That Rev Chap

Here’s a thing. I’m actually getting better at this. Yes, yes, I know that’s how games are meant to work, but I tend to find that once I’m through the tutorial for a game my skill level is set. Games where I feel myself improve are rare things – Bayonetta is one, Super Monkey Ball 2 appears to be another. Just knowing that I’m improving is enough to make this a little bit special for me, even though it’s just another Monkey Ball.

Not the most difficult part of the game, this.

I loved it at first as the nostalgia rush kicked in, then I remembered how much the game makes me shout, swear, grunt and sigh. I make more noise playing Monkey Ball than any other game. I curse those little primates over and over again as they fall. I love them really, but I don’t half get mad at them.

It’s lucky I’m not the controller-throwing type, or an iPhone-based Monkey Ball would be a very dangerous thing indeed.

I’d like to talk to about bananas.

Bananas are good, because collecting ten of them gives you an extra life.

Bananas are also good, because if you collect all ten on a level without losing a life you get a little crown icon for that level. (I think that getting all the crowns would result in something wonderful happening, but that’s never, ever going to happen.)

You've not even got enough polygons to be properly curved. I hate you.

Bananas are bad, though, because I keep on trying to collect them and find myself running out of time or, more often, falling off the level. Easy levels take life after life as I get distracted by the curvy yellow bastards and fall screaming to my doom.

Overall, then, I think bananas are a bad thing and award them a mark of 23%.

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.