Reviews// Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (Wii)

Having to review Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz has totally torn me. I've taken far too long over the review because I desperately wanted to do it justice. This should be one of the absolute must-haves for the Wii. It should be one of the best games ever: Super Monkey Ball with the perfect controller and 50 mini-games.

It isn't one of the best games ever. It's good, but the sad fact is, I'd recommend the original in GameCube form - available and playable on the Wii at under a tenner, plus the price of a Classic Controller - to anyone wanting a proper videogame experience. It's simply a better game, deeper and purer, and this is hard to swallow as a dedicated fan after some five years of waiting.


SPOnG Rating: B

There's simply not enough in Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz. The game is rushed, its energies misdirected. I would swap its 50 mini-games for ten really good ones. I would sacrifice them all for a decent main game. It has bosses that are entirely pointless and a main game that massively under-delivers. I was hoping for at least one (actually ten) of those levels that make you hold your breath from start to finish; long, curving skinny ledges that demand a faultless performance. The sharp edge has been dulled. As to why the mini-games are so shallow, I'm at a loss. Why make 50 games and barely develop them?