Tetra’s Escape

Developer: ABX Game Studio
Publisher: Ratalaika Games SL
Tetra’s escape is a puzzle/platform game developed by French studio ABX Game Studio and released for mobiles in 2016, now with an Xbox version published by Ratalaika Games. The game places you in control of the little Tetras, small and colorful blocky creatures with the ability to transform on Tetrominos, blocks with the same shape as the classic brick game. Prepare to burn some neurons to find the right position to place all these blocks and transform your little friends according to reach the exit of the stage in 64 challenging levels. Let’s roll… I mean, let’s check our review for the game.

 What do you do?

Controlling the little Tetras, you must figure out the right place to transform them in each stage to reach the exit. Once they are transformed, they can no longer be moved, so check all available possibilities before doing so. Each stage has three stars and a hidden trophy that shows up after you collect all the stars. Stars are used to open new worlds, so you better catch ’em all.

What is Good?

• Gameplay: You move and jump your little blocks, morphing in the bigger Tetrominos when needed, to reach the portal at the end of the stage.  It’s a true pleasure when you find the answer to that challenging stage after countless retries!
• Game mechanics: In each new world, you’re introduced to a different mechanic (like mirroring your blocks) that add new elements to the gameplay. It helps to keep the gameplay fresh and interesting for longer.
• Difficult: The game’s difficulty increases at a good pace. The initial levels of each world are used to introduce new mechanics, which are explained to you how they work, while the later ones pose a real challenge. Nothing impossible in the initial worlds, requiring a few retries for you to understand and discover what to do, but really challenging in the later Just right, I’d say.
• Sound: The music of the game grants you a calm and pleasant trip from the beginning to the end. I let the game playing on my TV to listen to its music while writing this review, cheerful songs and effects, your voyage will be calm and cheerful.

Mixed Feelings

• Space for improvisation: Although the game is a puzzle game with blocks, I really missed some opportunity for improvisation. In most of the levels (with a few exceptions), there’s only one way that leads to finish the level. I believe adding some more ‘make it your own way’ levels would add great value to the game.

What is Bad?

• Visuals: The visuals for Tetra’s escape are simple and colorful, but the game seems to have been brought right from the mobile to Xbox without any upgrade to visuals. It looks like there’s a fog or a low-resolution filter covering your screen while you play. And it doesn’t work for you to clean the screen of your television or to rubber your eyes: this sensation will last as long as you’re playing the game… until you get used to it. I usually don’t mind about graphics in a game, but in this case, with all the power we have available, I simply don’t get it.
• Sound effects: What the game has in music, it lacks in sound effects. They’re almost non-existent in the game. And it feels strange not to hear them during gameplay.
• Yes, you’ll get stuck! Since it’s a puzzle game, sometimes you’ll get stuck in a level. For some minutes. For a couple of In my case, sometimes, for days. It’s usual for this genre of game, so you better be ready for it.

Tetra’s Escape [Score: 62/100]: With easy to understand gameplay and great music, Tetra’s Escape will be a challenging, but a colorful and rewarding journey for fans of puzzle games and audiophiles. The sound and visuals could have used some more effort from the developer, though, making it a more remarkable experience. It’s an enjoyable game as it is, nevertheless.