Customer Reviews

Super Monkey Ball Adventure

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

The first Super Monkey Ball was a surprisingly fun game. Super Monkey Ball 2 was an even better follow-up, with bigger, faster levels and more party games. With such a good track record, I picked up SMB Adventure the day it came out. I wish I hadn't.

The idea behind Adventure is, on the surface, a good one: the traditional (and challenging) courses of SMB have now been integrated with a true story mode, where you have to help other monkeys complete tasks in order to save the Monkey Kingdom. Unfortunately, the game itself is truly frustrating. To begin with, the load time for each level - and even within the levels - is excruciatingly slow. Once inside, you must find various monkeys who will give you your tasks. While some of these challenges are quite fun, their setup is annoying. For the most part, tasks must be performed in a certain order, so if you are having difficulty with one, you cannot simply skip ahead to a different one. In addition, if you die ("fall out") during a task, you do not get the option of automatically retrying the mission; instead, you have to find the monkey and have him explain it to you all over again. Finally - and most importantly - Adventure has wasted the monkey ball courses that were so good in the previous games. Although the courses in Adventure are important - they open up doorways to different parts of the levels - the game is so frustrating that the courses seem more like chores here. All of the fun has been sucked out of completing the courses.

If you do not want to play them in Story mode, you can try your hand at all of the individual courses in Challenge mode. Once again, however, this section is a disappointment. There are beginner, advanced, and expert modes, but you do not have the ability to choose individual courses, whether you have beaten them or not.

Adventure's party games are a redeeming factor. The ability to buy new characters to use is a great feature. The racing game is truly fun, and the option of racing against extra computer monkeys can create glorious mayhem on the track. Target is again an excellent game, as is fight. Cannon would be much more fun if there was not an automatic AI player (for games with fewer than four human players). Tag is a so-so game. Bounce is pointless.

All in all, SMB Adventure is a thoroughly disappointing game. Sega tried to fix what wasn't broken, and it came out much worse in the end.

This game was a huge letdown. I bought it on release date, having spent hours enjoying the previous monkey ball releases. I thought it also looked cool that you could fly and jump in this game, but there is nothing cool or fun about this game. Please save your money for something else. I am hoping the Wii Banana Blitz is better. This game sucks. It sucks because you have to play through the lame story mode to unlock the party games. It sucks because of the horrendous loading times. It sucks because the timed stages get very difficult very quickly, where the others in the series had a progression to the more difficult stages. And, it sucks, because that is the sound that is made when you realize that you wasted $50 on a really horrible game.

My grandkids enjoy it. It does take reading, so real young kids have a challenge playing it.
I don't think it is as good as the first two monkeyball games.

Super Monkey Ball Adventure diverges from the previous games in that its main focus is the story mode, which, unlike the other games, doesn't consist of completing levels. In this game, you are in a world where you basically wander around completing menial tasks in an attempt to earn enough bananas to release the mini games.

That said, the mini and party games are a huge disappointment when compared to the previous games from Super Monkey Ball and Super Monkey Ball Two. If you loved Monkey Target, you will be sorely disappointed with this version, which takes an eternity to load in between rounds and doesn't feature the same challenges that Super Monkey Ball offered. It's very easy, but incredibly lame. To make things worse, you can only play four rounds max, as opposed to fifteen rounds with the first Monkey Target.

I bought this version because my sons and I really enjoyed Monkey Ball one and two, and I expected this to be similar. However, I have since learned that a different developer is responsible for Super Monkey Ball Adventure, and it is painfully obvious. The story mode lacks imagination, the challenge mode is incredibly difficult for young players, and the party games are simplistic at best. Save your money and stick to the first two games in this series.

I don't normally write reviews, but I was pretty surprised with how many negative reviews this game has received. Yes, its flaws are VERY obvious: glitches in the sound, when you "fall out" the game often places you in strange starting points, terrible load times, etc...

First of all, I am a fan of the series, especially Super Monkey Ball 2. I think that the original Super Monkey Ball was great, but a bit more annoying... because by nature of the game's design, some boards are so difficult that you really need tons of practice before you can complete them. Being forced to play the boards in succession, with a limited number lives, can mean that there will be a slew of great boards you may miss out on.

It took me a little while, but I soon realized that the tasks you perform in Super Monkey Ball Adventure's "Story Mode", are often as puzzling and full of skillful controller movement as the "old school" puzzle boards... AND the game integrates 50 new puzzle boards within the Story mode too, so at least they didn't ditch that concept (you can also play these boards in succession, a la Super Monkey Ball 1). Yes, the game is INSANELY difficult at times, but at least you are given an unlimited amount of opportunities to beat each task/board, unlike the original Super Monkey Ball where if you lose all your lives, the game is over. Also, you only have to complete 60% of each world in order to advance, so if you get stuck on an extremely difficult task/board, often you can skip it (depending on the task).

So, if you can look past this game's obvious flaws, which are well covered in other reviews here, you might come to realize that a lot of the game play is firmly intact, just presented in a different fashion. I've read a lot of negative comments here and there about this game's graphics, sound, and even plot (if the plot was so important why not watch a movie instead?). For me, the game play has always been the main reason why I've liked these games, and many other games, so much... so I'm completely satisfied. However, if you are new to the series, definitely pick up Super Monkey Ball 2 first.

One more thing: My comments above are all about the 1-player game ... I completely agree that the party games are pretty much ruined by the extremely slow load times. I was always into Monkey Target, and in this game it loads between EACH ROUND, which is pretty much unbearable. So if you were into this series for the party games, definitely pass on this one.

Super Monkey Ball adventure takes the series from incredibly addictive to horrible frustrating crap! I was highly disappointed with this game. This is an insult to all the fans of the series! I quit playing it the day I got it. Before I get into the horrific gameplay, let me just say that in the first two games, the graphics and sound were passable. Now, the graphics are poor and the sound, ugh! If you're smart, you'll mute the game while playing it (Not that you should buy or play it anyway!). Now the gameplay, frustrating, miserable to play! The levels are uninspired, and nearly impossible to complete. Don't buy, rent, or play this game, it would not be a wise decision!

Presentation- 49/100

Graphics- 50/100

Sound- 22/100

Gameplay- 11/100

Replay Value- 11.5/100

Overall- 13.5/100

i loved the first monkey ball, so i rented this and i hated it! I don't usually hate anything, but this game is very hard and VERY annoying! you have to read a lot and it is a PLATFORMER! platformers are usually good, but the combination of monkey ball and a 3d adventure is not good. well, they're all 3d, but this is just horrible. and the announcer guy sounds like he's on crack.
if you liked the first monkey ball- get the second one- don't get adventure! unless you like to break you videogames!

Monkey Ball adnventures cannot hold a candle to Monkey Balls 1 and 2. It's okay, but not as exciting.

My 6 year old son loves this game. We have all 3, and they are great. They are the best games to purchase if you don't want you kids playing anything with any violence. They are fun, even though our son beats us at every level. Safe and Fun to play, both your children and you will love it.

I got this because I loved the other two monkeyball games and I thought this would be even better. But this one is completely different from the other two. It was done by a different developer and that's the main reason. In the main game (story mode), you do a lot of exploring and helping the other characters, which can be fun, but gets boring. And, instead of the different tracks being the main part of the game, they are just kind of a side quest. The party games are fun, but a little confusing. I really regret buying this... if you can, definitely try it before you buy it!