No One Can Stop Mr. Domino

TRY AND YOU SHALL BE CRUSHED LIKE THE REST

So you're sitting here, reading this stupid review on Goblin Axis, leaning on one elbow with your eyes half-glazed, drooling slightly but not enough to notice it, and wondering what the hell you should do with your life. In the long term, I cannot tell you. This is a question you can only answer for yourself. Right now, though, you should be playing No One Can Stop Mr. Domino on your Playstation or Playstation compatible.

This policy does not actually always apply, but you should try Mr. Domino at some point. There's very little else to say about it. The graphics are pleasing, the music makes you feel like you're in an upscale Japanese boutique, and the satisfaction you get from full-comboing a stage makes your favorite personal gaming achievement look like a pile of smelly puke.

It's just like setting up dominoes in real life, but it doesn't make you want to kill yourself.

The main goal of Mr. Domino is to set up a chain of dominoes that trigger various pressure plates throughout the stages, there by setting off little events that can trigger further strings of dominoes, which in turn can set off more pressure plates, and so on and so on. You clear a stage by triggering all of the events, and ideally by doing it all in one long, impressive chain.

Of course, this ends up not being as easy as it sounds. The title implies otherwise, but there is one thing that can stop Mr. Domino: the cold spectre of death, which will come flying out of nowhere and ruin your day if you're not quick enough on the stages. Otherwise, Mr. Domino will plow through the circular stages as you steer, giving you at most about two to two and a half passes around to make sure you hit all the buttons you need to.

I have missed the silver button here, thereby dooming this run that, as you can see by the top bar, was otherwise going okay.

Of course, throughout the stages are various hazards that break your string of dominoes, speed tiles that make you blast through the levels uncomfortably quickly, and slowdown tiles that drain your points, but make navigating some of the trickier areas a hell of a lot more manageable. There are also health tiles that give you an indeterminate additional amount of time to complete the level, and reset squares, which set everything in the level back as it was when you started, but doesn't reset your timer. This can be a boon if you mess up early, but if you accidentally ram into one while you're about to finish off a level, your face will become very sad and sink deep into the ground.

The game, above all, demands perfection, and a lot of this simply boils down to replaying the levels over and over until you know how to deal with all of the nagging hazards that shatter your perfect chain and cause you to curse and stamp your feet and shake your head while you nurse your shattered ego. The good thing is, after you get a level down, you'll be able to complete it quickly and in a spectacular fashion that's at least kind of interesting to watch.

OH GOD IT'S TOO LATE

This is the kind of game where I think if I had bought it on release for fifty dollars, I'd be a bit disappointed. Admittedly, there's not much to the game beyond grinding through each of the stages until you've got them down pat, but the time you spend with them is enjoyable, and I'd absolutely recommend it now. At the very least, you have a game called No One Can Stop Mr. Domino, which is like a trophy you can put on your mantle to impress very few people. I think it's worth it.