Publisher:
Sega
Developer:
Dimps
Release Date:
25-Mar-2011
Platform(s):
3DS
Genre:
Party
Age Rating:
Super Monkey Ball has always been something of a strange series. We’re not referring to the madcap shenanigans of the game’s content itself, but the fact that the quality of each game seemed to randomly fluctuate, ranging from the brilliant to the pathetically awful. The good news is that SMB3D sits closer to the former than it does to the latter, but that certainly doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a game for everyone.
The game is split into three main parts; Super Monkey Ball Puzzles, Monkey Race and Monkey Fight (the latter two of which are playable over local wireless connection should you happen upon anyone else with a 3DS while on your travels).
In Puzzles the aim, as always, is to traverse the course by tilting the game world to roll your ball towards the goal, collecting as many bananas as you can in as short a time as possible. And like all SMB games before it, each course lives or dies on its design, so it’s a good thing that they’ve gotten it right more often than not.
There are some out there who simply won’t get it, but SMB3D offers a completely different experience to any of the other launch title while doing a reasonable job of showing what the 3D is capable of – possibly making it a worthwhile purchase if you’re into that kind of thing.