Review: Super Monkey Ball Adventure - PS2

by Steven Williamson on 3 August 2006, 12:01

Tags: Super Monkey Ball Adventure on PS2, Sega (TYO:6460), Action/Adventure

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Conclusion



There’s a lot of content to plough through but Sega appear to have concentrated more on quantity than quality. If you fancy a break from the main objectives you can jump into one of the numerous mini-games, such as Monkey Race, Target and Fight. There are a few other variations, such as game where you’ll have to pop balloons. Unfortunately the mini-games don’t offer anything new to the experience as every skill that you need to complete them has already been achieved whilst moving through the main adventure.



The idea of Super Monkey Adventure Ball probably seemed great at the time, but unfortunately it’s a dire example of how not to create an adventure game. The environments and the task in hand do not translate to well to the fact that you’re stuck in an uncontrollable plastic ball for the whole game. The camera is often unresponsive, tasks are too difficult and the levels are too repetitive. Super Monkey Adventure Ball is one for the bargain bucket.



Pros

Fun for kids..for a while
Plenty of content
Glossy graphics


Cons
Controlling the monkey ball
Camera angles
Repetitive tasks
Dying frequently

Super Monkey Ball Adventure is not so super.

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HEXUS Where2Buy

Super Monkey Ball Adventure is available now, click the following links to order:

Play.com



HEXUS Forums :: 3 Comments

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I can definately see your point about the Cons of the game in the conslusion

I found this game to be alot of fun (an older version on game cube) only when with another 3 mates :) and drunk :P

It really should not even have a single player mode :P
The older version of the games though weren't an adventure game, they were more of a get to the flag while collecting bananas (short, while never-the-less tricky, maps).

As I understand from the review, this is trying to be more like a 3D Mario platform game (albeit with a monkey in a ball) where you are charged with tasks.

I have to say, I think these characters are better suited to the simple puzzle-like games they were in previously than an adventure game…
Blademrk
The older version of the games though weren't an adventure game, they were more of a get to the flag while collecting bananas (short, while never-the-less tricky, maps).

As I understand from the review, this is trying to be more like a 3D Mario platform game (albeit with a monkey in a ball) where you are charged with tasks.

I have to say, I think these characters are better suited to the simple puzzle-like games they were in previously than an adventure game…

Yeah it's a platform game but with a free-roaming element.