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Daytona USA's Development team, Amusement Vision, brings a Japanese arcade
game to the Nintendo GameCube called, Super Monkey Ball. This is
SEGA's first game for the Nintendo GameCube, and it's a good one.
Gameplay wise, you are one of four monkeys, who are sealed inside of a ball, and roll from start to finish with the option of collecting bananas along the way. While, this may not seem like the most interesting and exciting of games, just think of it as a Crazy Taxi kind of game. You get addicted fast, but unlike Crazy Taxi, there are tons of things to do so it will keep your attention much longer. You roll your way across "Levels", each level is set up different and has it's own unique challenge. There are 10 levels in Beginner, 30 in Advance, and 50 levels in Expert Mode, and if you can manage to beat Expert Mode, then you truly are a Monkey Ball Master (I'm stuck on Level 7 of Expert). Each level having it's own theme, gameplay style, and sometimes several floors. All the floors are floating in mid air, and you must navigate through it's tricky paths to wind up at the finish. And there is always the risk of falling off. Some of the floors are hanging by chains, and as the game progresses, to make it harder, chains can snap, or floors can break apart! There are hundreds of different things in, on, and around the levels that can make the game all that much more tricky. Graphically, Super Monkey Ball doesn't scream out look at me, like a certain Star Wars based launch title does. But SMB gets the job done, and quite well. The graphics are very smooth, and the game is always running at a solid 60 fps. Which is very good for such a fast paced game as Super Monkey Ball. Super Monkey Ball also including nice little graphical treats such as good shading and lighting, transparencies, and reflection mapping. But the addition of multiplayer modes, mini games, and so on helps give the game massive replay value. No matter what type of game you feel like playing you'll always enjoy some of Monkey Ball's extras. You can go through the Beginner, Advance, and Expert levels in a split screen style game with friends for instance. But that's just the tip of the iceberg, Super Monkey Ball is being hailed as the "King of the Party Games", and with good reason. After completing levels in Super Monkey Ball's regular mode, you earn points which you spend to purchase Mini Games, and pre existing Party Games. The games include: Monkey Race, which is similar to Mario Kart, where you race along picking up items to zap through and so on, Monkey Fight, where you try to know each other off the narrow platform, Monkey Billiards, where you do exactly that and shoot some pool with the billiard balls containing monkeys inside, Monkey Bowling, where you line your Monkey inside of a bowling ball up and throw, Monkey Golf, where you play a round of golf with your monkey holding a club inside the ball and hitting the ball itself, and Monkey Target, where you launch off a ramp and then the ball opens up into a parachute you control, you then try to land yourself on platforms with different point values. Those bonuses and other parts of Monkey Ball make this game one that you'll be playing for the entire life of your system. Sound wise, once again, Super Monkey Ball doesn't raise the standards of video game sound, but it gets the job done. The sound effects are good, so you can really hear your monkey getting pumped up for the next race, or moaning from the last race's loss. And an upbeat soundtrack makes the game real fun, I still have the Level One and Opening Song stuck in my head. On the down side, they do become repetetive after a while, more variation in the soundtrack could have been added. Overall, Super Monkey Ball is one fun and addictive game that will spend a lot of time in your GameCube no matter what type of games your into. Think of Super Monkey Ball as the GameCube's first Big Party game. So no matter who you are or what your into, I suggest you at least go out and rent Super Monkey Ball, and if you enjoy it enough, but it so you can enjoy all the time. Super Monkey Ball is 1-4 players and is currently available. MY RATING: 8.4 By: Alex Zman |
Roll my little one, Roll!
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