What is it?
The rules of Tetronix are simple. Blocks appear at the top of the pit and go down to the bottom. When a block arrives to the bottom, it stops moving and another one appears at the top. Blocks may be moved left or right and rotated with keys or mouse. You have to manipulate these blocks to get completely horizontal rows with no gaps. When a completely horizontal row appears, it will disappear and give you points, new blocks and tools. There are three different tools. With bomb, you can destroy blocks and then complete horizontal rows. With plaster, you can fill up gaps. And with hammer you can move vertical rows. From the level 7, some blocks which appear at the top of the pit may contain termites. They will eat blocks and make gaps in rows. You can destroy termites with insecticide, bomb or hammer. The game begins when you press any key and ends when your stock of blocks is empty.
I can't really give a very good reason why I didn't like Tetronix. The graphics are simple and sweet, just as I like them in a Tetris-style game, and the add-ons, well the add-ons aren't really bad. I guess it's because there is no way to drop pieces. That makes the lower levels pretty boring.
For more than a year Tetronix was the only Tetris-like game from France in my collection (meanwhile it has been joined by a couple more), just as TinyTris was for a long time the only one from the UK. It is still the only original French Macintosh game.
