Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (Wii) (gamespy)

- gamespy -

There are console games that require out-of-the-box thinking from developers when redesigned for the Nintendo Wii, and there are some games that are just natural fits. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz thankfully falls into the latter category. It was a great decision to bring Super Monkey Ball over to the Wii, as the game's colorful, cute art style translates well, and is handled more than adequately by the system's capabilities. Our initial impressions of multi-platform games on the Wii have been mixed, since games that rely on realism over artistry don't fare so well on the platform, but with Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, you won't feel that you're missing out. The levels are vibrant, everything looks very clean and sharp, and the monkeys are as adorable as ever.

The single-player portion of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is as fun as you'd expect from the franchise. These games are all about gameplay, embracing the fluid control and near-death moments that made Marble Madness such a hit at arcades. Some people are just naturally better at fine-tuning the movements of their monkeys, and watching them play the game can be awe-inspiring. But everyone should be able to get right into the swing of things here, mostly because the Wii remote controller is a great input method for this style of game. You simply tilt the remote to the left or right to adjust direction, and pivot the controller up or down in order to slow down or build up speed. It's all in the wrist, and people who have never played a Monkey Ball game before will take to it much more quickly than they would if presented with a pair of analog sticks.

The level design is fairly straightforward as far as Super Monkey Ball games are concerned, with a steady progression of difficulty, as simple straightaway levels are supplanted by courses littered with twists, turns, hazards and jumps. At the end of each world, you'll face a boss enemy, which, as you'd expect, is a test of your ability to avoid its attacks while waiting for your opportunity to deliver a rolling attack. After completing the first world in Banana Blitz, you are presented with an interactive credits scroll, a staple of the franchise, and a simple way to pad your banana total for your end-score. Instead of scrolling down a path towards the names of those responsible for developing the game, you instead maneuver your monkey ball down a scrolling screen, bouncing off of names and collecting bananas, like a ball in a game of pachinko. You can then move on to progressively more difficult worlds and strive for progressively better point totals.

While the single-player game is well-made and will provide many hours of occasionally frustrating entertainment, the robust multiplayer party game package will most likely be where you spend the lion's share of your time with Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz. There are fifty games to play here, with a great many of them available for up to four players. Some of the best we played included a Space Invaders clone, and a Paper Sumo game that had us clapping the ground to move our little paper monkeys around a ring, allowing for plenty of reversals and last-second gambits. We had control difficulties with quite a few others, however, like the Trombone rhythm game, which would alternate between being too sensitive and not registering movements entirely. Finding the optimal distance from the sensor bar and properly calibrating your remote will be key.

After getting well acquainted with Banana Blitz, I can't help feeling that the Super Monkey Ball franchise was made for the Nintendo Wii. The tilt control feels far more intuitive than using analog sticks to direct the motion of your little encapsulated simians, and it works wonderfully. There are plenty of party games to try out with friends, and some of them are quite a lot of fun, including staples like Monkey Target. The others… well, not so much. You'll get plenty of bang for your buck with Banana Blitz, especially if you pick up four Wii Remotes, and Super Monkey Ball fans are in for a treat.