Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration was a revelation. The game compilation was one thing, but the additional details via an interactive documentary made it special for those who love the history of the video game medium. It gave the developers at Digital Eclipse the impetus to continue this sort of thing with their Gold Master Series, which has already produced some great results with Jeff Minter's portfolio of titles and the original Karateka. For its next game in the series, the team has gone after perhaps the most famous game in the puzzle genre: Tetris.

The documentary part of the package is split up into five chapters that span the life of Tetris up to this point and present mini-biographies of creator Alexey Pajitnov and Tetris company founder, Henk Rogers of Bullet-Proof Software fame. Everything from the game's creation to its discovery and subsequent race to secure publishing rights is told from the viewpoints of some of the key players. The history of the game is well documented thanks to a plethora of books and documentaries covering the subject, not to mention the slightly sensationalized biographical film a few years ago.

What makes this documentary still feel essential is twofold. The first is the format, which breaks down each chapter into smaller, more digestible chunks that can be watched in any order. The interactive format provides the perfect way to see some of the box art and other images in greater detail, and the pacing of the filmed segments is breezy enough to remain engaging. The second element that makes this feel essential is that it covers the life of the game after Nintendo published the title on the NES and Game Boy, an era that isn't often covered. Notes on the various attempts to make a sequel to Tetris are covered in detail, as are the various versions of the game published on other platforms. Those efforts are fascinating, such as the version made for the Philips CD-I with New Age music. It's pretty comprehensive, and it also shows how difficult it is to create a follow-up to what's considered the quintessential puzzle video game.

When it comes to the games, things get messy. Part of this is because of how many companies had some form of licensing rights to the general Tetris game — and how the name has been plastered on top of other distinctly different titles, like Tetris Attack. The number of rights holders means that there's a very good chance that everyone's favorite version of the game isn't present in this compilation. Not seeing the likes of Tetris 99 and Tetris Effect: Connected is understandable, considering that they're currently available on active digital storefronts, and the same can be said for offshoots like the duo of Puyo Puyo X Tetris titles. Those looking for Nintendo-published versions of Tetris on the NES and Game Boy wouldn't be surprised that those titles are missing, but not seeing the Atari/Tengen version for the NES and arcades is odd, considering that Atari now owns Digital Eclipse. Other versions, such as Tetris Plus and Tetris Worlds, aren't here, and the various attempts at spin-offs/sequels like Welltris are also missing, but a recent patch has added that particular game. It was always going to be a herculean task to wrangle up all of the different Tetris versions into one collection, and that's not even considering the unlicensed and fan-made stuff.

What you have are 18 games, with most of the lineup consisting of titles published by Henk Rogers' Bullet-Proof Software. Starting with the odd one out of the collection, Igo: Kyu Roban Taikyoku for the Famicom is a video game version of the Japanese board game, Go. As a video game interpretation of Go, it feels like a product of its time; the board is only 9x9 instead of a full 19x19, but it still works well since the CPU doesn't take long to execute, and the controls are intuitive. What hurts the title is the fact that this game has remained untranslated from its native Japanese. Considering that very few players outside of Japan understand the base rules, the tutorials are ineffective, making the game a curiosity rather than something that would get serious playtime.

The first game of Tetris you'll encounter is the original one from the Russian Electronika 60 computer, followed by the MS-DOS version that was released two years later. For the former, it remains astounding to see the game played with ASCII characters forming blocks and the playfield, and there is a charm compared to the MS-DOS version, which adds color. No matter which version you play, you'll have to get used to tapping in a direction multiple times since the game doesn't recognize directional holds. You'll also need to be prepared for only having fast drops, as the sped-up gradual drop isn't in this version. Scoring is pared back as you only gain points through the speed of your piece drops, so making a Tetris won't net you anything extra. Despite these restrictions, the core game remains excellent, and you can see why people were hooked.

The Spectrum Holobyte versions of Tetris are next, with one version for MS-DOS and one for the Apple II. While the controls remain the same as the original game, everything else got a major facelift. There's now a graphical interface to choose your difficulty level and the starting line level. The pieces all have colors and distinct brick patterns, instead of just being solid colors. The game also features backgrounds that change after every 10 lines are completed, making the whole thing much more visually appealing. Of the two versions, the MS-DOS version looks the cleanest, and while the Apple II version adds the ability to hold a direction instead of constantly tapping to move the piece faster, it is a blurry mess with inconsistent colors and pieces that don't fill in the spaces correctly, so it's a chore to play through.

This version of Tetris highlights one of the criticisms of the compilation in that there tend to be multiple copies of the same game. On the one hand, there are differences between the platform features, and for completionists, it's neat to see those differences in action. On the other hand, from a playability standpoint, having one definitive version of a title would've been preferable if it meant that different Tetris games could've been included.

Tetris for the Famicom will be unfamiliar to most fans unless you lived in Japan at the time of its release. The increase in colors is noticeable, but the general rules have changed. Rounds are completed when you make 25 lines instead of 10, and backgrounds don't change. Scores are also given for completing more lines at a time, so making a Tetris is more desirable. The music is close to what we got in Nintendo's version, and while it makes for a decent substitute to that classic, the one thing that'll drive you mad are the controls which, on a gamepad, has down on the d-pad rotate the piece and the B button drop the piece. It completely messes with your muscle memory for the series, but luckily, there is the option to customize the controls for almost all of the games, so the frustration doesn't last long.

The collection then takes a turn with three versions of Hatris, a spin-off of the puzzle series that is wildly different from Tetris and more reminiscent of other puzzle games that would come later from other developers. You have a selection of different hats, and two will always be dropped side by side at a time. Your job is to place a stack of four of the same hats to make them disappear, and losing means that the hat stacks reach the top of the playfield. The Famicom and Game Boy versions are identical, except for the latter having no color while the NES version features different hat designs. You'll place the hats on top of the heads of multiple Alexys instead of a normal playfield. It's not a bad game, as it features some neat strategies, such as paying attention to the heights of each hat and stack, so you can have more space to freely move the partner hat.

Tetris 2 + Bombliss is an inventive spin on the main formula of the original game. The main gimmick is that making lines won't actually clear them. Instead, the lines need to contain bombs so they can explode when a line is completed. Forming a square of bombs gives you a super bomb, and that's necessary to master the game, since that lets you clear out blocks that haven't formed lines yet. Of all of the early variations of Tetris, this is perhaps the most inventive and has a ton of replay value, but you'll most likely stick with the Super Famicom version over the Famicom, as it has better graphics and sound without losing any other features. There also happens to be Super Tetris 2 + Bombliss, with the only major difference being the different puzzle configurations.

Super Bombliss marks the point where the Bombliss variant would spin off into its own stand-alone game without the Tetris name attached; in Japan, it was called Tetris Blast in other regions. For the most part, the mechanics are the same, but the draw is a puzzle mode that has you trying to arrange given pieces so you can blow up all of the blocks on the screen. Of the three versions present, the Super Famicom version will be the most played, followed by the Game Boy Color version, which has a few extra puzzles. The original Game Boy version can be best forgotten.

Super Tetris 3 takes the ideas brought forth in Tetris 2 + Bombliss and plays around with the concept of messing with the formula in big ways. Familiss is traditional Tetris but with four-player simultaneous play. Sparkliss is much like Bombliss but with the use of lightning instead of bombs. The lightning strikes go vertical as well as horizontal, which makes the game more exciting since things explode everywhere. Meanwhile, Magicaliss really messes with the formula, as smaller non-tetriminos are introduced. They take special blocks to remove them, while matching lines of the same color can make all of the pieces of that color disappear. It's absolutely wild but also a welcome change of pace from the standard formula.

Tetris Battle Gaiden is perhaps the one classic version of the game that will see a good deal of playtime because of its competitive nature. You're always against an opponent, and the selected character determines which powers you can unleash when you fill up your meter with matches. The game is great overall, but the problem is that, like Igo: Kyu Roban Taikyoku, nothing is translated into English, so trying to figure out what your powers are and their effects can only be done via lots of guesswork. This makes this game less desirable for those unwilling to take some time to learn its nuances.

The final game is a brand-new title: Tetris Time Warp. For the most part, it plays like a modern Tetris game, with the ability to hold pieces and see where exactly it will drop. However, after completing 10 lines, you get a special piece that, when a line is formed, you can warp to a completely different Tetris game for a brief moment as you deal with its distinct mechanics and try to aim for a bonus objective for more points. For example, you may be transported to the original Electronika 60 version and be asked to create a Tetris or go to a facsimile of the Game Boy original to clear a set of lines. Provided you're good at dealing with big mechanical changes on the fly, the mode can be fun. The ability to play multiplayer, complete with the chance to force your opponents into a time warp, makes everything very chaotic.

Tetris Forever is marked as Playable on the game's Steam store page, and based on our time with the title, the handheld PC has no issues running the game. The screen defaults to 1280x720 with no option to change it further and no other graphical options to play with. Battery life on average hits around four-and-a-half hours on a full charge, but it can fluctuate wildly depending on whether you're playing the documentary or one of the games.

Tetris Forever is a package of two halves of varying quality. Even though it hasn't been discussed much in this review, the documentary portion maintains the level of quality seen in the previous Gold Master Series titles from Digital Eclipse. There's an extensive amount of information about the game's lifetime. On the other hand, the games are fine, and some are outright brilliant, but the package can feel disappointing for many. The game selection doesn't contain many of the more memorable iterations in the series, and other versions of the same game could've been excluded. This may not be anyone's first choice when it comes to playing a few rounds of Tetris, but it's a good way to chronicle the history of this influential title.

Score: 7.0/10