Welcome to our review of Tetris Effect: Connected, we played it thanks to GamePass on Xbox Series S. We also share our first impressions of the newest member of our gaming family!
As the game has been out for a while, this review is not intended to score the game. We all know Tetris Effect is one of the better games in the past few years in its genre and I personally adore everything about it. I actually think the original Tetris on Gameboy might be my most played game ever, knowing how much I play Fortnite this year, this is saying a lot.
As this is my first experience with the Xbox Series S, which is really compact as a console, I must say I enjoyed every second so far with the game. Filled with great music and a stellar looking background, Tetris Effect: Connected is in its core still a Tetris game. The only difference is that from its original iteration on Gameboy to this amazing graphical masterpiece, it does show that games can be reinvented.
With several gigabytes as its size it took mere minutes to download and thanks to GamePass Ultimate, I did not spend a single buck on this game rather than my subscription itself. Loading times were so fast that I didn’t even realize I was playing on the Series S. A cold boot of the game took several seconds under half a minute in case you are wondering.
I kind of regret never having played the game before so I cannot compare it to the previous generation of consoles. But from what I have seen so far, playing it on the “slower” of the new Xbox Series consoles, it still feels pretty amazing to me. Controls were very snappy and I never felt out of sync with the game during my several hours playing it.
I do wonder how a game like this would run on a console as Nintendo Switch out of a pure game reviewer’s point of view. On Xbox series S, the game looks and feels completely next-gen and this is where my curiosity kicks in. How would a game like this run on a lower speed console like the Nintendo Switch, the amount of detail on certain screens is just so high, those backgrounds are really too crisp and clear?
The Series S gives me a great first impression! Small in size yet very snappy. No audible sound is coming from the device itself and aside from the vents on top, the console feels cool to the touch. The controller however is a completely different thing. I really like the added texture on the back and it just feels so much better when holding it.
In all honesty, the Switch Pro Controller and the Xbox controller have always been my favorite ones and I am not shy to say that this new controller with a slightly tweaked layout might become my new favorite.
Also important to know is that when you unbox it, the realization of how small the console really is, is a whole new level of amazement. I had the same feeling when I unboxed my Series X, yet this one takes it to the next level.
Comparing it to the Series X it’s currently still too early as I haven’t had ample time to play both consoles yet. I do hope to bring that article online later this month. My first impressions of both consoles are amazing and with the addition of EA Play to GamePass, Microsoft created a really nice product. Not wanting to sound like a shill but you have to try out GamePass if you haven’t already!
