Straight up domino makes it way to Live Arcade, but it doesn't bring along anything interesting.
Domino Master is the second game on XBLA from Tik Games, and just like their first, Texas Hold 'Em, it's a solid but entirely straightforward attempt at bringing a card/table game to a virtual audience, this time with the classic game of Domino.
Domino Master features four different variations, and it also includes the standard, or "straight" style of play. The other four, All 5's, Mexican Train, All 3's, and Bergen, are going to be familiar to anyone that's played domino at some point over the years, but if you're entirely new to the game there's a decent interactive tutorial for each style, which should do you well enough to get acquainted with the basic mechanics. There's nothing really added or enhanced by playing this on XBLA, it's pretty much the exact same experience you'd get from sitting at home and laying them out on the table for a game or two, so don't be expecting some kind of funky game rules, or even a lot of shine on the presentation. It all feels very straightforward, which works, but it doesn't exactly feel like something that everyone should check out either.
In addition to your single player mode, which pits you up against three different difficulties, you can play some online or offline multiplayer with up to 4 players. Online works well, and if you've played Texas Hold 'Em on Live, then you have an idea of what to expect quality wise from the connection, which is to say it works just fine.
In Multiplayer you can select from any of the five modes that are available in the single player game, and you don't have to unlock anything, which is nice to see if you just want to jump in to a game online. You can alter the score, the sets of domino's you'd like to play with (9's, 8's, and so on) and while there aren't a lot of options to change up, at least you're able to create a game that you want with relative ease. You can mess around with the options to come up with your own specific rules and game type as well.
Basically, if you want to play a game of online domino's, just like what you'd be able to play at home, then Domino Master delivers. However, it'd be nice if there was something about the game to really made it stand out, some type of new mode or something introduced strictly for the video game version, to keep it from feeling like a simple board game cash in. There's nothing going on in Domino Master that I can't do at home with a set, outside of play against someone online, but even then, you find a fair share of free domino online games to jump in to if you own a PC. I imagine though that the game will find a solid base, but without the e-gambling quirks of Texas Hold 'Em, I can't see this one appealing to nearly as many people as Tik Games previous entry. Also, 800 points is a bit much for me, and I can't see much of a reason to plop down $10 on this one.
