Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz review

Back in 2002 the Gamecube's somewhat lacklustre launch was brought to life by Sega's Super Monkey Ball. An instant classic, it combined addictive old school Marble Madness-style play with big brash colourful graphics and, of course, Monkeys! In balls! Its multiplayer was a hit thanks to the quality party games like Monkey Fight and Monkey Target.Four years and a hardware generation later, Super Monkey Ball is back for another Nintendo launch; this time with everything to prove. Our favourite spherically-bound simians have fallen from grace somewhat of late and Gamestyle has been looking for Banana Blitz to herald a return to form for the series. Are we celebrating? Well, sort of...First off, here's something for all those devastated by the lack of component cables for the Wii: Monkey Ball looks absolutely fabulous through a composite connection at 50hz on our High Definition LCD panel. The bold, colourful, cartoon-style visuals are a joy to behold and make this the best looking Monkey Ball yet. It's a welcome vacation from the quest for photorealism that has typified many 360 releases.The genius of Monkey Ball always lay in the way it was controlled: rather than moving the ball directly, tilting the analogue stick caused the level (or table) itself to tip in the desired direction, thus making the monkey roll in the direction of the slope. With incredibly fine adjustment possible, skilled players could guide their monkey over tightrope pathways towards the end of level Goal. On the surface it's hard to imagine a better fit for the Wii's tilt sensitive remote and Sega have implemented it very nicely. The act of tilting the remote forward to tip the table forward is so intuitive, so natural, that it's hard to shake the idea Monkey Ball was designed specifically for the Wii. It's a shame then that the challenge has been dumbed down in some respects. Perhaps this is to allow for the relative imprecision of the Wiimote (or our relative inexperience with it) but the high-wire showboating doesn't really kick in until around the fifth world. Sega have tried to spice up the classic formula a little with the addition of jumps (activated with a press of the A button or by holding down the B button and swinging the remote up) and boss encounters at the end of each of the eight worlds. Purists will decry the tinkering, but in practise having to make the occasional jump does not impact massively on the structure of the levels. In fact sometimes you can avoid jumping altogether by building up sufficient speed to overcome obstacles and gaps. The towering boss creatures are more of distraction than a challenge, although they do toughen up on later worlds. Banana Blitz also tries to up the ante with its Party Games. On paper it sounds like an improvement: fifty mini games all utilising the remote (and some the nunchuck too) available right from the start. With no need to complete the single player game in order to unlock any the fun can begin right away. Sadly, very few of them are actually any fun at all. Not only are the majority of them dire, but some of the originals like Monkey Golf have been ruined too. Monkey Target is perhaps best suited to the tilt controls and still manages to raise a smile, but it has obviously suffered in terms of depth. Asteroid Crash and Monkey Wars are also worthy of mention but in truth there are far too few playable games amongst the dross. Far from being an entertaining introduction to the myriad uses of the Wii's new control method, they run the risk of convincing players it is an erratic, broken mess. It's unlikely that many will persevere in order to find the rare enjoyable games. When you consider the quality of Nintendo's Wii Play and Ubisoft's Raving Rabbits, Sega's attempt to woo the party game audience seems insulting. Despite the gimmicky multiplayer offering, though, Banana Blitz does see a return to form for the single player game. Rolling about collecting bananas and teetering along slender ledges is as daft and fun as ever. Whilst it may lack the challenge of its predecessors, the novelty of the Wii's well suited tilt controls - coupled with some lovely level designs - make this an entertaining launch title. Let's party like it's 2002!