The inexplicably titled Tetris Grand Master 3: Terror-Instinct is the latest in a series of Japanese tournament style Tetris arcade games. While there are many modern iterations of Tetris in play today, the Grand Master series takes the competitive aspect to a whole new level, and commands the true skill of a high level twitch player.
Someone best acquainted with those timeless editions of Tetris from the NES or Game Boy will be familiar enough with the basic Tetris gameplay here, but the levels of speed with which the “tetriminos” drop is on a different scale. Instead of the basic level up scheme found in the older games, the Grand Master series employs a much finer set of levels, from 1 to 999. Additionally, these speed increases occur often, at just about every move the player makes. The result is an incredibly fast, hyped up Tetris game with the blazing speed and high skills found in the Japanese arcade scene.
The player also earns a grade, something not unlike a chess rank or a bowling average, for competition placement and bragging rights. The highest grade in the game, and the ultimate goal, is that of Grand Master. At the time of writing, only six people in the world have ever achieved Grandmaster, and witnessing one of these runs is a sight to behold.
It doesn’t take long to get used to this new, crazy fast type of Tetris, and suddenly your old school game will feel antiquated and slow. That’s a good thing though, as a good round of Tetris Grand Master is a rush intense enough to make this classic feel like a whole new game!
Did You Know?
- Achieving Grandmaster involves a quick round of invisible Tetris, where the pieces fall at their highest speed, and become invisible when they land! Geez.