Super Monkey Ball 2 (iPhone)

It’s been a long time since I played any Monkey Ball. Too long, I reckon. I love the little simian chaps and their crazy floating worlds. Also, some of my fondest gaming memories are of playing Monkey Bowling, drunk, falling asleep between each throw.

Argh! Stupid monkey! Stay away from that hole!

So why it’s taken me quite so long to get the iPhone version, I don’t know. Okay, so the first release was meant to be a bit rubbish, but this second game has been getting good reviews and includes the mighty Monkey Bowling, so what was I waiting for?

Well, mainly some calibration options. With a tilt-based game like this, you’d think the developers would have set it so that “flat” was set to the angle you were holding your iPhone at when the level started. Would that be so difficult? I guess so, because Super Monkey Ball 2 doesn’t do it. However, it’s not so bad, really, because “flat” is set at a sensible gaming playing angle – you don’t have to hold the iPhone horizontally or anything stupid like that. It’s fine for playing on the sofa and almost – but not quite – playable when lying down in bed.

Of course, even when you’re at the correct angle, the controls aren’t as precise as the Gamecube’s analogue stick. They feel right, though, in an indefinable way. You’ve not got the same level of control, but the tilting never feels wrong to me and I haven’t (yet) blamed the accelerometer for any deaths.

The main game is split up into different worlds and then further broken down into sets of ten levels. It’s good stuff and the quick start option when you load the game means you get back into it very quickly. It’s perfectly possible to load it up and play a level or two in a commercial break.

Strikes are few and far between - if you're me.

The only mini game available right now is Monkey Bowling. (Though Target and Golf are said to be on the way.) It uses a touch and tilt control method that’s far removed for the controls used in the Gamecube version, but which still works well and, crucially, still feels like Monkey Bowling. It doesn’t save your single player high scores, which is a bit annoying, but I don’t mind too much.

Overall, it’s a great little package so far. Whether the levels will get too complicated for the control scheme in later levels I don’t know, but so far my complaints are only minor.