 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | SEGA |
| Publisher: | SEGA | |
| Genre: | Action | |
| ESRB: | Everyone | |
| # Of Players: | 1-4 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Nunchuk, Dolby Pro Logic II | |
| Buy Now: |   |
The single-player mode isn’t all there is to Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz of course, as the series has grown to become a nice multiplayer experience as well. This time around the game includes a staggering 50 different Party Games. Before starting each player selects a monkey to use, along with the number of mini-games to play consecutively. Points are tracked throughout the set of mini-games, with the winner emerging with the most points at the end. On the whole it isn’t quite as full-featured as what you’d find in Mario Party (no game board, special events, etc.), but it is still a lot of fun. The games include support for one to four players, simultaneous and alternating, and play with or without the Nunchuk.
As you’d expect from a game with so many different mini-games, a few of them are duds, but for the most part they’re simple and fun. I’m not going to go into detail on every one of them, but some of my favorites include Racing Birds (use the Remote & Nunchuk like drumsticks to flap your wings and fly), Hammer Throw (swing the remote around and release A at the right time for distance), and Treasure Submarine (use a sonar to find buried treasure). On the other hand, some of the duds include Scoop the Goldfish (the overhead view makes it hard to tell where your net is in relation to the fish) and Rock Paper Scissors Attack (simply boring). The games involving depth of field in particular seem to suffer more, as thrusting the Remote forward to move inside the screen never feels as accurate as it should be.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz sports a clean, vibrant, simple look that’s appealing and mass-market friendly. Each world has a unique look, falling back on common video game themes including a pirate world, jungle world, desert world, etc. Most textures are sharp and crisp, there’s a lot of detail in the backgrounds, and there are even occasional special effects such as heat waves in the desert. That being said, this game will not wow you graphically the way a Zelda game would, as the architecture of each level is simple, and the amount of objects in each level is pretty low. On the whole though, the game’s style carries it graphically despite the simplicity.
Sound is a different issue however. The music is bright, cheery, and decidedly Japanese…and loops way too often. Since the levels in each game world share a common theme, and you’ll probably need several attempts at most levels before completing them, you can expect to hear the same song over and over again. Maybe it’s just because I’m an adult, but most of the songs became annoying quickly, and I’m not usually bothered by “kiddie” music. The sound effects on the other hand are fine, but other than monkey grunts and bouncing off of things they’re pretty sparse.
Bottom Line:
Aside from Zelda, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is as close to a must-have retail title as the Wii has right now. Whether you’re playing alone or with friends, it’s a simple, but addictive experience. It’s so good that if Sega’s upcoming Sonic and the Secret Rings for Wii as good as this, it will represent a full revival for the company’s moribund mascot. At the very least though, Sega is off to an excellent start developing for the Wii.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
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| 8.7 |
Posted: 2007-01-16 16:08:37 PST