You just can’t go wrong with simple, yet addicting gameplay. Super Monkey Ball may seem like old news to Gamecube owners, but now PS2 and Xbox owners can see what they’ve been missing with Super Monkey Ball deluxe.
Believe it or not, this version of the game has an actual story mode, though it’s as thin as uh, well, thin. Basically an evil monkey going by the ever-so-clever name of Dr. Badboon steals all of the Monkeys’ bananas under the stipulation that if they want their prized fruit back, they’ll have to brave his death-defying mazes. Throughout the course of the game, you’ll get some cutscenes that help the story along and establish the setting for the next group of mazes. These don’t do much for the story (what little there is of it) and they all have the mentality of any of today’s Saturday morning cartoons, but they help.
This iteration is similar to Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 released on the Gamecube in 2001 and 2002. The premise is still the same whereas you’re a monkey in a ball and you have to make your way through various labyrinths, pick up bananas, try not to fall out of the maze, and reach the goal before time runs out. That’s all there is to it. You move your monkey with the left analog stick and push up or down to speed up or slow down. If you yearn for the days of Marble Madness, Super Monkey Ball Deluxe is right up your alley.
You’ll go through a variety of worlds like the inside of a whale, inside of a boiling pot, a volcano and others. These backdrops don’t affect maze design in any way; they merely serve as a background graphic for the mazes. The single player game lets you choose between 20 labyrinths, though you only have to beat ten to get to the next world. The mazes are rated by difficulty; though attempting to play through the easy ones may not be the best way to go depending on how you play. Some mazes depend on speed, others reward patience, and nearly all take timing. The gameplay is mostly trial and error mainly due to the lack of an adjustable camera. You can only see in the direction your monkey is facing, thus making some already difficult labyrinths even harder. You do however, have an option to view the level through the pause menu, but this does little to help you get your bearings.
Aside from the single player story mode, there’s a multitude of party games included. These consist of, but definitely aren’t limited to bowling, baseball, deathmatch, tennis, racing, etc etc, etc, etc. Some of these are executed better than others, but all of these games really contribute to the replay value of the game more or less. Games like the baseball and bowling mini games for instance, are especially fun and put a spin on the original rules. Others like the deathmatch suffer from frame rate issues and are void of any fast-paced action.
Visuals are the simple, cartoony affair that is to be expected out of the Monkey Ball series. Level backdrops are the same no matter what labyrinth you’re navigating through. Floors all have the same color patters on them as well, which can make gauging drops in the geography a pain and can affect depth perception. You’ll get some neat visual effects like sparks when the ball starts rolling too fast and transparencies here and there, but overall visual eye candy is kept to a minimum. Cut scenes look decent, though the characters seem to have a limited amount of animation. None of this matters since the story is a thinly veiled means of getting you to another series of labyrinths.
The sound aspect of the game also goes with the simple is better theme of the game. You have sounds for hitting walls and the same sound bytes when your monkey falls out of a level. Cutscenes don’t get any more complex. Since there’s no voice acting, every character has a different noise that corresponds with their dialog. Listening to the same sound (i.e. Dr. Badboon’s same line of laughter) over and over again can get tiring. Once again, the story isn’t driving or immersive at all, so it’s best that the cutscenes are skipped. Not that I’m telling you what to do, it’s only a recommendation. There’s also a neat little sound quirk where the victory song will start to play when you reach the goal of a level, then stop for the loading screen and continue once you get back to the level select screen. It’s a small gripe, but worth noting. I'm not even going to get started on the announcer that sounds like something from Blue's Clues.
Super Monkey Ball Deluxe is a great start for anyone who owns an Xbox or PS2 and hasn’t had a chance to try the series yet. Though it’s questionable how such a cute game will fare on consoles aimed at the adult population, it shouldn’t be passed up for fans of simple puzzle games and will be a change of pace from the bloody hack and slash action that’s the norm.
- Brad Hicks (aka Dr. Swank), SwankWorld Media
