Illustrix Dream Pack Review

Written by: David Laprad Published: October 14, 2004 Admit it: you like Tetris. When it first appeared and made a huge splash in the sea of gaming, you were hooked. You played deep into the night, aligning falling bricks into rows and playing until the warm hand of sleep passed over you in the hopes you'd beat your highest score. It's okay; we've all been there. Over the years, your interest waned as seemingly every game developer on the planet published a Tetris clone. Sure, each new release offered its own variation on the theme, but at the core, the gameplay remained the same. Eventually, you moved on. Perhaps it's time to return to the past, if only for a few minutes of nostalgic fun. Absolutist has released a Tetris redo called Illustrix Dream Pack. In the new game, you gradually reveal a photograph of an animal as you steer falling bricks into place. Some bricks are colored; others contain a piece of the picture. When you clear a row in the game window on the left side of the screen, those pieces are revealed on the right. Uncover the entire image, and you move on to the next level. It might not be the most novel twist in the history of Tetris clones, but it gives the player something more to do. Illustrix offers several animal themes, so your favorite four-legged creature, fine-feathered friend or insect is surely included. Curiously, while Absolutist got the mechanics of Tetris down pat, the developers chose to install each theme separately. After setting up the shareware version, I had four icons on my desktop - one for each theme included in the trial. A better approach would be to create a single executable and allow the user to select a theme upon launching the game. Still, Illustrix Dream Pack offers classic Tetris gameplay done right, so if you want a little furry companionship as you play until the wee hours of the morning, check it out. [Try Illustrix Dream Pack]