Spinning Simians- Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll Review

Occasionally, I’m surprised that the popularity of the Wii hasn’t catapulted more third-party titles into the stratosphere of commercial success. With a gameplay mechanic reliant on precise movement, the Monkey Ball series is perfectly suited for the fastidious accuracy of the Wiimote’s accelerometers. As 2006’s Banana Blitz showed, the controller was idyllic for navigating spherical primates through increasingly treacherous courses; freely manipulating a device was more intuitive than pressing a joystick in a particular direction.

A bit over three years later, the franchise has returned. Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll’s most noticeable addition is the ability to use the now-compulsory Wii Fit Balance Board to control the game. In execution, the new input method isn’t nearly as instinctive as the Wiimote. However, if players don’t mind sticking with their conventional controllers, they’ll find that the title offers a competent variety of content. In the case of the game’s main environment-navigating campaign, there have been a number of changes to make the game more enjoyable.

Previous Monkey Ball stages focused on navigation through precarious environments, where a single mistake would send the player’s globe falling to its doom. Step and Roll wisely amends that approach, usually pitting players against the game clock. Although later levels bring plenty of primate plunging precipices, early to mid-range stages concentrate on traversing a field of obstacles. Some areas feel like a giant skateboard park, requiring players to maneuver through hulking half-pipes to advance, others have useful trenches that can guide a moderately-moving globe along. This emphasis on obstructions can be seen in the game’s cooperative mode, where one player treks through the environment while the other eliminates any impediments. Whereas past iterations of Monkey Ball have offered disjointed clusters of stages, with Step and Roll each group of ten stages feel cohesive with a unified gameplay motif and gently evolving soundtrack signatures.  Continuity is advanced even further in the title’s Marathon Mode, which challenges players to three different thirty stage succession of courses.

While playing Step and Roll with a Wiimote is typically enjoyable, the level of gratification is dampened when the Balance Board is used as a control method. Although the title wisely eliminates all the obstacles each playing field and has an on-screen balance designator, some movements are more cumbersome with the peripheral. Generally, lightly veering the orb slightly was effortless, but sharp turns and reversals in direction caused frustration. Ideally, the developers would have created Balance Board specific levels instead of retrofitting existing ones.

In recent years, Monkey Ball titles have complemented course navigation with a broad selection of mini-games, and Step and Roll is no different. Nearly half on these diminutive diversions will be woefully familiar to Banana Blitz owners, as the title pads its inventory with amusements from the previous disk. Of the new material, there is at least one standout- Battle Pinball recalls the multiplayer mayhem of Atari’s Warlords, as each player tries to prevent Monkey Balls from draining in their corner of the screen. Overall, it’s a shame to see the number of auxillary amusements drop from Blitz’s half-centennial to Step and Roll’s modest selection of 21 mini-games.

Visually, Step and Roll is elevated by an unwavering 60 frame per second refresh rate, 480P presentation and a widescreen mode. Like past games in the series, the title’s charm emanates from the use of vibrantly colored environments and the appeal of chibi-esque simians. Whereas past entries of the Monkey Ball franchise assaulted players with exceedingly high-spirited melodies, Step and Roll music shows a bit more restraint, while still influencing a hurried cadence through each stage.