Tritris

I really wanted to like Tritris, because I'm a Tetris fan from way back. Unfortunately, I found this freebie to be a bit more annoying than amusing.

My woes began with the installation. The program requires Microsoft .Net 2.0, so I used a notebook with that installed. But when I tried to run the game, it complained that it also needs Adobe Flash Player--which I also have on that machine. It turns out the game wants the Internet Explorer version of Flash Player, as I finally figured out (I use Mozilla Firefox).

When I finally got Tritris started, the controls didn't work as expected. I could choose the level, but not the number of games--which is set to three. That's okay, but the interface is misleading. During gameplay, I was supremely annoyed that my keyboard's Down arrow didn't move the blocks quickly downward, as it does in most other Tetris-style games, and as the gameplay instructions indicated. This slowed gameplay considerably in the beginning. In addition, needing to memorize new X and Z commands to rotate the blocks slowed me down, as my favorite Up arrow shortcut doesn't work in this game (and to be fair, it's not designed to).

All that said, playing three Tetris games at a time was certainly challenging. And this program is free, so it seems mean-spirited to complain about minor inconveniences. Tetris lovers should check it out. And don't neglect to visit the Novel Games Web site, which is easily accessed via the "More Games" button within the program. Novel Games has a slew of well-made Flash games to play online, also free.

Note: This software is no longer supported by the vendor.

--Kim Saccio-Kent