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Behinds perhaps Space Harrier, Monkey Ball might just be the last franchise in Sega's stable that I would have expected to see the word "Adventure" attached to. After all, how do you flesh out a universe made of suspended mid-air obstacle courses inhabited by encapsulated primates? Traveller's Tales was given the unenviable task of figuring that out, and while they are certainly a capable developer, the result doesn't really tickle me as much as I'd hoped it would.
"Adventure" is a tough term to attach meaning to in gaming. The purist will tell you it refers to games like Myst and Monkey Island while the younger set might think it describes the likes of Zelda. In this case it's a sort of platformer based around a lot of character interaction. Your monkey and his plastic container are tasked with restoring harmony to the land by walking (er… rolling) around and performing odd jobs for people and subtly increasing the happiness of the world's inhabitants. All this is done to ease mounting political tensions throughout the kingdom. Of course.
The mission based structure doesn't appeal to me as much as straightforward levels based around reaching a goal would. It's not that the tasks themselves are especially bothersome, but sometimes wandering about aimlessly trying to find the right mission to progress can be wearying. The actual tasks run the full gamut from being insultingly easy to controller-smashingly hard, but those in between can be reasonably fun.
The mechanics of the gameplay are actually fairly true to form. You tilt the world to roll your little ape like a ball bearing in wooden maze, just as in the previous games. You still can't jump, though you can bounce on pads like trampolines a la Alpha Waves. The boxing glove and the glider from the party games of the last two games make a return in the adventure mode as well. There's a surprising amount of the classic feel preserved here, but the context is so radically different, you have to wonder what was accomplished by this.
Traveller's Tales were wise enough to include an ample offering of unadulterated classic Monkey Ball as well. There are three arcade obstacle courses, true to form. These aren't quite as good as either of the first two, with an easy beginner course that gives players too much time to tiptoe to the finish, and an advanced course that leaps right into pure frustration. Still, it was fun to burn through these, even if they won't keep me coming back the way they did in the first game. The party games return as well. Monkey Fight is as good as ever, and while Monkey Race isn't quite what it was, it's good enough. Monkey Target has been wounded a bit and loses some of its charm. I was disappointed to see the likes of Monkey Golf and Monkey Bowling absent, replaced with three new games, the most worthwhile of which is Monkey Cannon, which has players lobbing rounds back and forth like the classic Tank Wars (or QBasic Gorillas, if you prefer).
Unfortunately, some of these mini-games need to be unlocked through the story mode, so I can't recommend picking this up solely for the multiplayer. Adventure is really only going to appeal to a certain segment of the audience of the originals. Younger gamers with a love of platformers and enough patience to cope with a some sometimes uneven challenge will find a satisfying game here, but many of the older set will simply grow bored of running errands and odd jobs. For the purists, I would recommend holding out for the truly impressive Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz coming this fall. But some of their younger brothers and sisters might find what they want here.
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