Super Monkey Ball Adventure

Ultimately, as a stand-alone title, it's catering for the more youthful demographic that perhaps prefers its gaming thrills without gallons of fist-pummelled gore, the incessant tinkling of spent shells, a body count running into the thousands, or endlessly dull team statistics and behind-the-scenes management. Super Monkey Ball is simple, direct, and appealing in its 3D platformer delivery, and it successfully harks back to a time where gaming could be fun without having to annihilate an entire alien race in the process.

Insgesamt gelingt der Monkey Ball-Serie der Sprung vom Geschicklichkeits- ins Adventure-Genre aufgrund der etwas trägen Spielbarkeit nicht besonders gut. Zum Glück bietet der Multiplayer-Modus mehr und kann länger unterhalten als das dröge Soloabenteuer.

Super Monkey Ball stolpert über die Bananenschale des Adventures: Der »Story-Modus« ist an Belanglosigkeit kaum zu übertreffen und bestenfalls ein netter Zeitvertreib, um Figuren und Levels für den Multiplayermodus freizuspielen. Und dem putzigen Äußeren zum Trotz ist auch SMB Adventure wieder mal kein Kinderspiel im eigentlichen Sinne – die Ansprüche der Herausforderungslevels wachsen schnell auf Palmenhöhe, die schwache Kameraführung lässt es an Übersicht mangeln. Aber wie gewohnt lauert der Spaß im Mehrspielermodus, der sowohl auf PS2 als auch PSP mächtig viel Laune macht – allerdings auch nicht mehr oder weniger als bei den vielen bisherigen SMB-Teilen. So bleibt die Frage, ob es sich lohnt für ein paar neue, wenn auch zugegebenermaßen spaßige Minigames erneut zu den Affen zu greifen, oder bei Klassikern wie dem ersten Affenteil zu bleiben.

Super Monkey Ball Adventure is a strong, solid title for the PSP. It is a series that is well loved and has been extremely successful for Sega and the consoles it has appeared on. The PSP does not have too many adventure platform titles of this kind and although it has downsides such as its samey gameplay, difficult controls and frustrating navigation, it is a still a title that will sell extremely well. Is it a quest and adventure worth taking up? Possibly... it does progress into an average platformer and a good attempt at a new direction for the series, but average it still is. There are better PSP titles to be bought and played first.

Super Monkey Ball aficionados will get more out of this game from the get go than those new to the series. However, those that persevere will find an enjoyable, cute and fun take on your standard platform adventure with moments of pleasure and pain along the way. Just be prepared for a some frustration!

Technically the game looks quite ok although the framerate here and there drops and the game also suffers from clipping at times. Together with the clumsy camera, which can be adjusted a bit, this results in a lot of irritation since this game requires a lot of precision and concentration. The worlds are nicely crafted but also know their boring parts and it looks like the creativity of the makers let them down at certain times.

Adventure is really only going to appeal to a certain segment of the audience of the originals. Younger gamers with a love of platformers and enough patience to cope with a some sometimes uneven challenge will find a satisfying game here, but many of the older set will simply grow bored of running errands and odd jobs. For the purists, I would recommend holding out for the truly impressive Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz coming this fall. But some of their younger brothers and sisters might find what they want here.

What seems like a good idea on a paper and what Sega probably thought would be a nice breath of fresh air for the SMB series was a failed attempt. Instead of giving fans a break from the usual monkey exploits, Adventure will no doubt leave fans wanting more of what they once had. The only real fun to be had in SMBA is with the mini-games and puzzle trays, but is that small section of the game worth the asking price?

While the game has a lot of solid concepts, a ton of stages, and some pretty good “boss” fights, (if you even want to call them that) the game sadly suffers from a horrible camera and just annoying challenge; and in the end, the experience isn’t memorable by any means. We’re not talking Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden here, the game is just simply annoying and sometimes out of your hands when it comes to raw skill. The game relies on your patience to complete, and apparently, not a lot of us have it. Even Anthony Perez threw his PSP out the window, and Jon Novak’s Wavebird battery cover is lost. The game is a bargain title for $29.99 on the GameCube, PSP, and PS2 platforms, but we’ve warned you—buy at your own risk.

Mishmashed and overloaded, this monkey game should have picked a strength and played to it. There could have been a tweaked adventure game built on puzzle levels and objectives for completion of puzzles. Even if the party game mechanics had played more of a role in Story Mode, Super Monkey Ball Adventure would have been a superior title. Instead, the whole endeavor falls a bit flat and fails to make much of an impression other than moments of fun punctuated too often by frustration. In the next go-round, we hope to see a return to the puzzle roots of this bad monkey.

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.

There are still remnants of Sega's challenging action puzzle concoction left in Super Monkey Ball Adventure, but most of it has been homogenized into something that is simultaneously more accessible and less appealing. It's unfortunate that Super Monkey Ball Adventure is the sole representation of this usually delightful series on the PSP, since it takes what was great about those games and buries it under several layers of unimaginative video game convention. Ultimately, it just doesn't feel right.

The Super Monkey Ball franchise just proves that adding monkeys to your Marble Madness-inspired puzzle game makes for good time because - let’s face it - what gamer doesn’t like great puzzles and controlling monkeys encased in a protective bubble? Yet the main reason the franchise is so addictive is the variety of race-to-the-finish-line-style puzzles that require some thought to complete successfully. Super Monkey Ball Adventure for the GameCube is the latest addition to the franchise but, sadly enough, this isn’t the best game in the series to grace our favorite cube.

