By Mario Orozco

For the final game review of the semester, I took the recommendation of a fellow journalism major and played “Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz.” The “Super Monkey Ball” games have piqued my interest since childhood and Banana Blitz served as my overdue introduction to the series. Fortunately for me, it seems like I didn’t miss out on anything that special.

Unlike the past games that I have reviewed thus far, I didn’t particularly enjoy Banana Blitz, at least the main single-player portion of the game. The main game revolves around you controlling a monkey in a ball and traversing through different levels leading up to various boss fights. 

While I didn’t love this game, there are some aspects that I thought were pretty fun. The first thing I liked about Banana Blitz were the boss fights themselves. The designs of the different animals that we must battle are all very fun and creative. The boss fights at the end of the worlds were also a breath of fresh air after struggling through the levels leading up to them.

My favorite part of Banana Blitz wasn’t a part of the main game at all. The party games section was the best part of this game by far in my opinion. It consists of 50 different mini games that can be played solo or with your friends. There is such a wide variety of different games to choose from and plenty of replay value, whether you’re competing against your friends or just trying to beat your own high scores. This was my saving grace for Banana Blitz and the reason why I will likely go back and give it some more playtime in the future.

Now to the negatives. The camera and the way it shakes and twists rapidly with every movement made me feel nauseous. I eventually got used to the movement, but the first couple hours of this playthrough were exceedingly difficult as a result. Getting used to the movement of the monkey’s is also challenging. It is very sensitive, making it easy to accidentally fall off the course and make frustrating mistakes. These two things combined made it both disorienting and frustrating at the same time. 

The final thing I didn’t like about the game was how repetitive it got. There are 100 total levels that have a very similar structure to each other, which can dampen the experience over time. This might not be the case for most people, however. I played the game entirely in one sitting which I definitely don’t recommend.

Overall, “Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz” has its strengths and weaknesses, but is overall a decent game. It took me a total of 5 hours and 49 minutes to complete the main game. If I was rating the mini games alone, I would give Banana Blitz a 4 out of 5. However, with everything in consideration, I give “Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz” a 2.5 out of 5. 

I do not recommend the game if you get motion sickness or are looking for a relaxing gaming experience. If you want a fun party game to play with your friends or a challenging game to speedrun, this might be the game for you.

If you have any games you would like me to review, you can email marsgaminggarage@gmail.com.