GCN Super Monkey Ball 2
Entry posted by EricBall
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Have you ever played a game and wondered whether you bought the same game as reviewers? Super Monkey Ball 2 is like that for me.
Another one of my cheap bastard eBay purchases. I don't have Super Monkey Ball 1 yet, so I can't compare the two. But I'm glad I only paid $10 for it.
Maybe it's because I'm playing the single player story mode instead of the multiplayer games. Or maybe the reviewers only played the first ten maps and cribbed the rest from Super Monkey Ball 1. Who knows?
The problem I have with Super Monkey Ball 2 (story mode) is the level of difficulty. We're talking having to play a map dozens of times before catching that lucky bounce. And the way story mode is structured, you have to finish all ten maps in a level before you get the next cut-scene and onto the next level of ten maps. And more often than not, it's luck, not skill, which is the difference between success & failure. The only saving grace (or is it a curse?) is you have infinite lives to attempt each map. (There's another single player mode where you have a finite number of lives to play through the same maps (plus some bonus maps) in a set order and without the cutscenes.)
Two examples:
- The main feature of the map is a tall cyndrical tower with a flared base. The finish line is on lying on top of a small platform circling near the top of the tower. At the bottom of the tower are four kicker blocks. So the idea is to position your Monkey Ball in front of one of the kicker blocks, which will then shoot you up the side of the tower. The problem is you have virtually no control once that kicker block fires. Just landing on top of the tower ('cause you can't even to the finish line on the way up) is maddingly difficult and a stroke of luck. Bit then you have to time your roll off the edge so you fall through the finish line.
- More than one level puts a web of holes to fall through between the start and finish. If Super Monkey Ball 2 was a game of skill, you'd have to pick your route and carefully manuver yourself between the gaping holes. But the timer is far too short and the pathways too narrow (believe me, I've tried). The alternative is to send your Monkey Ball careening at top speed to fly off either a bump or the far edge of a hole then catch a lucky bounce that doesn't send you plunging through a hole or off the edge of the map. And forget about trying to stop and maneuver your way through the finish gate, you've got too much speed - that's another lucky bounce you need.
Other complaints:
- no way to jump, so even the smallest bump or edge becomes a major obstacle
- after you have completed a map in stroy mode there's no way to go back to try to improve your time or pick up more bannanas (which typically get ignored to reach the finish)
- multiplayer games are opened by accumulating "play points"
Now, the multiplayer games may be heaps of fun, and Super Monkey Ball 1's story mode might be actually fun to play. But, at this point, I've given up on the story mode of Super Monkey Ball 2 - it's just too hard to be any kind of fun.
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