Reviews// Super Monkey Ball 3D

Monkey Ball 3D does still have one more card to play, and that's its 'Main Game'. We all know the score - tilt the stage to roll the monkey in his ball to the goal. Do so quickly and try to collect as many bananas along they way.

You're given two control methods, the circle pad or the motion sensor. The latter is an awful idea. One of the limitations of the 3DS is that if you wish to see it's unique visuals, you need to hold the handheld parallel to your face. One tilt to the left in order to control your monkey and the screen goes all blurry causing your eyes to explode (your eyes might not literally explode).

The circle pad, though, is one of the best things to happen to mobile Monkey Ball. It feels solid and natural and for the first time you can play a Monkey Ball game and feel confident that any errors made are user-based and not hardware-based. The only bad thing about using the circle pad is that it makes the game so damn easy.

Each level has been designed with both control methods in mind. This means that stages are set up to allow errors for those using the less precise method of tilt controls, leaving an extremely easy game for the circle pad users. Barriers sit on corners and groves in the floor guide your ball a lot more than they need to. You'll breeze through the full game without even seeing the continue screen. Maybe it would have been better if each stage had two set ups, one for each control method. There is no doubt that this game would have been more challenging had floors been flatter and corners exposed.

Visually, everything looks great. The 3D effects work well on all game modes, with Race looking very impressive. The depth of the roads as they spiral off into the distance of the screen really do add a lot to the experience. It never tries to chuck things at the screen in that “OH LOOK AT THE 3D” type of way. It's subtly-used and benefits from it.

The main game can become hard to focus on at times - it would seem that the 3D effect works better on slower paced games with less happening on screen. With the stages tilting quickly and corners approaching fast, my eyesight became a bit strained and I had to slow my game down so I could fix my eyesight on the next location I needed to get to.

When you switch to 2D mode you'll greeted with a softer and nicer looking game. It's easier to navigate your ball and allows you to play either method without issue. Ironically, if you do buy Monkey Ball 3D I suggest you play the main game mode in 2D as it'll then offer you the best version of handheld Monkey Ball on the market, if a completely unchallenging one.

Conclusion

Monkey Ball 3D is massively lacking in content and the content it has falls far below what we have seen in its previous titles. When trying to appeal to a more casual or maybe younger market, it completely isolates fans of the series and more competent gamers.

With two mini-games that aren't worth your playing time and a main game that you'll pass without challenge, it's impossible to recommend this when there are some genuinely fantastic titles to chose from in the 3DS's launch line-up.

SPOnG Score: 46%