Welltris Download (1989 Puzzle Game)

Over the years, countless games have risen from the success of Tetris, the revolutionary "falling block" puzzler. Some are true inspirations, such as Columns and Tetris Attack, while others are merely derivative, like Hatris and Kirby's Avalanche. One of the best, though, is Welltris, which follows the concept but complicates matters by focusing gameplay on four sides of the play field (as well as four tricky corners) instead of just one.

While Welltris is not as good as Tetris (very few, if any, are), it is involved enough to draw the interest of those veterans of the classic puzzle game, at least for the short term. Controls are nearly perfect, gameplay mechanics are flawless, and challenges are fresh. Most importantly, the action is fun and mercilessly addicting.

Depending on how you look at it, one aspect of the game could be seen as a cheat of sorts or a finely concocted element of gameplay. When you execute three successful moves in a row, whether you formulate completed lines or not, an obstructed wall (assuming there is one) will disappear. Whether this is a cop out or simply brilliant programming is debatable, but it is an absolute necessity as it staves off frustration by giving you maneuvering room and keeping the puzzle from getting clogged up too quickly.

Graphically, as with most Tetris-type games, Welltris is simplistic. The 3D illusion of the well is convincing enough, but nothing fancy, and the little scenes to the right of the play field are heavily pixelated, but not animated. The scenes, which switch out each time the game increases in speed, include a rock star, a young couple in love and other such Americanized situations.

Tetris fans looking for unique, though somewhat familiar challenges, need look no further than Welltris.

Graphics: The well and the blocks are clearly and cleanly drawn, but the images to the side are too pixelated.

Sound: There is no music to speak of, and the sound effects are little more than simplistic chirping and buzzing noises.

Enjoyment: The most fun gamers can have with a puzzle game this side of Tetris.

Replay Value: The challenges of thinking "inside of the box" (actually, a well) will keep you busy for a long time. Those who find the basic play mechanics of Tetris too simplistic will most likely enjoy Welltris.

Welltris, which is the first Tetris sequel, is originally designed by Alexey Pajitnov (the creator of Tetris) with Andrei Sgenov.

It has the same gameplay concept as Tetris; simply all the player has to do is to rotate and maneuver the falling pieces into a proper position in order to form complete layers in the rectangular playground. But Welltris changes this rectangular arena into a four sided well with grid-like walls and bottom where the falling pieces can be moved from wall to wall within the well. Form the pieces into solid rows either horizontally or vertically on the bottom of the well.

Billed itself as Tetris in three dimensions.

This is "sequel" of sorts to the classic Tetris: this time you must deal with tiles in 3D, coming in from all 4 sides of a well (hence the name). The game certainly retains the addictiveness of the original, while making the concept even more difficult -- now you must contend with filling 5 surfaces instead of one (the 4 walls, plus the well bottom). Graphics is not as good as the original, but then again that's not what will keep us playing :)

The sequel to Tetris, kind of ingenious, while not being as good as the classic itself. This is a weird one - and you know I like weird things, tehehe... Well, if you like good puzzle-games and are tired of Tetris itself - go ahead, short download - long fun! Basically you got 2 dimensional tiles in a 3 dimensional environment. They're sliding down the wall and you have to fit them into lines which will disappear. Mixture of Tetris and Blockout.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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