It features Monkey's in BALLS! (Super Monkey Ball (GC))

Member Name: Dringostarr

Product:	Super Monkey Ball (GC)
Date:	01/08/02 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Addictive, Multiplayer excellence, Original

Disadvantages: Sometimes too hard, Average Graphics

What can I say about Super Monkey Ball? Well first off you must be aware that it features Monkey's in Balls and whereas some will laugh at the stupidity some will realize the pure genius behind it (like me).

What am I on about? Well its simple, SEGA have gone and created a game so incredibly insane that it is probably the best and most original launch game on the Nintendo Gamecube. What we have here are some poor Monkey's stuck in balls on tables that can be tilted, and your job is to tilt the tables and get the Monkeys to the exit, and we have one of the most frustrating and addictive experience on the Gamecube. I say Frustrating but sometimes the game is just too easy but at others it is just plain hard, 90% of the beginner stage for example is relatively easy and then you get to the last stage *gulp* But it is fun and there is a wealth of other games you can play rather than the main quest, one being Monkey Target where you launch your monkey and try and land him on a board that has various numbers on it, these numbers represent scores. Another is called Monkey Fight where your Monkey has a boxing glove and you must attempt to knock your opponent off the board with the boxing glove, the third avalible mini game is Monkey Race, which is basically Mario Kart in Balls, you have a selection of tracks and you can grab power ups to try and knock you enemies off the track.

There we have 3 mini games avalible from the start but there is 3 more, such as the brilliant Monkey Billiards and the even better Monkey Bowling, you need 2500 points to unlock these awesome games and the can be gained via the main game. And that is one half of the game, or should I say one quarter. If you have 3 mates then I'm sure you'll have no problem getting the full enjoyment out of Super Monkey Ball as this is, without a shadow of a doubt the best multiplayer launch title on the Gamecube, all mini games and even the main game can be played with 2,3 or 4 frien
ds. The Main game isn?t split screen though, you take it in turns to play through the game, so player one would go first and lets say he falls out, then its player 2's turn and he/she is successful so moves onto the next level whilst player one is still struggling on the first floor, the winner is the guy/gal that gets to the end first. But it's the party games that really shows the multiplaying experience here, with games such as Monkey Flight, Monkey Billiards, Monkey Race and in particular Monkey Bowling being the pick of the bunch.

The game is far from easy, as you finally make it through the beginners stage you?ll then have to master the incredibly hard Advance Stage and then the Expert mode, and once you've finally managed to do all that (which is quite an achievement) you'll unlock even harder stages, each modes feature new and different floors. With over 90 levels you'll never tire of this beauty a finely crafted game that does have its flaws in other areas. Although the graphics are nice and arcadey they are incredibly basic and lack any detail, sound wise there is nothing spectacular just the odd cries from the 4 playable Monkeys, and again arcade style sounds. But despite the flaws graphically the incredibly initiative control system, and addictive gameplay still helps this game reach the status of one of if not the greatest Cube game so far with. It is simple, it is addictive, it is funny and it is a must have Gamecube game so go on go get it.

Dringo.

Summary: