Game Reviews

Super Monkey Ball Bounce

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Super Monkey Ball Bounce

AiAi's friends have been captured (there's a shocker), and now he has to rescue them all one-by-one. Only this time, he won't be working his way through precarious mazes in a giant hamster ball.

No, this time he'll be bouncing all over the place like everyone's favorite game from The Price is Right. He's still in the giant hamster ball, though.

Working the angles

I know what you're thinking, and to an extent you're right: Super Monkey Ball Bounce is essentially Peggle with monkeys. Or more monkeys. Is there a monkey in Peggle?

Anyway, it's an easy comparison to make, really. But that's not to say Super Monkey Ball Bounce doesn't have a few of its own tricks up its sleeve.

The most interesting bits of the game are the levels that include enemies, bosses, or idols. Each represents a slightly tougher target to nail with a well-placed shot, and it's often satisfying to see them blow up in a comedic puff of smoke.

It's also pretty good-looking. The levels are colorful, the various monkeys are full of personality, and the animations are quite smooth.

Monkey on your back

Being free is really Super Monkey Ball Bounce's biggest issue. Or to put it another way, the way in which it's been monetised is.

There's plenty to enjoy in the first group of levels, even as the difficulty starts to ramp up. Then you'll start to run out of power-ups and realise the only way to get more is either to randomly earn them at the slot machine, or to buy them with premium currency.

Ads are also prevalent, and tended to appear after every single level for a while when I was playing. But then you'll start to lose, and realize you only have a limited number of lives (continues) available - and it takes 30 minutes for one to refill.

It's mostly par for a somewhat depressing course - although finding out that the game requires you to spend premium currency, bug your friends on Facebook, or wait days (yes, days) to access new zones is pretty unpleasant.

It's fun to play Super Monkey Ball Bounce, due in no small part to its obvious inspiration, but the problem is that it won't let you play for very long. At least not without coughing up some cash.

Super Monkey Ball Bounce

Super Monkey Ball Bounce seems like an interesting spin on Popcap's well-loved franchise, but it doesn't take long for all that monetisation to get in the way of the fun
Score
Rob Rich
Rob Rich
Rob Rich is the editor of 148Apps.com