PlayStation 2

Super Monkey Ball Adventure

The puzzle and party modes in Super Monkey Ball Adventure show that remnants of the original formula are still intact, but sadly the remainder of the game is nothing but a series of random tasks held together by a high level of frustration. Newcomers to the series should check out any of the earlier releases in the series, and veteran Monkey Ball fans will probably be better off waiting for Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz when it’s released for the Nintendo Wii.

Niedliches Kugelabenteuer, das mit vielen Designschlampern und hoher Schwierigkeit frustet.

Super Monkey Ball has proven itself to be a singularly bizarre, unique game series. You could draw some flimsy comparisons to Marble Madness, but even then you're not giving Sega credit for SMB's potent cocktail of three-dimensional puzzle-solving and harrowing platform action. Combined with its distinctly Japanese style, which was like equal parts Sonic the Hedgehog and Hello Kitty, Super Monkey Ball felt like it was developed with little concern for market forces or key demographics. It's kind of depressing, then, to watch the series degenerate into a frustrating, haphazard mush with Super Monkey Ball Adventure.

Reviewing Super Monkey Ball Adventure is a bit like buying the director's cut of a favourite film and realising that the director has nothing useful to add. At times - and I realise that I'm not so much throwing stones in my glasshouse here as putting a gravel driveway through a spin cycle and then kicking the door open - you really do appreciate it when something's enjoyed a good edit.

A brand-new story mode is the big-ticket item here, but sadly, the introduction of a plot is clumsily done, and it adds nothing to the overall experience. The game offers a sugary-sweet plot so cloying it could choke a Care Bear, and tops it off with a host of non-player characters who, when offering up quests to the player, speak an annoying, ear-destroying gibberish.

This turns out not to be such a great idea. Going in a new direction with a new developer, Traveller's Tales, Super Monkey Ball Adventure is definitely something different. Your monkey is still in a ball, and familiar elements from the series like the Monkey Fight boxing glove and the Monkey Target hang glider are used to reach new areas and overcome obstacles. The ultra-cute look of the previous games is intact, although the new characters and overall look feel a tiny bit out of sync with the rest of the series. There's no reason why things couldn't work, but unfortunately the adventure portion of Adventure just isn't much fun.

The Super Monkey Ball franchise was born of classics like Marble Madness and has always been an arcade-paced affair. At the heart of previous games was a series of puzzle mazes, each designed to challenge your brain and your reflexes. The goal was simply to reach the goal by any means necessary. If you were a pro, you found ways to bounce your glass-encased monkey off objects and around turns for spectacular shortcuts. If you were a novice, you probably jerked your way through the obstacles, all the while twisting your controller as though you might be wrestling it from a monkey's grip. But either way, you could pick up and play the titles from the start and whether you were a whiz or a joke, you found yourself having a lot of fun.

Talvez pensando em dar mais profundidade à série, "Super Monkey Ball Adventure" tenha se arriscado na seara dos games de aventura de mascotes, mas seu sistema de controle se mostrou completamente inadequado para a exploração. O resultado é um desastre. Alguns minigames são até divertidos, mas são insuficientes para aumentar o valor do título. Quem paga o mico é mesmo o jogador.

En adoptant un système de progression radicalement différent des précédents volets de la série sans se donner les moyens d'aboutir à un résultat correct, Super Monkey Ball Adventure risque de perdre en route un bon nombre de fans. Avec son gameplay inadapté et ses challenges insurmontables, ce titre ne procure aucun plaisir de jeu. Pire, vous en viendrez probablement à le haïr.

Mario has proved over and over that platform heroes can transition easily to puzzle gameplay. The reverse isn't true, however, as evidenced in Super Monkey Ball Adventure. Super Monkey Ball has long relied upon a quirky, cultish puzzle setup, but with the same controls ported over to platforming activities like jumping and precision item collection, it's just an exercise in frustration.

Met Super Monkey Ball Adventure begeeft ook de reeks met de aap in de plastic bal zich in het 3D platform genre. Veel games die Super Monkey Ball Adventure zijn voorgegaan in de overgang naar een ander genre, hebben echter gefaald in de poging de reeks te vernieuwen. Het platform gedeelte zat altijd goed in elkaar bij de andere games in de serie, maar of deze game ook kan ontsnappen aan de valkuilen van soortgelijke conversies, moeten we nog zien. Wij reviewen de PS2-versie van de game.