Square Off

Great, another Tetris...

Some puzzle games just feel right the moment you boot the disk, and Square Off is definitely one of those. Released in 1995 by legend Dave Munsie, this is his take on the Tetris formula - though it's much more. Compared to other versions, it isn’t exactly going to dazzle you, but it is bright and colourful. The audio is the same, really: no-frills, but with plenty of great samples (especially on the Atari STe).

Hey, when did games demand fancy aesthetics to be enjoyable?

At its core, the rules are the same as Tetris: rotate and drop pieces to complete lines, but stack too high and it’s game over. Munsie has added some neat ideas to shake things up: Classic Mode is the purist’s choice, while Arcade Mode ramps things up across twenty levels of steadily increasing difficulty. Each stage demands a set number of lines, with backdrops changing every couple of levels to freshen the view. Later rounds even start with junk blocks already placed, though the occasional fire bomb power-up can help clear some much-needed space when things get tight. And for those lucky enough to have friends (unlike me), there’s a fantastic Battle Mode where you can cunningly punish the other player by dumping extra lines on their board.

The mark of a great game is when you suddenly realise you’ve been playing for ages without noticing. That’s exactly what happened as I grinded through Arcade mode. Square Off takes Tetris and adds just enough to make it feel fresh, thrilling, and different. My only gripe? The music option that does absolutely nothing – at least for me here (4MB STe). Regardless, Square Off might just be my favourite Tetris on the ST/e!!

I had problems with various disks (real hardware), but the adapted version by 8BitChip ran fine.

All screenshots were taken from my very first attempt. Not bad for me!

Hey, what's this? It looks explosive...

Kaboom - blocks cleared!! Yes, I think that will come in handy.

New level, and junk blocks are automatically placed on the board.

Oh dear, things are getting a little mad for me here...

This level starts with junk blocks that make it quite impossible (for me!).

Yep, that's me done. Still, 32530 is a good score!

Dammit, I missed the deadline! I wonder who won?