Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD Developed by SEGA and Amusement Vision is now available on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz originally released on Wii as a launch title, the remaster came as quite a surprise and almost out of nowhere. My personal experience with a Super Monkey Ball game was an iPod touch game back in college so I thought I’d give the PlayStation 4 version a go and for me, it’s a real mixed bag. It has it’s addictive fun side of managing to collect all the Bananas and complete each stage within a decent time to earn a gold championship medal but also it’s pretty bland side. Some of the starter stages while getting used to the mechanics are very good, it’s not too harsh and helps you learn what you’re going to be doing later on. Unfortunately, though this ends and the difficulty spike increases at quite a rapid rate and you’ll be falling off the stages quite a bit if you haven’t quite mastered it yet. The controls while not too difficult in navigating around the map are fairly easy to learn but getting used to the dodgy camera and the way it moves the screen at such a rapid rate was enough to make me quite motion sick at some stages which is sad as I was having a good time.

The problem I had with this game is mostly the lack of content there was, it seemed to be a very short game and I would have thought a remaster may have packed quite a lot more in especially on consoles that can do so much more than the Wii did many years ago. The content we do get is quite fun for the Super Monkey Ball fan but with newcomers, it’s a marmite situation, you either love it or hate it. I enjoyed parts but felt underwhelmed at times, as mentioned earlier it’s a very 50/50 game. It is in no way buggy or glitched, it’s a very polished and smooth running title, the game is developed very well but again the lack of content is quite disappointing. I feel like as there hasn’t been a Super Monkey Ball in a long time, bringing it to the masses and a new generation would have been great and I don’t feel this fully represents what could have been. If the main missions aren’t your thing there are mini-games and time trials and this offers a fresh take which does provide you with options, I enjoyed the mini-game especially with two-players. I truly think Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD shines in it’s multiplayer. Also having Sonic in the game is pretty cool.

Graphically the remaster does change it to look a little more modern but it still retains the great cartoon style that it’s going for. The game runs very smoothly on the PlayStation 4 pro and keeps a steady FPS without any drops even when the stages get crazy. The music goes perfectly with each themed world and aids the game by making it upbeat and exciting.

Verdict

Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD is a very mixed experience, some of it really fun and addictive, other parts lacking in content and not pushing the boat out completely. I feel that for a younger generation they may have quite a lot of fun and fans will too, newcomers might not enjoy it as much though due to the difficulty spikes and dodgy camera.

6/10

Pros

  • Addictive
  • Controls are simple and easy to pick up
  • Graphically the game looks great and runs fantastic

Cons

  • Lack of content
  • Camera is dizzying
  • Difficulty spikes

Published by Jake Smith

Hello, I'm Jake, I have loved all things gaming since the SEGA Megadrive days. As a kid, teenager, young adult I loved playing games, but I always wanted more, I wanted to see what went on behind the scenes, talk to the amazing people who work in the industry. That's how I got into gaming sites and that's why I created my own.

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