Game Reviews

Tetra

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|
iOS
| Tetra
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Tetra
|
iOS
| Tetra

Any puzzle-loving kid will go through a brief phase of thinking that Noughts and Crosses is the best game ever.

It's a beautifully distilled turn-based strategy game, and all you need is a pen and a piece of paper. What's not to love?

Then you bump up against the game's inherent limitations, realise that there are set methods to adhere to, and find that each game starts to resemble the last. By the tenth stalemate, it feels completely stale. Mate.

Tetra is like Noughts and Crosses but with more variables to keep it interesting.

Do me a solid

This stylishly spare multiplayer-only puzzler takes the basics of Noughts and Crosses and expands each element.

It remains a turn-based game with a grid and numerous circular and X-shaped playing pieces, but both of the latter two elements have been enlarged.

The game grid is now 4x4, and the playing pieces come in two varieties of size, colour, solidity, and of course shape. Form a line of four pieces containing any one of these elements and you win.

This simple expansion of the toolset is sufficient to add interest to the Noughts and Crosses concept, but there's one other additional element that keeps things interesting.

Choose your weapon

Tetra's truly intriguing twist is that you get to determine which of the limited playing pieces your opponent has to use next.

As a result, each game becomes a case of trying to pre-empt your opponent's plans, as well as trying to read ahead a number of moves to see how things might pan out. With the number of variables on display, this proves harder than you might imagine.

This solid ruleset really needs very little embellishment - and it receives none. This is a highly focused multiplayer game that doesn't bother with alternative modes or in-app purchases (beyond a one-off payment to enable more than two simultaneous games).

Game Center integration is seamlessly and confidently handled, as is the match-making facility for simply finding a game.

The asynchronous nature of Tetra means you can have loads of games all happening at once while you go about your business, dipping in with the next push notification (or not).

As with Noughts and Crosses, the main sticking point with Tetra comes with the opposition. Find someone who's much worse than you and it can be tedious. Much better and it can be frustrating.

But when you find a good match, we guarantee you'll keep hitting that 'rematch' button.

Tetra

A thoughtful and tightly executed expansion of Noughts and Crosses that will spark plenty of online grudge matches
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.