Yesterday, Tetris Ultimate, the latest official version of the classic puzzle game, was released on Steam for $US14.99 ($21). Today, I asked for a refund.
I haven’t gotten it yet, but I did fill out the forms:
It wasn’t technical issues, or anything like that. While the console versions of Tetris Ultimate were known to have weird performance and lag issues, my version of Tetris Ultimate seemed to work the way it was intended to. The problem is everything surrounding the experience.
I do not want to log into uPlay, Ubisoft’s proprietary distribution service, to play Tetris. It’s TETRIS. I just want to play the damn game. Really, the Game Boy version of the game is perfect: no frills, no bullshit superflous special effects or animations that alter a classic experience. No cringey updated version of the Tetris theme. Just good ol’ Tetris.
Yes, I know that I sound like I’m 97 right now.
I mean, Ubisoft tried. They really did. There are a few new modes. There’s multiplayer. There are achievements of sorts. You can earn rewards by playing, like special avatars to use on uPlay. Except, again, I don’t want to use uPlay. Nor do I really want stuff like a Tetris wallpaper.
What really cemented Tetris Ultimate’s fate on my hard drive, however, is that I can’t play the game for too long without the game hurting my eyes. For whatever reason, the entire game has this awful neon hue that’s really harsh on the eyes. You can see it in any of the screenshots of the game. Obviously, not being able to play the game without discomfort is a problem.
I’m kind of in disbelief anyone could mess something like Tetris up, but they did, and here we are. Arguably, this is the second time Ubisoft have messed Tetris up. The first time was on consoles, when the game ran like garbage for some people. Now that we have a port of Tetris Ultimate, it turns out that well, maybe the game underneath all the issues wasn’t super great to begin with.
If I were to classify myself, I’d say I’m more of a casual player of Tetris. On the other end of the spectrum are hardcore players, who really care about more granular features…and they don’t seem very happy with the experience, either. Right now, Tetris Ultimate has a “mostly negative” rating on Steam. A few reviews, which illustrate the issues people are having:
I guess I got lucky that I didn’t experience any technical issues in the time I played. Regardless, I’m still waiting to hear back on Steam support, to see if my refund request will go through. Hopefully it does. This game does not seem like it is worth the $US14.99 I put down.
Comments
15 responses to “My First Steam Refund Request Is Tetris”
$21 for Tetris, with uPlay, and they can’t be arsed patching it?!
Oh, Ubi… why you gotta keep doing this?
I was about to make a crack about “Why would you spend 20 bucks buying Tetris?” before I remembered I bought Tetris DS when that was new.
But then I remembered it had a bunch of cool game-modes and 8-player multiplayer from a single cart.
Tetris DS is one of the best versions of Tetris released so no shame in getting that for $20+.
I don’t mind the graphics and all that (although looking at the glow, I can see what you mean, it’s like my glasses are foggy), what I don’t like is having to use uPlay. I’ve been dying for a good puzzle game like Tetris on Steam for ages, and when it finally DOES arrive, it requires uPlay?
Nope.
I was one of the angry hardcore players. Everyone is pretty pissed off in the community especially since the PC version was delayed for over a year and when it arrives… Its the exact fucking same as the console problems and has none of the features required for any of us to migrate to TU.
I’m not sure what Soma play and Ubisoft thought when they began to design this game. Or how much there hands were tied by TTC Guidelines of the game. I can only speculate they think people will buy the game just because its Tetris, and all they did was add flashing lights and multiple game modes to keep people happy.
But no one is gonna be happy with a game that bugs out and crashes, requires your shitty DRM to play, Doesn’t let me set my own control scheme, and gameplay that is to slow to be played to any competitive level.
The game is better if you are casual but not $20 worth, and not worth it on PC. Which means if you didn’t buy it on Console, there is 0 reason to buy this one.
If you are a Hardcore player, the other games like Nullpol, Cultris and TF are just better and free.
The only reason anyone would be playing Tetris Ultimate, is not because its good, Its because they hadn’t looked very hard for the others.
why in the F would you spend $21 for a tetris remake on pc? O_o
If you’re desperate, the original version of Tetris (file size: 13.7k) can still be downloaded, although you’ll need to mess with DOSBox to get it running. Of course, you may have trouble with it if you’ve only played the later versions with stuff like piece lookahead and swapping.
This post reminded me of Tetrinet. Did anyone play that?
Me and a bunch of my friends at University used to play it a lot. I haven’t played it in a few years though.
It was always amusing to see a new player carefully stacking their blocks and getting ready for a Tetris, only for you to use one of the specials on them (block quake, nuke, or switch were fun).
Oh God, I’m suddenly surfing a wave of nostalgia.
Shrug. Fire up NESticle and play the 2nd-best version of the game ever, after the original GameBoy version.
I’d kill for a proper port of Tetris the Grand Master onto the PC. I was actually really looking forward to the release of this game and am very sad to see how poorly it’s been done.
Not very relevant, but I download Rayman Adventures free on Android. I don’t have many issues with it but the F***ing app won’t let you play your own music while it’s open. In this day and age it makes me frustrated when I can’t turn off the weird sound effects etc and have my own music in the background.
I don’t know who is to blame, but damn the person that is responsible.
How do you make Tetris lag. Seriously, how?
The guy in the first steam review bought the same Tetris three times. Tetris. The same one. Three times.