Super Monkey Ball 2 (GameCube) > Reviews (7)

About 6 months ago I went into my local Game shop in Ipswich to see if anything good was out and a cute girl who worked there told me that Super Monkey Ball 2 was brilliant. I took her word for it and reluctantly bought it. Thanfully she was telling the truth.

I'm not and avid gamer but this is the closest I've been to being addicted to a game.

Concept:

The concept is truly weird. Imagine a hamster in a hamster ball. Substitute him for a monkey and then make that monkey partake in various different sports and you are somewhere close.

Presentation:

The graphics are simple but effective and the frame rate never drops. The monkeys are very cute and the 3D backgrounds are fantastically detailed. The sound doesn't dissapoint either. Great sound effects and catchy music. There monkey noises are a bit too cute though!!

The menu screens are also very simple, which is note worthy.

Story:

There's not much of a story really. Evil Dr Bad Boon has stolen all of the bannanas and it's up to our monkey chums to save the day!!

Gameplay:

Addictive and fun. The main game is story mode. You must roll your monkey from the start of each suspended maze to the finish against the clock. Various obsticles get in the way that can frustrate but the main risk is falling off the platform. The "one more go" factor is immense. Once you have completed 10 mazes you get some cutesy story sequences and move to the next world. Every time you finish a maze you receive play points which can be used to unlock goodies.

The other mode is party mode which is great if you have a load of mates round. There are 6 1-4 player games available to begin with and a further 6 are unlockable. The available 6 are as follows:

Fight – Great fun, manic fight game. 4 monkeys on a suspended arena trying to knock the others off. Each monkey has a big boxing glove attached and different power-ups are great fun. This ones my favourite.

Race – Reasonable racing game - a bit like the main game but a race around a track instead of to the finish. Not my favourite but ok with 4 players.

Target – The monkey ball rolls down a ski-slope and is propelled into the air. You then glide him to a landing pad collecting banannas along the way. The landing pad has a target on it with various scores to aim for. Good controls and great fun.

Billiards – Possibly the weakest of the available games, theres nothing wrong with it I just find it dull and long-winded.

Bowling – Fantastic bowling game with normal and crazy lanes. Great control system. You must judge direction, spin and power. This one's addictive and fun with great sound and visuals.

Golf – Very good golf sim but with monkeys in balls!! Great control, like the bowling. If it had more courses it would hold it's own as a stand-alone product. Brilliant flowing graphics.

There are six additional games that cost 2500 play points each to unlock - they're generally not very good but I'll run through them anyway:

Shot – Instantly forgetable on rails shooter that reminds me of old cabinet arcade games such as Operation Thunderbolt.

Great graphics though.

Boat – Great visuals are let down by god awful controls. Using L and R to use ores is ridiculous. Nice water effects though and the wave race style viewpoint is good.

Tennis – Entertaining for a while but is to primative to hold my attention. Games seem to go on forever!!

Baseball – Amusing for about 5 mins then instantly forgettable. Some of these unlockable games apear to be merely an after-thought.

Soccer – This one just doesn't work for me. It's far too limited to hold my attention and the controls are a bit shoddy.

Dogfight – 3D flying shoot em up which is similar to sections of Lylat Wars and Rogue squadron. Easily the best of the unlockable games, I like this one - only with 4 players though.

Verdict:

Great game - very charming and well worth the £39.99 that I paid for It. Some of the unlockable games are a bit poor but this shouldn't put you off because - with the main game and at least 6 party games which are good - this package is very good value. I would reccommend it to anyone.

Thanks for reading,

Rob.