Tetris Forever the actual greatest of all time (Digital Eclipse)The video game that helped end the Cold War (kind of) is honoured with an interactive museum featuring 18 different versions, including the 1985 original.Although its not quite as obvious a choice nowadays, given how long ago the games heyday was, its hard to take serious any list of the top 10 video games of all time that does not include Tetris. The timeless design of Tetris makes it an essentially perfect gaming experience, but its importance extends beyond just its qualities as a piece of interactive entertainment.With its 40th anniversary due to start next year, it can be difficult for younger gamers to appreciate its impact and relevance (or perhaps not). But apart from anything it was the game that sold the Game Boy, and without the Game Boys handheld dominance Nintendo may have ended up on a very different trajectory than it is today.But even that is just a single part of one of the most interesting behind the scenes stories in all gaming. One that involves Cold War era intrigue and Robert Maxwell trying, and failing, to convince Mikhail Gorbachev, and his other Kremlin contacts, to gift him the rights to the game. All of which was portrayed in the surprisingly entertaining, if highly sensationalised, Tetris movie on Apple TV+.The movie downplays Nintendos role in things but was inspired by David Sheffs 1993 book Game Over, which we always recommend to those interested in the early days of the games industry. If you dont want to read that though (or are only interested in the Tetris bit) then you now have another alternative to the movie, in the form of this interactive museum.Its by remaster experts Digital Eclipse and follows the same format as their excellent Atari 50 compilation, as well as other more focused titles like The Making Of Karateka and Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story.So, while you can play all 18 included versions of Tetris from a simple menu, the best way to experience things is by working through the timeline to explore the life and times of the franchise, from its inception to the modern day, through the medium of videos, photos, short text explanations, and playable games.Tetris Forever Hatris is a fun alternative (Digital Eclipse)30 years ago, this wouldve been referred to as multimedia, a concept that never really took off with the limited technology of the time but here the history of Tetris is told via whatever media is most appropriate to get the point across, from retro TV ads to Japanese posters and talking head interviews.The magic of Tetris backstory is that its all a lot more interesting than you wouldve thought, even if most people know the basics, of it being the invention of Soviet programmer Alexey Pajitnov, who simply wanted to bring a little fun and happiness to the world. In the early days Tetris always revelled in its Soviet origins and, in its own small way, was a celebration of the thawing of the Cold War.Youll notice that we havent yet attempted to explain what Tetris is or how its played, but with over 200 million copies sold (and thats probably a gross underestimation when you add in mobile versions, let alone unofficial clones) we feel that would be an insult to the games legacy.There is a problem with Tetris Forever though, as despite what you might imagine this does not include all the different versions of the game or anything close to it. Therere no cross-licensed versions at all, so while you do get the very first version of the game, created on the Soviet computer format Electronika 60, theres nothing here at all by Nintendo, EA, or any of the many other companies that have brought Tetris to over 65 different formats in the last 39 years.There are some interestingly weird sequels and spin-offs, but many of those had nothing to do with Pajitnov, even though he did work on a number of them back in the day. Pseudo-sequel BomBliss, and all its variants, are all but forgotten today, while Tetris Battle Gaiden was never released outside of Japan. Theyre interesting novelties but there are obvious gaps in the collection, with no Welltris or Faces which Pajitnov did actually work on and instead only a couple of versions of Hatris.The most serious problem is that this means Tetris Forever does not include the two best versions of the game: the original Game Boy edition and the more recent Tetris Effect by Tetsuya Mizuguchi. Nintendo would never allow someone else to licence their games to appear on other formats, so this is no surprise, but it does leave a gaping hole in the collection.Developer Digital Eclipse has tried to work round this though, via Tetris Time Warp: an entirely new game made specifically for this occasion. It plays as a perfectly bog standard, modern version of the game, until you clear a line with a special glowing tetromino and it transforms into one of the many Tetris variants from throughout the years, including a legally distinct version of the original Game Boy game.Time Warp is as good a compromise as you could hope for, given all the legal issues, but while Tetris Forever is a very interesting interactive museum, for sheer entertainment value youd probably be better off watching the movie (or better still reading the book) and buying a copy of Tetris Effect instead.In Short: Another immaculately researched and presented interactive museum by Digital Eclipse, but one that is missing too many important versions of the game to function in quite the way its intended.Pros: Fascinating museum features, with rare promotional items, brand new video interviews, and some games that have never been released in the West before. Perfect emulation of even the original Electronika 60 version.Cons: Its not anyones fault but the lawyers, but this is missing all the best versions of the game, and many of its spin-offs.Score: 7/10Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and PCPrice: 29.24Publisher: Digital EclipseDeveloper: Digital EclipseRelease Date: 12th November 2024Age Rating: 3Tetris Forever this is what the original 1985 version looked like (Digital Eclipse)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.MORE : Dragon Age: The Veilguard sold even less than Star Wars Outlaws in UKMORE : Where are the PS5 and Switch made? 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