Super Monkey Ball 2 (GameCube)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 4.5 stars Outstanding
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 9.0 (4.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Ryan Davis
• Reviewed on: 08/26/2002
• Updated on: 08/28/2002
• Released on: 08/25/2002
• Originally published on GameSpot: Super Monkey Ball 2 (GameCube) Review

Something that started off as an obscure arcade game, AmusementVision's Monkey Ball series probably would have slipped under most people's radars had Super Monkey Ball not been one of the launch titles for the GameCube. Though it may not have made as big of a splash with gamers as games like Luigi's Mansion or Rogue Leader, the original Super Monkey Ball quickly garnered a strong following, and the game's unique style and wealth of addictive gameplay modes kept people playing long after interest had waned in many of the higher-profile GameCube launch games. Super Monkey Ball 2 simply cranks up the volume on the Monkey Ball formula, offering up fully twice the number of playable four-player party games as the original and wrapping the single-player experience in an appropriately cute and slightly deranged story.

The game's story mode begins with the sinister Dr. Bad-Boon rolling up on Monkey Island and using a giant vacuum to steal all the bananas on the island. Our heroic quartet of Ai Ai, Mee Mee, Gon Gon, and Baby perform a breathtakingly weird dance to summon their supersized hamster balls and quickly give chase to Dr. Bad-Boon, who has, of course, lined their path with a series of puzzles. That's where you come in.

The easiest way to describe Super Monkey Ball is to call it a fully three-dimensional version of the classic Marble Madness, but even this compliment would not do justice to the game's constantly inventive and challenging course design. The objective of each level is as simple as it gets--using nothing but the rolling power of your monkey ball, you must get from one end of a course to the other before time runs out. Actually doing so, however, is where the simplicity ends, as the levels themselves are fraught with moving platforms, big drops, and an assortment of other dangerous obstacles whose sole purpose is to knock you off the platform. The level design has unquestionably become much bolder since the original Super Monkey Ball. While sheer steady-handedness is still a very necessary skill, Super Monkey Ball 2 puts a slightly greater emphasis on puzzle-solving, forcing you to extrapolate the best course of action rather than just trying to power through. Make no mistake, Super Monkey Ball 2 is every bit as challenging as its predecessor, and fans of the original will surely appreciate the 100 new levels the game has to offer.

As you play through both the story mode and the challenge mode, which is essentially the story mode with a limited number of lives and without the story, you'll be rewarded with play points along the way that can be used to unlock the game's six new party games. All the party games from the original Super Monkey Ball--monkey race, monkey fight, monkey target, monkey billiards, monkey bowling, and monkey golf--have returned for the sequel in an enhanced form, and all are playable right from the get-go. The enhancements that have been made to these games are generally minor and seem designed specifically to make the proceedings more enjoyable for novice players, though they shouldn't really keep monkey ball veterans from continuing to enjoy them.

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