Reviewed: February 7, 2006
Reviewed by: Mike Colgan
Publisher
SEGA
Developer
SEGA
Released: February 21, 2006
Genre: Platform
Players: 1-4
ESRB: Everyone
9
8
7
9
8.5
Supported Features:
For those of you who have not played a Monkey Ball game before, the concept is deceptively simple. The goal of the basic game is to roll a glass ball (with a monkey riding inside, thus the name) on a course to a goal, collecting bananas for points and trying not to fall off the edge of the course. The twist on this is that you do not control the ball itself, at least not directly. Instead, you move the course itself, tilting it to get the ball rolling to its destination.
Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll makes excellent use of the DS touch screen to offer the traditional, fun gameplay, and provides several fun mini-games that can be played on one’s own against the computer, or against three friends using DS download play.
Super Monkey Ball is one of those brilliant games that takes a simple gameplay concept and pushes it to its challenging limits. So many games today try to do everything (take, for instance, the Grand Theft Auto series), which can be fun when executed properly, but there will always be a place for clever concept games. If only there were more games like Katamari Damacy and Monkey Ball, not copies of existing gameplay but unique, imaginative games in their own right. Granted, Super Monkey Ball for the DS copies the gameplay pioneered by its own prequels, but it brings the action to a portable platform and makes good use of the DS’s unique controls.
Super Monkey Ball takes inspiration from those old-style labyrinth toys where you roll a marble through a maze with holes in it by tilting the surface with vertical and horizontal knobs. There are no special moves, no jumping, just rolling your monkey ball through courses and around obstacles without falling out of bounds within a specified time limit.
The levels started out deceptively simple, with level courses and bumpers that make it difficult to fall off the course. However, the training wheels are quickly taken off and you are thrown into courses with steep downward hills, high banks, and moving platforms. Many courses are easy enough to complete if you take the turns slowly and carefully, but the game tracks record times for completion in its courses, and there are bananas which you can grab for extra points if you take a riskier path to completion.
Each “world” has ten courses of increasing difficulty, with a bonus level in the middle where the goal is to collect all 50 bananas before time expires. When you complete a 10 course set, credits roll (the credits themselves are a mini-game) and a new world opens up to you.
The touch screen is great for controlling the action in all of Monkey Balls games. In the original, single player game, you just hold the stylus on the top of the ball to roll the ball forward (or tilt the world forward), the bottom to slow it or move it backward, and left or right to turn. The fine control that the stylus provides means fluid, precise controls. Because there is no jumping or other complex controls, the touch screen is especially suited for controlling the game.
The single player game is fun, but woefully short. However, the cartridge is packed with entertaining mini-games that can be played alone or with friends. The games include bowling, with both a standard ten-pin configuration and challenge configurations, an 18-hole mini-golf course, air hockey, a 3-D shooter style game, Monkey Fight (in which monkey balls with boxing gloves try to knock each other out of bounds), and a racing game.
Each of these games has its own unique controls and is fun in its own right. The minigames can all be played with multiple players if all players have their own Monkey Ball cartridge (and two can be played without a cartridge via Download Play), but unfortunately the game does not make use of the DS’s wireless Internet play capabilities.
The graphics in Monkey Ball are colorful and simple. The courses are simple polygons that don’t tax the system’s 3-D capabilities, and thankfully the game runs very smoothly and provides the appearance of hectic tilting and blinding speed. The characters are all drawn in a hypercute anime style that gives the game an atmosphere of carefree, energetic fun.
Monkey Ball does not attempt any great feats of graphical skill, but what it does display, it displays well. There are a few backgrounds that look faded out and strange (like the clouds in the first windmill-themed level), but these do little to detract from the overall look of the game, and all in all the 3-D effects are good for a system such as the DS.
There seem to be only a couple of short, repetitive tracks of music in Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll, which is a shame. The music does add a playful tone to the game, but you’ll find yourself quickly moving to turn the music volume down while you play. Otherwise, the sound is pretty good for the game, including a whistling-sound, which plays when your ball is rolling, and which grows faster and faster as your ball achieves dangerous speeds. Also, the characters each have their own, cute monkey sounds that they make when they successfully complete a course or fall off the edge.
At $29.99, Monkey Ball is a great deal. If you don’t already own another version of the game, or if you want a version to take on the road, you can get in on the action for not a lot of money. Even if you own another version, it might be worth it to get the DS version if you have other friends who also own it. The game is simple enough to complete but is rewarding to play for its challenges, so that it has great replay value. It’s also a great, clean game for kids and families to play.
Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll is not a new concept, but it has so much going for it that if you’ve never played Monkey Ball before, the DS version is a great place to start. If you love quirky, concept games like Katamari Damacy, you will love this game. If you get tired of the single-player action, there are 6 other games to entertain you – it’s like 7 solid games for the price of one.
