Game EXP: TETRA's Escape (NS)

Disclaimer: I received a copy of TETRA's Escape from developer ABX Games Studio via IndieGameChick's Twitter account as part of IndieXmas2018.  The game was received with no promise or expectation of a positive review, only to talk about the game and share my experience via social media channels, including Twitter.

The easiest way to describe TETRA's Escape is that it is a single screen puzzle platformer where you use a set number of walking blocks called Tetras who can turn themselves into shapes familiar to fans of the Tetris series in order to get at least one Tetra to the exit.  Game screens typically look like the screenshot right over there.  Here, you had two blocks that could transform themselves into specific "tetronimos" with each Tetra only able to transform into one shape that is able to be rotated into place, allowing the single grey Tetra to the exit.  All Tetras are able to jump one square up and over, although they are unable to jump gaps, instead falling back to the ground (displacing a Tetra over one square if they land on another one).  Here, let me show you an example of one of the early stages, although, I guess I should say that there are spoilers.

You get the idea.  Obviously as the game progresses, the puzzles become increasingly difficult, especially if you are one who wants (NEEDS!!) to get all three of the stars and the trophy.  The Tetras are able to morph into different Tetrominos (with some two kinds and one other can be any of the traditional Tetris block shapes), then you are able to not only rotate the pieces, but flip them to use the mirror image of them.

Often times, the puzzles may not be too difficult to solve as in finding your way to the exit, but then finding out where the trophy appears after the third star is collected will frequently require a second or third playthrough, on top of the numerous attempts to use the pieces strategically to even get to the exit.  Puzzle 3-4 is unique (at least as far as I have gotten to, being 4-4), in that it only uses the L block, but it uses a lot of them.  I have managed to get two stars, but then found out that even crossing in front of the exit means that you are signaling that you are done with the level.  This is where the frustration in TETRA's Escape comes from.  Knowing that the answer to the puzzle is right in front of you, but being able to wrap your brain around the solution.

My other frustration with the game, which is no fault of the developers, is selecting the Tetra you want later in the level after you have moved around a bit seems almost random and can become annoying when you are trying to select one particular Tetra amongst a screen full of them.  But in the end, you just end up pressing either the L or R shoulder buttons a few more times to select the Tetra you are aiming for, if only to remember which Tetra can turn into which block and to scout out what looks good before you make the transformation permanent (which you are unable to undo without restarting the stage).

So, TETRA's Escape, in the end is a fun, low key puzzle game that doesn't require and quick movements or dexterous fingers, just a mind capable of solving puzzles in a 2D space (although TETRA's Escape 3D, played on a board more than one square deep would be a fun and added complexity that I probably wouldn't be able to finish).  So, as mentioned above, I am presently stuck on world 4-4 with no option but to keep at it or hope that someone accidentally posts the solution either on Twitter or I see one somewhere out there as the game gains in popularity.

Stay mentally strong out there fellow Tetraphiles, and good luck in those later levels, and by later levels, I mean from 3-1 on.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Future's Rising in Your Mind