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Super Monkey Ball Preview
Chris Leyton
00/12/0000
Monkeys definitely make the greatest video game characters!
What is it with Sega and monkeyās, first comes āSamba Di Amigoā now āSuper Monkey Ballā. Youāve got to love them, as funny as they are our simian ancestors do make great videogame characters.
The first thing that comes to your head when playing āSuper Monkey Ballā is Atariās classic āMarble Madnessā (if youāre old enough). The main character is a monkey inside a clear bowl; itās up to you to get monkey from point A to point B.
To do this you must rotate and tilt the landscape to get the crafty ape moving. Of course it couldnāt be that simple and put in your way are numerous obstacles to stop our monkeys progress and test your patience. Yep itās going to be one of those games you just canāt turn down, even though youāve been trying to get past the same obstacle for the last three hours.
In this style of game most criteria goes out the window; graphics arenāt of any real importance being functional at best, no real need for engaging storylines (though explaining why a monkey is in a ball could be amusing), ultimately the main point is level design and from what Iāve played āSuper Monkey Ballā has some ingeniously designed levels which youāre just not going to be able to put down.
Throughout the levels are various bits of fruit which give you nice big bonus points, however to keep you on your toes is a time-limit, so the game becomes a measure of how much you can get whilst getting to the checkpoint. With its score based gameplay, āSuper Monkey Ballā harks back to the old-school style of gaming and brings that fun feeling missing in many of todayās games. Its simplicity is what will either make or break it, thankfully the control system realises this, utilising only the analog stick throughout the entire game.
Of course the main element of this game was always going to be the multi-player aspects, essentially the same as the single player mode but bringing in that much needed competitiveness angle. Interestingly players donāt race on the same map; rather each player has their own to clear. The experience is very engaging as you scan the other areas on the TV to find out whoās got the edge. Four players can play and thanks to the power of the machine thereās no notice of slowdown and each screen is kept up to detail like in Segaās other Gamecube title āPhantasy Star Onlineā.
Comments
āSuper Monkey Ballā wonāt appeal to everyone, those who normally shiver at the mere mention of puzzle games will be advised to stick away, this game wonāt change your perception. However those who like a challenge or a bit of old school gaming will do well to check this out when it ships in winter.