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.

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.

Taken as a whole, this isn't a terrible game, just a very disappointing one. If you want to get the most out of it, buy it for the new puzzles and not the story mode. Also, unless you've got a burning desire to play new SMB puzzles right now, just wait for a price drop. $40 is way too much for just 30 new puzzles, especially when SMB Deluxe can be had for less than that (and even bundled with Sonic Mega Collection Plus for Xbox owners). With so many top-shelf games coming out in the next month or two, I can't really recommend this right now.

When Super Monkey Ball Adventure came to be, probably during a meeting to discuss the future of the Monkey Ball series, I'm sure it seemed like a great idea, but it really wasn't. The fundamental gameplay created by the 'monkey in a ball' mechanic simply doesn't work within the confines of an adventure title. The mini-games and puzzle trays are fun, but not a patch on those in the 'real' Monkey Ball titles, and unless you must play Monkey Ball on a PSP, there's very little reason to pick this up over Super Monkey Ball Collection.

Weighing everything together, Super Monkey Ball Adventure isn’t anything special. If Traveller’s Tales had stuck to the original and proven format, this would be more deserving of a higher verdict; challenge mode proves this point. Unfortunately, it has either tried too hard or not enough, it’s hard to say, and the result is an average platformer at best. The Challenge and party modes are the redeeming features, but they’re only the side dishes- and the main course will leave you with a particularly bad taste in your mouth.

SMBA on the PSP is, on a purely technical note, a wonderful achievement. The idea of being able to carry with you a console experience is something Sony has been saying the PSP was capable from the start. Unfortunately, you're able to carry this particular console experience with you, which isn't terribly good. Through an odd fluke, the game seems to control better (or at least did for me), but some minor framerate issues, stuttered loading and saving, and an interface that doesn't really carry over well to a smaller screen all add up to a game that's not really better than the console version, just different. For good or bad, it's just not that different, and certainly not different enough to escape the same problems that existed on the PS2.

And although these are annoying and the game's presentation isn't stellar, when it comes right down to it, SMBA's biggest flaw is that it expanded the scope of the series' traditional gameplay without retaining its laser-like focus on solid game design. There are plenty of good new ideas to be found in SMBA, but sadly, none are executed at the level that Super Monkey Ball loyalists have come to expect. If you absolutely need your Super Monkey Ball fix on the PSP, the puzzle mode mini-games and challenge mode stages might be enough to feed your addiction until a more proper sequel makes its way to Sony's handheld. But for those fans who don't feel the weight of the monkey on their back quite as heavily, SMBA is one you can let roll on by.

Let's make no mistake here, Super Monkey Ball was an absolute classic. It's sequel was still enjoyable but it wasn't quite on the same level. Since then we've had a few handheld versions that haven't really cut the mustard and now we have Super Monkey Ball Adventure. Unfortunately Super Monkey Ball Adventure doesn't manage to apply the handbrake to the rapidly declining series. The Story Mode is nothing special, in fact it's tedious in places. The Challenge Mode suffers from having puzzles that are all over the place in terms of difficulty and I personally hate levels such as 'Cascade' which rely purely on luck. Finally the Party Games mode offers mini-games that are not up to the expected quality of those mini-games found in the original Super Monkey Ball. In short then, it's a disappointment.

Super Monkey Ball has made a pretty good name for itself. Previous games in the series featured devious 3D courses where the player would attempt to roll a monkey in a ball from start to finish by tilting the entire level, and separate crowd-pleasing party games like Monkey Fight (who doesn't enjoy a good monkey fight?), Monkey Target and Monkey Bowling. It was a great formula, but the simple premise couldn't continue sequel after sequel without change. And so, four monkeys with cute names -- AiAi, GonGon, MeeMee and Baby (awww) -- set out to do themselves some adventuring.

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.

You know, I hate to use an old cliché, but if it isn't broken, don't fix it. The Super Monkey Ball games are popular today partly because of their simplistic nature. They are designed for everybody to enjoy. And yet, Super Monkey Ball Adventure throws all of this out of the window for a half-baked storyline and a hub world separated by load times and marred by technical inconsistencies.

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.

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.

SMBA is a serious misstep for the series. The other games gave players exactly what they wanted, and somehow succeeded in being more charming and fun. There is really no reason to pick this one up. Save your money and get one of the older Monkey Ball games. At least your ears will thank you for it.

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.

Super Monkey Ball Adventure isn't really that fun. Travellers Tales didn't think the whole concept through, and as a result, the game suffers. The multiplayer action can be enjoyable, as well as the Challenge rounds, but that's kind of sad. The game's at its best when it does the same old thing and doesn't strike out for anything new. Hmmm, maybe that's a hint, Sega. Maybe next time you should just let us roll on and never mind the natives who can't do a damn thing for themselves. How were the buildings erected, then? Did they grow out of the ground? Never mind, that's a matter for a monkey, not me.

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.

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.

The basic idea is that you take your chosen monkey-in-a-ball from island to island to bring happiness and allow a couple to wed. It doesn't matter; your real mission is to go around the islands and play the various minigames, teleport into puzzles to unlock things, and gather bananas to unlock characters and minigames. But, except for a few corners you can whirl around in, none of the areas are designed for a character that's rolling and hard to control. Mess up and you restart at a seemingly randomly placed checkpoint.

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.