Super Monkey Ball 3D Review (3DS)

Goodness, gracious, greats balls of average

Throughout the ages, Super Monkey Ball has evolved into challenging every joint of a gamers body. Testing the reflexes of thumbs on joysticks, twisting wrists around Wii Remotes, and teaching the semantics of controlled thrusting with the Wii Balance Board under the guise of adorable primates has always provoked nervous sweating and roaring competitiveness in the living room.

Super Monkey Ball 3D takes the cute bubble boy monkeys and rolls them onto 3DS with the same world tilting gameplay the series is renowned for. There are 8 worlds slowly clambering a nigh on flat and low difficulty curve to balance your way through, but for the dedicated Monkey Ball fan they’re all pretty simple. Using the circle pad to guide your primate around the dangerously high yet unwisely safety rail neglected environments is still entertaining.

Each Monkey Ball adventure recently has attempted to make itself unique through its control schemes, and if it weren’t for Nintendo’s delving into motion control then the franchise may have run its course by now. Though the circle pad can be used to tilt your way through levels, Super Monkey Ball 3D also makes use of motion sensor controls to replace the courses with the 3DS. Though there is the option between the control schemes, it feels that the game was built to utilise the use of the motion controls. The game feels more challenging, more quirky, and a whole lot more fun to play, even if your neck does through an extensive amount of craning to play it. Calibration is simple and controls are still tight enough to perfectly match each angle, adding more sweat to your brow and more panicked wrist spasms every time you dangle upon the edge of demise.

The visuals are delectable and lush to look at, as if your ploughing through a land made of Marzipan, or bright and cartoony enough to replicate a sugar high confrontation with a cereal box. All the worlds have their own unique charm to them and are all clear to navigate whilst remaining vividly engaging. Unfortunately , the sickly sweet visuals are almost enough to may your pupils vomit should you dare to flick the 3D on. The ill balanced arenas all stand out from the backgrounds, yet still look incredibly flat no matter how complex they are, and the spherical prison does little to pop out of the screen. Kick the ball into touch, and your in for a whirlwind of a motion sick inducing ride from hell. Obstacles jump into the whites of your eyes ruining the vitally required environmental judgement and stars that emanate from collecting bananas fly towards your face and flash so violently it’s like being shot with an epilepsy shotgun. Playing with motion controls and the 3D on however, multiplies the visual nightmare dramatically and completely ruins the eye popping concept. Darting the console about not only blurs and melds the levels together, but completely defeats the point of having 3D effects in the first place as the console mainly exhibits such witchcraft by holding the console still.

The main game feels cut short and simplified to make way for some of the worst mini-games in the history of the series.

So whilst slightly dumbed down, the main game is as addictive as ever…the less that could be said about the awful mini-games that accompany it. Only two mini-games are bundled with the main game, and neither are worth any effort to lift the stylus to select. First up, ‘Monkey Race’ pits you against seven other advanced primates in general go-karting. Unfortunately the tight controls of Monkey Ball don’t translate at all well onto the track, and leads to some very frustrating racing action. Skidding around bends is about as fluid as chucking a brick in butter, throwing you into walls and gritty terrain due to poor track design. Weapon distribution tries to be so fair to everyone that it ends up being exceptionally unfair. Final place will often be gifted with a weapon that immobilises everyone else or fires them straight off into 1st position. The pessimistic nature of not even attempting to compete actually manages to do lazy players favours, blasting them into the lead whilst the better racers spend most of their time twirling statically on the track until they give up all hope.

Next, Monkey Fight, and it doesn’t quite offer up enough button mashing satisfaction to really bust out some frustration. Layed out in a 2D perspective very similar to Super Smash Bros., monkeys must bash opponents in order to mug them of bananas. The rules are simple, but doused in confusion and complexity, with QTE’s randomly flashing at any given moment for reasons constantly unknown. It would be teeth grittingly frustrating if it wasn’t such a poor example of entertainment. Annoyingly, these terrible examples of mini-games are the only ones that you can play wirelessly with other players, and the lack of ingenuity and so called ‘fun’ prevents any incentive to get together with your pals and duel. Why on earth you can’t compete against other in the more traditional and addictive ‘Monkey Ball’ is beyond me, but is a severe dent in its otherwise great gameplay.

I miss the days where any story was irrelevant and me and my pals could simply test each others nerves in a truly gladiatorial test of balance, patience and agility. Super Monkey Ball 3D unfortunately strips away the multi-player element in the true core of the franchise, and replaces it with some pretty easy challenges to overcome. The main game feels cut short and simplified to make way for some of the worst mini-games in the history of the series. Those dedicated Monkey Ball fans who have been fond of the series moving on with the Wii’s motion controls will definitely give this a look in, but those die-hard veterans will be bitterly disappointed with this title pedalling rapidly backwards down the evolutionary scale.