It’s been a long journey for AiAI, MeeMee, GonGon and Baby. The monkeys from Super Monkey Ball made their first appearance with a stand up arcade game back in 2000. From there they traveled overseas riding on the Nintendo Game Cube. The ball bound monkeys starred in several sequels and on several devices. This year the gang landed on the iPhone in the Sega published game, Super Monkey Ball.

Super Monkey Ball is a tilt action arcade game which challenges users to guide one of the above mentioned monkeys through various floating obstacle courses. The 110 courses are spread out across 5 worlds. Each course features a start area, goal portal and a number of strategically placed bananas. Players can collect the bananas in order to earn extra lives but the clock and every increasing obstacles make it a difficult job.

Controlling your monkey on the iPhone works by tilting your device. The direction and angle of the tilt determines where and how fast your monkey rolls. It took me about 7 levels to really get the feel of the controls. Once I found the nuetral point on my phone and learned to tilt and return to that spot my sphere caged primate became much easier to control. Even so, the controls scheme is not with out problems. First, you have to be sitting or standing in a certain position to play the game. Forget laying down or kicking back in your work chair. In order to find the nuetral point you need to sit with good posture. Also, getting the monkey to turn takes in-game time and space. You must plan your moves in advance. On some levels I found the controls to be a dream, on others they were a total nightmare.

Super Monkey Ball is fun, there’s no doubt about that. The game is rendered in 3d, has nice sounds effects and lots of polish in the menu and games graphics. The levels progress in difficult nicely. The challenge of each level seems to focused on tilt accuracy, time or banana collecting. Players start on Monkey Island and must complete 10 easy levels and 10 hard levels to advance. This is where my major problems with Super Monkey ball for the iPhone come in.

Super Monkey Ball does not save your progress in between levels. You must complete all 10 levels before your progress is saved. Forget about a quick few minutes of gameplay. Super Monkey Ball requires a time commitment if you want to advance. Sure, you can use the quick action or practice modes but those only give you access to levels you have already completed. If you want to see the whole game you’re going to have to sit and play it for awhile.

Super Monkey Ball does not save your progress when you receive a phone call. So, when you’re on level 10 and your phone rings, guess what? You get to start all over. *See update.

My last gripe about Super Monkey Ball is the price. Currently, the game costs $9.99 and is one of most expensive games in the iTunes App Store. Yes, it’s fun. Yes, it looks great. No, it’s not worth 10 bucks, especially considering it lacks the ability to save.

Super Monkey Ball is an overpriced game that is very fun to play, if you have the time and patience. Unfortunately, people playing games in mobile phone usually don’t have either.

By: Aaron Robbins