Apple Arcade recently eclipsed a major milestone: 200 total games. In under two years, the list of the best games to play on Apple Arcade has become so much more competitive thanks to the constant stream of new and interesting games--many of which are exclusive to the platform. This month and every month, we're looking at what's new, what's awesome, and even what's maybe received a new update that makes it even better. Here are our picks for the best Apple Arcade games.
Best Apple Arcade Games: Game of the Month - Tetris Beat
Tetris is one of the few truly timeless video games ever made. Spanning decades and countless reinventions, it seems like the series is immune to fading away. There's just something irresistible about the sliding blocks mechanic that appears to seemingly anyone, anywhere, anytime. One of its latest reinventions, Tetris Beat, comes from a lineage we've seen before: the pairing of Tetris and music. Joining other memorable entries in that niche of the series, such as Tetris Effect, Tetris Beat is a worthwhile new mobile version of one of history's most beloved games.
Tetris Beat is, or at least can be, the Tetris you already know and love. Offering three different playstyles built for touch screens, one of them is classic mode. In this mode, you won't find anything different about the game--other than some EDM arena-like backgrounds and effects--meaning players who are familiar with Tetris (and who isnt?) can jump right into it without missing a beat, no pun intended.
However, just repainting Tetris wouldn't earn it the game of the month distinction. No, it earns that because of one of its alternate game modes: tap. In Tetris Beat's tap mode, you're given two spots to insert the shape, seemingly based on an AI understanding of what would be optimal. You choose which of the two spots you want to use, and *plop* there it goes.
While this may sound like Tetris on easy mode, first of all, so what if it is? In my experience, rotating the blocks isn't as intuitive on touch screens as it is on other platforms like Switch or Xbox, so I already favor this shortcut, but there's even more to it than that.
In tap mode, it also becomes much easier to place blocks in tune with the music, which is ultimately the special wrinkle of this reinvention of the decades-old game. It turns Tetris into something more like a rhythm game, or even Sayonara Wild Hearts almost, with its dancy, trance flow.
I found playing in tap mode to be the most fun I've had with Tetris in a long time. I wonder how purists will look at it, but they need not shun the game if tap mode isn't for them thanks to there being a perfectly familiar version of Tetris within too.
There's even a third mode, drop mode, which plays sort of like an in-between for the tap and marathon (classic) modes, asking you to hard-drop and rotate to the beat instead of just playing as normal. I really think tap and drop modes are improvements on the time-tested formular for Tetris just because they allow for such a zen-like flow from puzzle to puzzle, timing block inserts to the beat of a long list of electronic music.
If you liked Tetris Effect, I'm sure you'd enjoy Tetris Beat as well. It may have even been designed as the mobile semi-port because the two iterations share a lot of DNA: psychedelic backgrounds that splash, ripple, and zap, music that keeps you moving to the beat level after level, and of course the everpresent teasing of high scores.
Tetris is a classic game that developers have rewritten countless times, but the best versions have tended to keep in tact what Tetris always has been. To my surprise, Tetris Beat, especially its drop mode, tweaks the formula more than most attempts that came before it, and perhaps more than any other that dares to defy what Tetris is, this mode also works surprisingly well. Whether you're a Tetris fan or a casual gaming historian, Tetris Beat is worth checking out for that mode alone, and I'd bet you'll stick around long after anyway.
Turn to the next page to find our rundown of the best Apple Arcade games...
