Game:

Domino Rally (2007)

Duration: 46:39

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29

In the vast sea of Wii shovelware exists titles so unique and tucked away that they offer exceptional gaming experiences... and then there are titles that, while not amazing, are at least playable. Wii's "Domino Rally" (also known more appropriately as "Minon: Everyday Hero" and "Go! Go! Minon") won't win any awards for excellence, but it's certainly a standout title on the system with unique gameplay, quirky characters and a throwback to the more experimental titles of the 16/32-bit days. Developed by Red Entertainment and published by Success (JP), Nordcurrent (EU) and UFO Interactive (US), the title is often compared to the cult classic game, "No One Can Stop Mr. Domino", though this is misleading; while there are a few basic similarities (constantly moving, toppling objects), they are vastly different overall. "No One Can Stop Mr. Domino" certainly runs with the Domino theme more, whereas Domino Rally uses Dominoes more as a backdrop for the story and basic gameplay components. It is the best game UFO published for the Wii besides "Ultimate Shooting Collection" (a collection of Japanese Milestone shooters).

In Domino Rally, players control Minon, an "Everyday Hero" in a yellow jumpsuit who inadvertently does as much harm as good, solving the problems of Domino Town's citizens using unconventional means and skillful running and jumping, unlocking the town's memories along the way. The game features eight steps/stages each with opening and ending cutscenes that move the wacky story along and usually end well but sometimes leaves the town in a mess. The game allows you to choose different routes by laying Dominoes at different sections using motion controls as well as execute combos and increase speed by timing your jumps and shaking the remote. There are also times when you'll need to stop due to obstacles or to chart your next path, which requires you to balance Minon in the process by tilting the remote, or else he'll fall. Laying dominoes and falling take "Minonaide" (energy), but falling has the added penalty of sending you back to the beginning of the level or your last save point.

The presentation is deliberately simplistic and runs at a smooth framerate and the soundtrack is nice with most tracks featuring Japanese vocals (cutscene vocals are campy but fitting). The gameplay is functional, but I'm torn at the same time -- the motion controls add as much to the experience as they take away... shaking for combos is fine, but balancing and aiming for routes gets caught up in increasing your speed and doing combos. The game is not hard due to a generous time limit for stages and recovering balance, but constantly losing combos or getting disorientated from camera changes or having to stop for balance or point for routes which could register better really breaks the immersion and synergy that a game like "Mr. Domino" possessed. There should have been a better way to navigate stages, but you can at least backtrack in most areas (just not go backwards) to get some practice in and most stages offer different objectives to clear them.

The game is short, initially weighing in at about two hours or less, but you can't access all the routes or skip the cutscenes until you've cleared the level at least once. New routes lead to new memories you can find and new possible scores to achieve, extending the life of the game for at least another hour or two for completionists. The game is not particularly difficult to find and currently dirt cheap, so if this is your jam then pick it up by all means. This is a video showing a fair deal of the game in action to get an idea of the the game's different objectives. Skip to 03:50 for gameplay to start. Enjoy.

Note: The Elgato/YT seem to make odd glitches at random points in the video that aren't apparent during recording, such as around 8:40. I'm not sure why as it doesn't affect all videos, but I'm pointing it out. Also, the ditty that plays at 12:50 or so is featured in several Doujin games.

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