seems TTC has decided to cash in on the "Blitz" game craze. and so we have tetris blitz. a 2 minute game with cascade gravity, a weird scoring system, and a frenzy mode. It is mostly playable without paying money, but some special abilities must be bought, like the extra previews and the extra hold slot, which are both very useful. The important part of the scoring system. clearing 4 or more lines at once adds to the point multiplier. clearing 8 at once will add two. This makes tetrises better than t-spins, for once. The multiplier is key to getting a godly score. As you clear lines a frenzy meter fills. as you drop pieces without clearing lines it empties. FIll the meter and frenzy mode starts. In this mode, garbage is added to the bottom. 5 lines are added to the bottom, and as those 5 bottom lines are cleared, more garbage is add. it is one hole, unless you get a really long frenzy, where it will add two hole garbage instead. When a piece is broken by a line clear in frenzy, it breaks apart into single squares, for extra cascade potential. the frenzy meter works just the same in frenzy as out, except that after a bit, the meter top filling with line clears (but wont' go down if you clear a line). Scoring for the initial line clear is nearly doubled in frenzy mode, but the cascade clears aren't boosted. without powerup, breakign 200k is a good score. But with powerups you can score much higher. Powerups are follows. First the core powerups. Lazers clears 3 random lines. good for bravos, but not much else. Quake. causes pieces near the line to break up into single blocks for cascade power. Magnet: slides erything to the left, creating a tetris hole. (VERY IMPORTANT) Time Shift. adds 5 second. (VERY IMPORTANT) Then we have the other powerups. one of them is the powerup of the week. you buy it with coins enough times, and you unlock it permanently. if you do that it's free for the week, and every other time it's powerup of the week. these are Multiplier. adds one multiplier (GREAT POWERUP) Avalanche: drops a 3 long vertical piece in all columns. Lucky 7: next 7 pieces are perfect fits, or what the game decides are them. make it easy to keep a frenzy going, but not so good (see below). Meteor storm. randomly drop some single square blocks 2 or three per column. Bombs. breaks up a large number of minos below the powerup block for more cascades. Scoring a bravo instantly starts frenzy mode, and drops a large amount of 1 cell blocks, to cause a huge cascade. in fact, it drops just as many as the start of the game does. The game ue touch screen controls, and bag randomizer, but powerup seem totally random. you get to pick thr. There is a big problem with frenzy mode, though. you need tetrises to core big, and it's hard to get them in frenzy mode. and it doesn't top the main timer either. so while you can get a big cascade, it's better to get a tetris and let the frenzy lapse. The most important powerups are multiplier (for obvious reasons) time shift (for obvious reaons) and magnet (for turning the frenzy mode garbage into a tetris hole) ALso there are "finishing moves" which can get large amount of points. you are randomly offered the chance to purchase them. Mino rain fills the screen (nearly) with single squares, giving a huge line clear. Invert changes empty to full and full to empty, giving lotsa point if you have a nearly clear screen, and instant replay, which replays your best placement. Mino Rain is the best by far, and the cheapest. While other powerups can cause good scores, they are very situational, while magnet is nearly always useful, and the other two are ALWAYS good. Ideal strategy is to enter the game with mino rain, multiplier, time shift, and magnet, and to use magnet to clean up your frenzy garbage and tetris more. CLear magnet and multiplier powerup with mall line clears when possible, and ignore time shift (they will take care of themselves.) but if it will get you into frenzy, or you are already in it, then use a tetris to clear the magnet. If the powerup gods smile on you, you can break 1.5 million easy. You can get free spins on a press your luck board. don't bother trying to time it. Usually it will be a mall amount of coin, but sometimes you will get a finisher, or some powerups. The only non core powerup worth anything is the multiplier. don't bother trying to unlock anything else.
i think it's touch screen controls only. It gives you "suggestions" on where to place the piece, and you can tap the suggestion you want, or press cycle to make it give you another round of suggestions. However, i's not always very smart about them. also seems they added a new powerup. three strikes (3 I pieces in a row). if it wasn't for cascade gravity it would be good.
