So I've had Tetris DS in my hot little hands for a large part of a day, playing it off and on before and after (not during, I swear) work.

After spending far too much time messing around with all of the modes (except in-room multiplayer), I suddenly have a burning desire to own a DS Lite. The problem is, the DS is just too big for me to carry it everywhere I go. Yes, I'm addicted.

The initial screen for Tetris DS brings up three main gameplay options: Single Player, Multiplayer and WiFi.

In single player you can choose to play one of six different modes: Standard, push, touch, puzzle, mission and catch.

Each of the modes have different options. Standard, for instance, lets you choose to play a game of marathon, line clear, or against the CPU.

The standard mode of Tetris feels a lot like the original Tetris, but with a much cleaner look and classic Nintendo themes. The game allows you to set whether you want a ghost image of the falling piece to appear at the bottom of the screen for planning purposes and whether you want the quick drop button enabled.

The first game I played on Tetris DS was a marathon session in the standard mode. As you play through the session the top screen shows Mario working his way through classic Super Mario Bros levels. It's pretty cool and only initially distracting. The music played also all comes from the retro games.

The controls are pretty straight forward and the only problem I ran into was that I occasionally quick dropped a Tetrimino while trying to rotate it.

The gameplay is pretty much the same in the Mission mode as well. The only difference, besides it being a Zelda theme, is that you have to complete little challenges while playing like clearing three lines at the same time or using a special block to clear lines.

The other single player modes in the game are challenging twists to the original Tetris concept.

In Touch mode you start with a tower of Tetriminos stacked right off of the top of the screen. You have to slide them around so they fall in place across the screen to clear lines. It's a completely different way to play Tetris, but still worthy of the name.

In the Metroid-themed Catch mode you have a core brick that you can rotate clockwise of counter-clockwise. You have to catch falling Tetriminos, which you can't rotate, and allow them to hit and meld with the core unit. By rotating around the core and moving left to right you can build a solid square of bricks which will detonate and give you points. It's very bizarre, but also very fun.

I didn t really like the Puzzle Mode. In it you are presented with a screen of blocks and need to select which bricks and in what position you should use them. Sort of like a slow, boring version of Tetris.

Push Mode was by far my favorite non-standard Tetris play in the game. In this mode you play against the computer. You use the top screen and try to clear lines using falling bricks. Your opponent takes the bottom screen and does the same with bricks floating up. Both your and your opponent's bricks meet in the middle of the screen. The object is to push your opponent off the screen. You do this by clearing two or more lines at the same time.

While the single player games are more than enough to keep you occupied, the game also includes multiplayer and Wi-Fi options of play as well. Once you get online (still a painless process) you just choose Worldwide and decide whether you want to play against on opponent or three in standard Tetris gaming or take on a challenger in little head-to-head push.

Nintendo learned a lot from some of the missteps in DS Mario Kart and it really shows. First and foremost, if your opponent disconnects or power-downs in a game, they lose and you still get the points.

While NiWiFi play still uses the friends code system, there's more ways to tell if you have a friend online and help track them down. When you first sign on, if one of your friends is looking for a game, an icon will show up on the screen.

Also you can choose to invite a friend to a game or join them in one.

After a bout you're given the option of quitting or playing another match, also an improvement. The game's roster can hold up to 60 friend codes at a time.

I happen to be a huge Tetris fan going far back, so I think this is a must have game for the DS. Its combination of new modes and old with a slick new look and great retro sounds were enough to make this a keeper. But then Nintendo added fairly robust (and lag-free) online play. Between the two I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't buy this game for their DS.

Single card multiplayer is also offered, and looks quite intriguing. I couldn't check it out, but hope to in the coming weeks.