Note: This page will be updated as E3 continues and further editor impressions are gathered.
Jesse Rifkin, The Wiire Chief Video Producer
I heart Super Monkey Ball. It's one of those silly, spunky, frenetic and funny game series that can keep you entertained for short periods of time whenever. I went into the "Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz" kiosk with a large amount of expectation, as it was one of the titles I'm guaranteed to buy no matter what.
Waiting in line to play the game, I could tell that people were having trouble with the controls, and although this wasn't entirely unexpected, as it is a fundamentally different control system, it was still worrisome. When I finally got to the front of the line, I was determined to squeeze as much out of the short demo as I could. I played the first two courses in the main game, then three different minigames.
In a word: cool-cool-coolio. The main game was clearly different for me then it was for all the people who played it before me. I found absolutely no trouble controlling the monkey ball. The sensitivity of the Wii-mote worked great for rolling left and right, and I rolled to the finish lines like an expert. (Of course, I'm pretty sure I was the only one who chose Gon-Gon.) As a quasi-casual gamer, I was looking forward to some games that showed off what was possible in a one-handed game, and Monkey Ball didn't disappoint.
That goes double for the mini-games. I chose three completely different games, just to get an overall feel of the different control styles. The first was "Hurdle Race". A fun fast-paced game, where you drum the Wii-mote and Nunchuk rapidly to get rolling, and click the B trigger to jump the hurdles. I can definitely see myself sitting down with 3 friends - 8 controller pieces among us - and racing each other over and over again.
The next mini-game I tried out was "Darts". I only played this on the recommendation of the Nintendo Rep at the kiosk, so I went into it without any expectations. Unfortunately, it wasn't a lot of fun. Even playing this game competatively in multiplayer, I can't see people playing this game more than once. Its controlled by holding the A button then pulling the wiimote back towards you, then "throwing" it towards the screen and letting go of the button. This is the obvious way to set up this game, but I found it way too easy. Unless you're a big fan of darts, its not something to look forward to.
At this point, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz seemed pretty hit-and-miss. Not one of my top priorities to buy, but definitely on the list. But that was before I played my last mini-game of the demo. And what a difference it made.
I don't think I can express in words how excited I was when I was scrolling through the game menu and saw "Jump Rope". Suffice to say, my eyes lit up as the game loaded. If any of you are hardcore mini-game fans, then you'll probably understand my reaction, otherwise you'll probably just think I'm crazy. In most of the Mario Party games and in all of the Wario Ware games, there is some form of "Jump Rope" game. As fun as those are, let's face it, its just pressing the A button over and over again. But this is a revolution in Jump Rope games. Now, for the first time, instead of pressing A over and over again, you quickly tilt up the controller over and over again!
In the end, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz is pretty much what everyone expected. If you hate Monkey Ball or you just can't understand it, don't bother. Even the Wii-mote won't make this interesting for you. If you love Monkey Ball, then you'll love this game, and you should definitely pick it up for hours and hours of Jump Rope gameplay.
