Minon: Everyday Hero (Wii) - Review by Chris

Introduction

Japanese games developers are renowned for coming up with some of the quirkiest and strangest games on the market and unfortunately, many never see a release outside of those shores. The likes of Ouendan on the DS and Captain Rainbow on the Wii are two prime examples of this. However, it is occasional that some of these quirky titles do reach our shores and luckily, upstart Lithuanian publisher Nordcurrent has brought us Success' title Minon Everyday Hero.

Gameplay

Like many of these quirky Japanese titles, trying to explain what you actually do can be a difficult task but here we go anyway. You take control of Minon, just your everyday hero who is tasked with helping out your average Joe in any of 8 common day situations. These are situations that wouldn't be out of place in the already mentioned Ouendan, but instead of cheering on those who you are trying to help, as Minon you must help them accomplish their goal physically. These goals range from helping an overloaded father answer a prize winning phone call to helping a singer at a concert keep the crowd entertained. When you explain it like that, it doesn't sound very different. Yet, when you realise how you go about doing these tasks, you immediately see the quirkiness coming through.

To complete your tasks as Minon, you have to use a combination of everyday objects, such as trees, buildings or even people, along with your minonaide to topple your way to the goal in the 8 large stages. The minonaide are dominos that Minon places down himself, in rows of 5 but Success have designed it so that this is tied to a meter and so you can't simply just use these to traverse the level as it depletes every time you use it, although it can be filled by stringing together combo jumps on the everyday objects which also increases his speed. It's an incredibly simple form of gameplay, once you realise how to go about playing, that is very easy to pick up but as a result, it's also very easy to finish. The game only possesses a meagre 8 stages for your single player delectation and once you've finished these, you'll only have the option of replaying the stages for a better ranking or to pick up the 'Manuals' and 'Memories' scattered throughout the stages, which unlock small extras such as art work in the Gallery. There is a multiplayer mode thrown in for good measure but this merely falls to toppling the most objects in a stage. But, not to take away from the game, it is good clean fun for the duration it runs for.

Controls

The game uses only the Wii-mote and with this, only the A and B buttons are used. The A button is used for selection in the menus and in game it is used to stop Minon on the stop so that you can get your bearings before resuming at the same speed. The B button is used for placing the minonaide and a slight change of position of the Wii-mote will differentiate between a turn to the left, straight on, or a turn to the right. The only mechanic employed is the shaking or rotating of the Wii-mote. To string together combos on the objects, you have to shake your controller as Minon jumps and as the combo increases, you'll have to increase the speed of your shaking. This vigorous motion can be very tiring especially in the larger stages, meaning you'll probably only play the game in short bursts. It's not an entirely unnecessary action but they could have perhaps mapped the motion to one of the unused button on the controller to ease the workout.

Graphics

Going off of the quirkiness of the gameplay, the graphics also follow suit. Cutscenes look like stop motion footage, using polygons instead of clay. It adds a sense of humour and charm to the title and furthers the interludes between the levels from being just a stopping point to actually being something you look forward to viewing because of the humour and charm. When it comes to playing, the game makes use of a cel shaded art style that is nothing startling but is above average. Levels are big and have a decent amount of detail and enough objects to keep you entertained but most of the objects are just reused and you'll start to tire of seeing the same thing over and over again in the levels. Where the cutscene graphics have deliberately been made to look of poor quality, the same can be said for the in game graphics, although I don't think they were deliberately trying to achieve this here. Minon, himself, is well designed and wouldn't be out of place in one of the many, many Japanese manga TV shows.

Sound

A quirky game deserves and equally quirky soundtrack and that's what you get. High pitched J-pop follows Minon and the player through the levels and it adds to the experience. It's never intrusive on the game but you know it's there because of the high pitched tones to it and it is rather catchy.

Final comments

For Nordcurrent, bringing something like Minon Everyday Hero to Europe is a big thing yet it's one of those titles that is very unlikely to sell due to being so different and so Japanese in style and tastes, which is a shame really, because the core game plays well and it carries a considerable amount of charm and humour in its presentation. It is, however, let down quite drastically by the short run time, clocking in at just over 2 hours, and even with the extras, there isn't much there. If you can find it cheap, I'd recommend giving it a go because what's there is fun. Whether we'll see more of Minon is unknown but there is enough depth to create a decent franchise off of the character, if it is placed in the right hands.

Pro: Very quirky in style and presentation, good fun for the duration it runs for
Con: Very short, very tiresome because of the shaking, little in the way of replayability
Final score: 6

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