In the mid-Eighties, Alexei Pajitnov created what would become the best selling game of all time - Tetris.

Tetris Worlds for the PlayStation 2 detracts rather than adds to the gaming legend.

In Pajitnov's computer game, players organised blocks which fell from the top of the screen and had to be rotated and placed before they landed.

The game ended when the blocks reached the top of the screen.

Tetris was very simple and sold 40 million copies on the Gameboy alone.

So perhaps it's not surprising THQ decided to revamp it for the next generation consoles.

Unfortunately, the PS2 game only helps to confirm the old adage:

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Things are not helped by a weak story mode.

The Tetrions, the blocks, are the last remnants of an ancient space-faring race of block-people and gateways to solar systems thousands of light years away.

A robot race, the Minos, has figured this out and needs the best Tetris players in the known universe to help them use the blocks to terraform distant worlds.

The game has six modes of play, ranging from the 15 stages of unadultered adrenaline that is good, old fashioned Tetris and square and cascade variants to hot-line and fusion.

Apart from sticky Tetris, in which blocks of the same colour stick together, there is very little fun to be had from these variations.

There are also a couple of multiplayer modes but the game just isn't fun, no matter how many people are playing it.

The distinctly average graphics and sound effects aren't too much of a problem - the series has never been about aesthetics - but the inability of the game to make its innovative gameplay work is a major flaw.

It's diverting enough for a few minutes but if you're looking for a puzzle worth cracking, go back to the Gameboy version.

Price: £19.99.

Contact: www.thq.com
Feel good factor: 3 out of 10.