no way to turn off the "time warp" gimmick. There's no way to just play a standard game of tetris. I bought this collection naively believing at least one of the included games would be "just tetris" but, to my knowledge, none fit the mold. I regret purchasing this collection. It could have been saved by either including GameBoy Tetris or an endless mode in Time Warp game. I only really bought it because I find the presentation of Puyo Puyo Tetris to be extremely obnoxious with it's honking clown horns and screaming anime girls. If you're only going to buy one Tetris game on Steam, look elsewhere. If you're interested in the included documentary or the eclectic collection of early Tetris games included, I might cautiously recommend it at a discount, but without an endless mode, it's a hard "Not Recommended."