Let’s get ready to (banana) rumble! Somehow, I’ve never played a Super Monkey Ball, so I was interested in how this would go for me. Overall, it went pretty well!
Even with everything new to me for Banana Rumble, things were easy enough to grasp. Ai Ai and crew need to track down various treasures to secure the Legendary Banana. It’s just goofy enough to keep things entertaining along the way. It’s really more about getting your monkey from Start to Finish in whatever way works best for you.
To do that, you’ll be controlling the platform more than the monkey/ball itself, though there’s enough of a balance of how you control the platform that plays into how well the monkey moves (such as braking). Each monkey has their own attributes for speed, weight, braking, and spin dash–the latter being a new feature to the series. Banana Rumble does a great job of having you use nearly all the characters to get through each level. It’s possible to use a single, preferred monkey end-to-end, but it feels better to change up the approach, especially with some of the harder challenges. Sometimes braking and weight play a critical role, while speed and lighter weight are necessary elsewhere. Changing it up never feels forced, but often can feel rewarded.
The game’s challenges can really hook you, too. Naturally, things get progressively more difficult. There are puzzles, tight areas, and high speeds. It’s easy to fall off of a given platform. After a handful of tries during story mode, you’ll get prompted to use Assist Mode, which takes away the ability to get points by showing you more of what to do. I’d recommend using the course preview instead, giving yourself some help but still getting an opportunity to get points. Each course will have sub-goals, such as number of bananas attained, whether you got the golden banana, and how fast you got it done. That’s where the challenges spike and you have to determine how risky you want to play it. Some levels, I skipped getting most bananas because of the strict timing and trickiness getting to the end. You can get creative with the way you approach later courses, which works well.
Going through the story will allow you to unlock time trials for more straightforward challenges. You can also play with up to 16 others online through a handful of party games. There’s also a lot of customization that can be done, but getting the Sega DLC is worth it just for using Sonic and having bananas turn into gold rings.
For my first foray into Super Monkey Ball, I had an enjoyable time. It’s goofy but needs to be taken just seriously enough or else you’ll find yourself flying off the courses time and time again. There’s a great challenge to the later levels that keeps you really engaged. That said, it’s a pretty straightforward game, too, so with a $50 price tag, this may be more for the Super Monkey Ball fans. You can complete the main mission in just a handful of hours and there’s only so much replayability. Some of the courses are almost too challenging, so just getting through them once was more than enough. Still, it’s an overall interesting package and a generally fun time.
For my first foray into Super Monkey Ball, I had an enjoyable time. It’s goofy but needs to be taken just seriously enough or else you’ll find yourself flying off the courses time and time again.
Let’s get ready to (banana) rumble! Somehow, I’ve never played a Super Monkey Ball, so I was interested in how this would go for me. Overall, it went pretty well!
Even with everything new to me for Banana Rumble, things were easy enough to grasp. Ai Ai and crew need to track down various treasures to secure the Legendary Banana. It’s just goofy enough to keep things entertaining along the way. It’s really more about getting your monkey from Start to Finish in whatever way works best for you.
To do that, you’ll be controlling the platform more than the monkey/ball itself, though there’s enough of a balance of how you control the platform that plays into how well the monkey moves (such as braking). Each monkey has their own attributes for speed, weight, braking, and spin dash–the latter being a new feature to the series. Banana Rumble does a great job of having you use nearly all the characters to get through each level. It’s possible to use a single, preferred monkey end-to-end, but it feels better to change up the approach, especially with some of the harder challenges. Sometimes braking and weight play a critical role, while speed and lighter weight are necessary elsewhere. Changing it up never feels forced, but often can feel rewarded.
The game’s challenges can really hook you, too. Naturally, things get progressively more difficult. There are puzzles, tight areas, and high speeds. It’s easy to fall off of a given platform. After a handful of tries during story mode, you’ll get prompted to use Assist Mode, which takes away the ability to get points by showing you more of what to do. I’d recommend using the course preview instead, giving yourself some help but still getting an opportunity to get points. Each course will have sub-goals, such as number of bananas attained, whether you got the golden banana, and how fast you got it done. That’s where the challenges spike and you have to determine how risky you want to play it. Some levels, I skipped getting most bananas because of the strict timing and trickiness getting to the end. You can get creative with the way you approach later courses, which works well.
Going through the story will allow you to unlock time trials for more straightforward challenges. You can also play with up to 16 others online through a handful of party games. There’s also a lot of customization that can be done, but getting the Sega DLC is worth it just for using Sonic and having bananas turn into gold rings.
For my first foray into Super Monkey Ball, I had an enjoyable time. It’s goofy but needs to be taken just seriously enough or else you’ll find yourself flying off the courses time and time again. There’s a great challenge to the later levels that keeps you really engaged. That said, it’s a pretty straightforward game, too, so with a $50 price tag, this may be more for the Super Monkey Ball fans. You can complete the main mission in just a handful of hours and there’s only so much replayability. Some of the courses are almost too challenging, so just getting through them once was more than enough. Still, it’s an overall interesting package and a generally fun time.
by Alex Quevedo
