Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz

The ultimate edition or plain old balls?
Version
 Wii		Developer
Sega		Publisher
Sega		Genre
Action



Page: 1  2 

By Stuart McAndrew

Following in the glorious footsteps of the classic Super Monkey Ball games on the GameCube, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz put you in control of a cute monkey who has given up the tree-swinging life for the extreme sport of ball rolling on precarious platforms hanging thousands of feet in the sky.

So, how can Sega inject new life into an ingeniously simple game that was so instantly successful and already has sequels and cross-platform ports? Well, the Wii remote is the most obvious addition of the new dynamics, however Sega has also introduced two new characters (Doctor and YanYan) and the monkeys now have the ability to jump. You may not think this a tremendous leap of the designer's imaginations, but given the previous games insistence that your ball stay on solid ground it instantly and profoundly affects your outlook on Banana Blitz.

"Performing pinpoint turns and getting the speed of your roll right is going to take more practice than you first realise."

The key to the previous Monkey Ball games has been their simplicity and the level design; varying from so easy that a blind technophobe with no thumbs can reach the goal, to hard enough to drive Professor Rubik himself crazy on later levels. Banana Blitz follows through with this and thanks to infinite continues and a new world design, progress is much easier through the tougher levels.

With an initial 8 worlds of 8 levels each, the single player mode here is not as big as the original game. A giant cyborg monkey has stolen the gang's golden bananas, so it's up to them to roll their way through the skies and get them back. Quite how this is supposed to make any kind of sense is beyond me, but I suppose we should be grateful when we get any kind of story for a game based on monkeys in stolen hamster keep-fit equipment.

Using the Wii remote to control your monkey definitely takes some getting used to. It's not too much of an issue in the first world where the levels are relatively straightforward. When you reach the slightly more difficult stages you'll realise that performing pinpoint turns and getting the speed of your roll right is going to take more practice than you first realise. Sweet ball control is all in a flick of the wrist; practice makes perfect.

Banana Blitz is not significantly better looking than its prequels, although the artwork and bright colour palette mean no complaints from me either. The sound is very similar to previous games, down to many effects and the announcer's voice being exactly the same! Undoubtedly the best sonic element was the background music which really adds atmosphere to a lot of levels.

Page: 1  2 

NEXT PAGE >>











Video Coverage
(See Latest Videos & Video FAQ Here)
PLEASE DO NOT DIRECT LINK TO ANY MEDIA FILE ON KIKIZO
DescriptionDur.SizeDetails
Toshihiro Nahoshi Sega Video Interview November 2006 5:44 102MB ED, 16:9
856x480/60p
4Mbps
Toshihiro Nagoshi Interview June 2006
Video interview highlights		 6:22 112MB ED, 16:9
856x480p60
2.5Mbps