In case you didn’t know already Super Monkey Ball is a puzzle game that centers on a group of monkeys rolling around inside of a ball. You control the monkeys by rolling them from the start of the puzzle (think of them as a maze) in hopes of making it to the end without falling out of the maze. But the twist to this simple design is in the way you control the monkeys. Essentially you’re moving the monkey but the game almost makes it feel like the stage is moving along with the monkey. Besides the main puzzle/maze mode you always get a wild and crazy selection of party (mini) games that are always a blast to play.
Now with Banana Blitz we get to play Monkey Ball in a way that just seems natural by actually moving the controller around to control the monkeys. The main game can be played by using just the Wii Remote (Wiimote). By tilting the Wiimote either left or right you steer your monkey. By lowering the Wiimote your monkey will speed up and by titling the Wiimote back the monkey will slow down. Sounds easy, right? Well, it is but it does take some time to get adjusted to controlling the monkeys. Just be prepared to have your monkey bouncing all over the place and falling off of the stage.
Making slight moves with the Wiimote will give you a better feel of controlling the monkeys. After a few minutes the controls become intuitive but that’s around the time the difficulty starts to ramp up. The levels always have some type of obstacle to make you work for finishing the stage. I do wish the game allowed you to control the monkeys by holding the controller sideways (like the NES or Excite Truck layout). I think twisting the controller left or right would have worked just as good as tilting the Wiimote.
There are a few new additions to Banana Blitz, besides the Wiimote controls, that have not been in previous Monkey Ball games. One is the ability to make your monkey jump by either pressing the A button or by flicking the Wiimote up and holding the B button at the same time. Two new characters are also included; YanYan and Doctor. The biggest new feature has to be the boss battles. Yep, boss battles in a Monkey Ball game. What is the world coming too? The boss battles felt unnecessary and added more frustration than enjoyment to the game. My wife felt the same way and told me several times that the bosses cheat when you fight them. Usually because of the board layout the boss battles seem to be more luck than skill. One wrong move or hit from the boss and you’re falling off of the stage.
To me the best part of Monkey Ball has always been the Party Games. Banana Blitz offers gamers 50 different party games that could possibly cover almost every control scheme for the Wii. Some of the games only require the Wiimote while others require the Wiimote and nunchuk attachment. Sure the Wii Sports game includes several different sports games but so does Banana Blitz. For example, both Wii Sports and Banana Blitz come with a Baseball, Boxing and Golf game.
You probably wouldn’t even be able to guess all of the different types of Party games included. For example would you have even guessed that Fencing, a Jigsaw puzzle, Squash and Rock-Paper-Scissors are Party games? I sure wouldn’t have expected those games or even a total of 50 mini games to be included. In fact, I would say that 50 games might be too much since some of the games just aren’t that interesting. I mean, come on, a Jigsaw puzzle game, how many people want to stand around watching someone put together a puzzle? I found myself sticking with the classic Monkey Ball Party games such as Monkey Golf and Bowling. But I do have to give a big shout out to Sega for including Disk Golf as a mini game. I love Disc Golf and I’m proud to see it represented in Banana Blitz.
As much as I enjoy the variety of the mini games the controls can still be a challenge at first. All of the games offer an on screen guide to show you how to play each mini game but I found myself overcompensating on the controls. Since the mini games are usually only a few seconds to a couple of minutes long you will probably have to play the mini games a couple of times before you get use to the controls. This can be a problem with some gamers but this seems to be a similar issue with other Wii games. You just have to get into that comfy spot where you just “get” the controls and it’s no longer an issue.
Even with a few sore spots Banana Blitz is still an impressive title for the Wii. The single-player game offers the same intense puzzle experience found in previous Monkey Ball games. Sure, the boss battles could have been left out but sometimes you have to go through the crap to get to the good stuff. The Party games are where you could spend countless hours either by yourself or with your friends playing through all 50 party games. I just wouldn’t be surprised if we look back at Banana Blitz and rediscover that it included a large collection of control movements used future Wii titles. If you were lucky enough to get a Wii on launch day then make sure you check out Banana Blitz.
Review Scoring Details for Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz
Gameplay: 8.3
The single-player game is the easiest to pick up when compared to the huge number of mini games to learn.
Graphics: 8.3
This really doesn’t look much different than the previous Monkey Ball games that appeared on the GameCube. In fact, I would say this game could probably appear on the GameCube visually intact. If you’re looking for a graphical spectacle to show off the Wii you probably want to skip this one.
Sound: 8.0
The sound effect and music do a great job of fitting in with the game. The music reminded me of Japanese pop music with a mix of rock music.
Difficulty: Medium
As I’ve mentioned Banana Blitz does have a learning curve when getting use to the controls. As we move away from the classic controller setup towards the motion-sensing technology used in the Wii (and PS3) controller this learning curve could diminish. But for now getting use to the Wiimote’s motion sensing can add to the difficulty.
Multiplayer: 8.2
Almost all of the Party games support up to four players with a few supporting just two players. If the game offered Wi-Fi online multiplayer you could have added an extra point to the multiplayer score.
Concept: 7.0
I’m not going to include the ability to use the Wiimote in the game since you have to use the Wiimote to play the game in the Concept score. The score is based off of the newest updates compared to previous Monkey Ball game. The ability to jump is a welcomed feature and the two new characters are a nice addition for the hardcore Monkey Ball fan. The boss battles are the biggest problem with the game since the battles just don’t fit in the Monkey Ball universe. This is puzzle game not the atypical action game.
Overall: 8.0
Yes, the game has a few problems and one of those is a distraction (I’m looking at you boss battle) from the rest of the game. But the Party games are enough to give you a workout and keep you entertained at the same time. If you want a game to show off the number of different control options available with the Wiimote this is a good game for that chore. Play the single-player game up until the boss battles and then let out your frustrations in the mini game.
