Appletell | Apple, Mac, iPhone, iPod | News, Rumors, Reviews, How-Tos

Genre: Action
Developer: SEGA
File Size: 35.2MB
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Requirements: iPhone 2.0 software
Compatibility: iPhone and iPod touch
Rating: 4+
Price $9.99

There’s no doubt that one of the most anticipated games for the iPhone at the launch of the App Store was Sega’s Super Monkey Ball. With outstanding graphics and great use of the accelerometer, it quickly shot up to the the top of the iTunes list for most purchased paid apps. With all this hype around it, it really had to deliver what the users were expecting.

To begin, let’s explain what this $10 game is all about. It consists of many different maps that appear to be floating in the air. You take on the roll of a monkey that is placed within a clear ball. Using the accelerometer, you must direct the ball through a portal to move onto the next level. You can also earn extra points and lives by collecting all of the bananas on each level. If you fall off the map, you lose a life and start from the beginning of that map. You receive five retries with five lives each for each world. Once you beat all ten levels in the world, you unlock a new one.

The first impression you should receive from this game is how great the graphics are for a mobile device. Even with the large 3D maps to render, there is no lag at all. The menu system is also very well designed and contains choices for the main game, quick play, practice, options, and rankings. Once you are further into the hierarchy of menus, you can choose difficulty levels (once you unlock them) and different monkeys. Sega did a great job with the appearance of this game.

Once game play begins, you will immediately notice the controls, which require 100% patience. They are extremely sensitive and hard to get used to, and there are no admustment settings in the options. After you fly off the map at 200mph a couple times, you will realize how frustrating and annoying they can be. However, you will eventually get the hang of them, and then the game becomes extremely fun.

Super Monkey Ball starts off on easy mode in the first world, and you must beat ten levels to unlock hard mode for that world. You then must beat more levels from that world to unlock easy mode on the next world, and so on. What can be annoying is that you have to beat all ten levels at once to advance. For example, if you beat five levels and then want to take a break, you will have to start back from level one the next time you play. Therefore, you have to dedicate a little bit of time to the game each time you want to try and get further into it.

This game is very fun once you get past the issue of mastering the controls. The graphics are top notch, and the levels are entertaining and challenging. If you are looking for a walk in the park, don’t buy this game. Likewise, if you don’t have a lot of patience, don’t buy this game. It can be very frustrating and even make you want to throw your iPhone/iPod Touch at a wall, but I still like it.