Tetris Evolution (Xbox360): Achievement Strategies

The last entry tried to illustrate the T-spin to get those achievements. Here are some other strategies:

1) Cascade Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Start with 10 or so lines to start. These lines only have one hole each and you'll have good chance of cascades which earn points. The rest is just quick reflexes at the higher levels. Bronze should be easy. If you get Silver, don't quit! Gold is just around the corner.

2) Back to Back and Old Skool Back to Back. These two are simple. Store a "line" piece. Build 8 lines with one column. Then keep building until another line piece appears. Make your first Tetris, swap the next piece with the line piece from storage. Make Tetris 2. Two achievements.

3) Dirty South Style Back to Back. This is the same as Old Skool, but you have to get lucky. Make sure your queue is set to two. This time, you need a minimum of 12-lines set up. You can complete those lines with one line piece in storage and two line pieces in the queue. I haven't achieved this one yet.

4) Ludicrous speed. This one is much easier than it seems. On Marathon, set the level to 15. Set the starting lines to 1. No matter what your next piece is--as long as it's not the square--you will be able to complete a line with it.

5) Went Low. Remember geometry? Good. You can only clear the Matrix in multiples of two lines. Each piece is 4 blocks. Each complete line is 10 blocks. The smallest area that holds exactly 5 pieces is 20. That's two lines. Also, lay your pieces in from the sides to the middle leaving no gaps. Gap means you won't clear the matrix. Also, don't start with any lines, because they only use up 9 spaces and will reduce your chances of finishing first. The best piece to store is probably the T-piece because it will fit almost anywhere--but your own strategy may work.

6) Take it off the top. You have to clear the top row. Again, I recommend a T-piece in storage. Build pieces up badly near the top. Fill up the top line. Do this at level 1. Carfully fill the top line. If you have one or three blocks left for the top line, Fill it with the T right-side up (as a "T") for one block, and upside-down for 3 blocks. You won't lose the game immediately, so If you're playing Hotline, you may be able to salvage the game.

The rest are all about getting good at the game. I read on the Xbox boards that setting Marathon Goal to "Variable" and supposedly, the number of lines to level-up increases with each level. It should keep you on the lower levels a little longer.