Super Monkey Ball Step and Roll - review

ANYONE who has enjoyed the various fitness and lifestyle enhancements of the Wii Fit games will speak fondly of the balance board.

That's fine. That's what it's for.

What it's not for is controlling AiAi the monkey in a big ball trying to negotiate a series of intricate and increasingly difficult obstacle courses.

If I close my eyes, I can almost hear the Nintendo executive barking down the phone to the tearful design lead of the SMB team that if he wanted to be employed in the morning, he'd better make the game suit the beloved balance board.

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Except the game is made by Sega, who, in their haste not to miss some imaginary boat in which Wii balance board games take over the world, by forcing the entire game to bow to its constraints, have pretty much ruined it.

I defy you to propel the ball in a half decent straight line. I double defy you to turn a corner properly.

With the remote, which, mercifully, is available to use, the difficulty has been ramped up to compensate with extra obstacles and things, so someone, somewhere, actually knew what problems the board created, yet still they persisted with it. Odd.

The level design is unimaginative and no great leap from the game's previous incarnations, and it features possibly the world's worst co-op mode, where a partner can shoot obstacles out of the way.

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If you are facing them. And haven't already found another way round them. Great.

There are around 20 mini games of varying quality, ranging from head-scratchingly bad to eyebrow raisingly interesting, but not much more.

With titles such as Monkey Luge, Jump Rope, and Hovercraft Race, they speak for themselves and most only serve to remind you of the better games that inspired them.

Sumo Smash is funny if you ever got goose pimples at a Scottish accent roaring 'Gladiator rrrrrrready!', but it doesn't last long.

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My four-year-old nephew found the monkey funny for a bit, and the game's original, basic charm is just about intact, albeit hidden away under a myriad of distractions and white elephants.

If you class yourself as a casual gamer who has enjoyed the franchise before and rarely plays anything else, there might be something here for you, otherwise I'd keep the balance board for yoga.

4/10

Review sponsored by Game - www.game.co.uk

Super Monkey Ball Step and Roll

Nintendo Wii

16.99 (www.game.co.uk)

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