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Review by: DocterNameless
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Reviewers Score:
9 / 10
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Posted: November 21, 2007 |
Super Monkey Ball is a unique party
game for people of all ages. >From the creative level designs to the
difficulty of controlling an Ape's ball (The name needed to parodied at
least once people!), This game set some standards as far as party games
go. But your not here to read this part, so on to the review!
STORY-----0/10
Im quite sorry to give a zero in this aspect of the game, but there really
isnt a story, now is there? You have four monkeys in balls rolling around
collecting bananas. I did not add this part of the review to my final
score, so dont be offended
GRAPHICS-----9/10
Sega has been on a roll lately with the grphics of their games, and Super
Monkey Ball is no exception to this list. Super Monkey Ball is cute, full
of colours and looks fantastic. The character animations are one of a
kind, and will make you laugh when the monkey's are running around their
balls. The levels are beautifully designed, and everything stands out
wonderful.
SOUND-----8/10
Not too much to say about the sound in this game. The announcer sounds
like the guy from WaveRace and the monkeys shreik when their balls hit the
wall with enough force....ouch... The music has a nice silly and arcadic
themes to it that represents the wakiness of the game.
CONTROL-----8/10
The controls in Super Monkey Ball are easy enough to learn for new
players, but challenging enough for experts. This isnt due to the
multitudes of buttons, considering the control stick is the only thing
really used here. But lies in the way the game is controlled. Instead of
directly controlling the monkey around, Sega thought of giving no control
to the Monkey, but all to the stage which you tilt around to move instead.
Original and fun. yay
DIFFICULTY -----9/10
This by far, one of the most easiest, and at the same time, hardest games
I have ever played. Difficulty ranges between Beginner, Advanced, Expert,
and the God-Forsaken Master difficulty. Beginner gives you 10 stages to
learn how to play the game and figure out the sensitivity of the control
stick. Advanced is a 30 stage test basically to see if you learned the
skills required, or if it was by luck. Expert is 50 levels of cruel,
non-stop, throw-the-controller-through-the-wall boot camp....nuff said.
That just leaves Master, which is beyond hard in my opinion, but some
people see this as easier, due to only 4 stages being present.
GAMEPLAY------10/10
Ahh, now we make it to the bulk of the review. I will divide up this part
into sections regarding each of the different games, but I dont feel like
individually scoring.
Monkey Ball
This is the bulk of the game, consisting of the Beginner, Advanced,
Expert, and Master stages mentioned before. The goal of Monkey Ball is to
navigate your monkey past walls, obstacles, rooms and holes to reach the
end of the stage to move on to the next. Overall, there are 90 stages to
complete, which means that you will spend a good bit of game-time here.
Ten of the stages transpire on the “easy” difficulty, thirty on the
“intermediate” difficulty, and fifty on the “expert” difficulty, and four
"Master" stages. Throughout the monkey journeys, you also have the option
of collecting bananas spread throughout the levels. A collection of
one-hundred bananas is equivalent to a new life, and in later stages of
SMB, you will most likely cherish each and every life you have.
"Monkey Ball” is the heart and core of the game. All other mini/party
games are unlockable by the exhilarating and quite challenging task of
single player. The experience isn’t the greatest in the world, but it does
keep you coming back for more, just trying to beat the ‘impossible’ stage
just “one last time.”
Monkey Racing
Monkey Racing reminds me alot of Mario Kart games, except there are only
four characters, and they have balls instead of go-karts.
There are six different race tracks to choose from, all of which are
completely different from one another and original in every way. Each
course is littered with bumpers, speed-boosts, and item boxes which grant
you abilities and weapons such as turning your opponent into an ice-cube,
or dropping a bannana on the track (who would have guessed this weapon
would be here?) All in all, a very fun racing experiance to play if you
dont have Mario Kart for the GCN.
Monkey Target
The target mode is decent, in my opinion, at best. Nothing really
spectacular, but it isnt bad either. The objective is simple: Roll your
monkey down a steep hill to gain speed and jump at the end of a ramp. Once
in the air, glide your monkey to one of the scattered islands. Each island
is different, and landing in certain spots will grant more or less points.
Before each run, a spinner will determine obstacles in the sky or on the
islands to affect you landing, such as dense fog or bombs in the sky or on
the islands. Its an interesting feature, but isnt much comparing to the
other modes of play.
Monkey Fight
Boxing with Monkeys. Who could ask for more? I see a few hands, so lets
throw them back into their balls and add a spring loaded gun. Thats
better. The goal here is to knock your opponents out of the ring with your
glove, while trying to avoid getting hit yourself. The power-ups can
determine who wins here, because guess what? The power-ups stack upon each
other. That means if you keep collecting the "big glove" power up, you
will eventually be smacking them with a glove the size of the moon.
Combine with the ability to increase your "Arm" length, and your god of
the arena. Its an exting mode, but with only 3 levels, gets a little
bland.
Monkey Billiards
Combine one hyper-active ADD monkey in a sphere, a pool-table, and the
ability to move extremely quickly by an invisible force, and you have
hours of entertainment with a game of billiards. It isnt so much of a
simulation, which is good because the physics arent really responsive, and
your only hitting with a hollow plastic ball, but is more of an arcadish
mode of fun.
Monkey Golf
Last, but not least, is Monkey Golf. A superb and exiting feature of SMB,
it is very simple. Point your ball in the direction you wish to aim, and
swing! Although the control mechanics can be easy, actually getting the
ball in the hole (sigh) can be a pain sometimes. In some stages, you have
to hit it just right, or it waill go straight into space, causing you two
strokes. But, with som practice and patience, monkey golf can be very
entertaining with a full 18-holes to play with (sigh).
Rent or Buy
Although this game is great, a sequel was released. So I would rent this
game mainly just to say I played it, or buy it to add to your collection.
Either way, you will have non-stop fun with this game that will make you
want to come back for more.
~This review was made by Hitomi Seto (DrNameless) With translations done
by Joshua Seto Holsey (Astari Xanio) If you have any questions/comments,
please Email me at
docternameless@yahoo.com |
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