Super Monkey Ball 3D Review

Anyone who hasn’t heard of the Super Monkey Ball series of games must have been living under a rock for the past decade. The franchise is best known for being practically the same game with very minor changes for each installment, than for the same sexual innuendos it adopts when one is talking about it. So, we sit here asking ourselves “What is different this time?” Well, now  it can be played in 3D. Will it live up to 3D expectations, or will it just be any other Super Monkey Ball game?

As with the rest of the games in this never-ending franchise the main aim is exactly the same. You are still a monkey in a ball, tilting the landscape and manoeuvring around obstacles, so your character can reach the checkpoint, collecting as many bananas as you can on the way. Not only do you have obstacles but you have a time limit of 60 seconds and there is a chance of falling off the edge of the map and ultimately losing a life. You start out with three lives and when you collect thirty bananas, you gain an extra one. Once you have lost all your lives you get the choice to either start the world again, or continue from where you died, but lose all the bananas you collected. Another common factor in the series that they haven’t changed is that there is no storyline. So, essentially they haven’t added anything.

However the developers have fadded two new aspects to the game: ‘Monkey Race’ and ‘Monkey Fight’. This gives the audience something to come back to and one in particular does indeed add a fun factor to Super Monkey Ball 3D. In ‘Monkey Race’ you can see they adopted ideas from Mario Kart. During the race you do start to find other aspects that are akin to Mario Kart; for example there are chances of potentially taking advantage over other players with beneficial pickups to help you win, or hinder others. Despite the similarities to Mario Kart it is great fun and quite an addictive part to the game.

‘Monkey Fight’, is a mode in which you get to chose which monkey you want to be, and you fight three other monkeys (whether they are AI or actual players) to get their bananas. The monkey who has the most bananas at the end of the round is the winner. This mode just seems like it was slapped on at the side to fill out the game a little – especially with the different modes you can play in ‘Monkey Fight’. You have the straightforward normal mode as explained, a mode that is slightly reversed where you start off with loads of bananas and you have to fight to keep them and snatch others. There’s another mode where the amount of bananas everybody has is hidden from you until the end of the round, a mode where all the players’ attack abilities are enhanced so all the characters are more powerful and there is another mode where there are bombs launched at the map. Finally the last mode is when all of the said modes alternate between each other every round. Some of the modes that are featured do seem like they were padding it out and could have been merged in with the ‘basic’ game mode thus make them pointless.

When playing the ‘Monkey Ball’ mode you can choose one of two ways to play 1) with the circle pad and 2) with the built-in motion sensor. The control from the circle pad is really good and the movements are precise and smooth. I found that by using the circle pad I’ve had more control playing the game than I ever had on any over console Super Monkey Ball has been featured on. Using the motion sensor with the 3D on isn’t particularly practical. To use the 3D on the 3DS efficiently you have to be in a direct line of vision, however when you tilt it, your vision is impaired. Therefore when playing using the motion sensor I would advise to turn off the 3D. In general the control using the motion sensor is pretty lousy; the ball doesn’t halt easily unless you tilt it all the way back (and then you can’t see it in general because the screen is facing downward).

Moreover, this is the sort of game which your body automatically moves in the direction your character moves in the game, therefore when you accidently tilt the 3DS your vision of the 3D is blurred. As a consequence, this makes the game impossible to play as it strains your eyes and you genuinely can’t see what is going on. This regretfully brings me to say: this game doesn’t work with 3D. So I would recommend turning off the 3D whilst playing.

The ‘Monkey Ball’ mode itself can be quite frustrating; you may not be able to do it in the time given and you find that you have to repeat the process over and over. The angles of the camera are funny and therefore disable you to see the way sufficiently and falling off the edge. This was a common occurrence when trying to turn around. However, the factor of you having to redo a level over and over makes it addictive because you want to complete it and you want to do it to the best of your abilities.

Additionally, there is an option where you can record your playthrough of a level. I would consider this quite handy for some; for example if someone is struggling with a level, and another person can do it, it would help them know what to do by watching the recording. Also, if you were proud of a certain move in a level, you can archive it by recording it. However, you can only record things in the ‘Monkey Ball’ mode and not any of the others.

The graphics themselves are pretty immense; the animations are clean, smooth and much more in-depth. They are of no comparison to previous DS titles. Also, the music is quite catchy and fits the game well.

The multiplayer option is a nice little add-on. You can either host a game/join an already hosted game or you can transfer the game data to another DS so that they can play alongside you. You can’t play the ‘Monkey Ball’ mode in multiplayer; however you can play ‘Monkey Race’ and ‘Monkey Fight’. You can have up to three other people joining with you. It is slightly annoying only having the add-on modes in multiplayer rather than the ‘Monkey Ball’ mode. It is quite diabolical considering the ‘Monkey Ball’ aspect is the main attraction to the game and feels quite cheap on the part of the developers.

To wrap it up Super Monkey Ball 3D is a simplistic game that seems to fit the age category of anyone; even if it is repetitive and irritating at some points. The multiplayer is a great aspect to it and you can have a lot of fun with family and friends with it.