of Super Monkey Ball the franchise has experienced its fair share of peaks and troughs over the years. The first two GameCube titles knocked it out of the park, offering a plethora of content from addictive maze-like main stages to incredible mini-games. However, since then, the series has seemingly been unable to reach the same heights, either content to take one step forward and two steps back, or else completely drop the (monkey) ball.
After Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania injected some cred with its commendable restoration of Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2, Sega is back with a brand new entry in the form of Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble. However, in keeping with the franchise’s tradition, it’s another game that just can’t hit home, combining a solid single-player experience with a slew of multiplayer modes that frankly aren’t worth the price of admission or investment. in time.
Starting with the positives though, the single player campaign is great fun from start to finish. It’s exactly what you’d expect from Super Monkey Ball at this point and includes 100 levels spread across 10 unique worlds. Once you have completed these, then you can DUAL this number with a series of bonus levels of incredible complexity, challenging even the most experienced Monkey Ball fans. Granted, there wasn’t anything here that blew us away in terms of creativity or uniqueness, but what we do have is a healthy selection of well-designed and fun levels. We doubt that’s all most people are hoping for.
Aside from the solid level selection, the actual gameplay feels pretty great too. Physics is not enough up there with the GameCube originals, but it’s as close as the series has gotten in recent years. There are plenty of opportunities to ‘break’ the levels with crazy jumps or absurd feats of speed, and we can’t wait to see how fast players can get through the game in the coming weeks and months.
To further enhance the gameplay, Banana Rumble takes a cue from Sonic the Hedgehog and introduces a new ‘Spin Dash’ ability. By holding down ‘B’ at any point, you can charge up your pulse and enjoy a short burst of speed. Not only is this useful for completing levels faster, but it also allows you to jump across certain platforms, jump down ramps, and much more. We’re surprised at how vital the ram ability ends up being during some of the later levels. Those who fear that it may have turned out to be a useless trick can rest easy; its implementation results in a simple yet effective evolution of the core Super Monkey Ball game.
So what is our problem? Well, the multiplayer is a bit boring. Moving away from the game’s title, one could argue that the five modes included here are the biggest draw of the entire experience, but honestly, we’d rather have mini-games like Monkey Target and Monkey Bowling. This isn’t nostalgia either – they really are a lot better than what’s on offer at Banana Rumble.
The five modes included are Race, Banana Hunt, Ba-BOOM, Goal Rush and Robot Smash, and the problem with all of them is that they’re either too chaotic with the maximum number of players (16), or too boring when there’s only a handful from you. There’s no middle ground, no sweet spot where mods actually feel fun to play, and it’s so frustrating.
Take Race mode, for example. The courses here include a mix of long runs on which to build a nice momentum and tricky puzzle areas that require more precise moves. When you reach the final segments, don’t be surprised when a bunch of other players come looking after you as they also reach the same area. It results in a visual mess where you’ll struggle to spot your character amongst a sea of monkeys, and it’s just not particularly fun. It’s clear that Sega was trying for a Fall Guys vibe with this one, but it just doesn’t work.
This is only exacerbated by the frame rate. During single-player missions, the game runs at a nice, silky-smooth 60fps and feels great. Jump into multiplayer modes, or add an extra player to the campaign, and the framerate will be halved to 30. It’s a painful change that, while certainly unplayable, is a tough pill to swallow. after spending so much time working on the single player stages.
Some of the modes have the potential to be enjoyable later down the road, perhaps if Sega adds more stages or characters. As it stands, the only one we’d recommend right now is Ba-BOOM, in which you basically pass bombs to your opponents by throwing them at them before time runs out. On the other hand, Goal Rush is absolutely crap and just requires you to climb a series of pillars to score points. I gurgle.
In addition to the main modes, Banana Rumble boasts a healthy amount of bonus collectibles and fun little additions. You have a total of seven playable characters to start with, along with several unlockable characters available through the in-game store as you progress. All of these can then be enhanced with cosmetic items, including outfits, new ball colors and unique effects. There is a lot to dive into in terms of customization and it will take you a good while to unlock everything.
You also have a Memories section where you can watch unlocked movies, listen to music tracks, and review any saved playlists. ‘Missions’ include a series of unique ‘achievements’ to keep track of and earn bonus points, while an intriguing global leaderboard feature requires you to spend your accumulated points in order to grow a palm tree. Pretty random, sure, but a good way to see how you stack up against the competition. Finally, the game includes a fun, albeit rather simple, photo mode. You can unlock new poses via the in-game store, so it’s a nice little feature to play around with for a while.
CONCLUSION
If all you’re looking for in a new Super Monkey Ball game is a selection of new single-player levels to tackle, then you’re in luck, because Banana Rumble boasts some of the best stages we’ve seen in recent memory . The additional ‘Spin Dash’ ability makes traversal much more fun and the physics feel as close to ‘classic’ Monkey Ball as the franchise has done in a long time. Unfortunately, if you’re looking forward to multiplayer modes, then temper your expectations. They’re just not very good for the most part and are significantly hampered by frame rate drops. We almost scored this one lower, but the quality of the single player almost ups the ante. As it stands, Banana Rumble is a mixed bag, but it’s worth investigating if you’re looking for more single-player fun.