- Publisher: Sega
- Release Date: Feb 21, 2006
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Much like the elusive banana itself, Touch & Roll is a double-edged sword: equipping the player with a delicious, colorful core, but then burdening them with a slippery peel that they’re not quite sure what to do with.
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Has everything you could hope for in a DS Monkey Ball: lots of stages, great mini-games, and nice presentation. The less-than-perfect control and the over-saturation of new Monkey Ball iterations, however, make it less attractive to the gaming masses.
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It takes all of 10 seconds to understand but countless hours to perfect. Is there a better recipe for a portable game?
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A bit disappointing. A portable version of Monkey Ball this is, but perfect it is not, and that's too bad.
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At the core of this mess is a title that was once one of the best games on the GameCube, but it has since grown stale with age, has lost the perfect controls that helped to define it, and traded in elements of the presentation that worked for others that only make the game worse.
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Touch ‘n Roll suffers from trying to shoe-horn in features just to make use of them.
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The game may feel a little too familiar as many of the stages are lifted right out of previous games, and the touch-screen control can be a little awkward to adjust to, so you'll likely find yourself falling back on the D pad to control your monkey.
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N-InsanitySuper Monkey Ball Touch & Roll isn't really a bad game. It's just that there are other versions of the franchise that are much better.
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Nintendo PowerRather than shoehorn the current Monkey Ball experience onto the DS, it would have been nice if the developers had tried to reinvent it in a way that truly took advantage of the handheld's capabilities. [Mar 2006, p.88]
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But the touch screen control just doesn’t work all that well in a game design that was established with an analog interface, and even after mastering the compromising touch controls, there’s the reality check that this original Monkey Ball game just isn’t all that special on the Nintendo DS.
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Even the touch controls are more of a hindrance than a novelty.
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Electronic Gaming MonthlyTake the "Touch" portion of the title with a grain of salt, as it's nigh impossible to maneuver your way through the Monkey Ball gauntlet using the stylus controls. [Apr 2006, p.105]
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Sega really stumbled into a brick wall with this game and it'll always be one of those titles that, when I look back on it, will be remembered as a missed opportunity to create something truly special.
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Super Monkey Ball Touch and Roll isn't a great game, but if you can work your way around the controls there is plenty to like.
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games(TM)Touch & Roll is a fun package, but the control problems force you to all but disregard the main game and treat it, instead, as a collection of mini-games. [Mar 2006, p.102]
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It lacks so much of what made its forebears great, and at times you look at it and wonder if they thought any of it through.
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Despite little annoyances and a bothersome soundtrack, the game still delivers quite well in terms of beautiful graphics and fun D-pad-moving gameplay.
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BoomtownA very amiable game. You really want to it to be better than it is, and with its flashes of brilliance it's easy to get deceived into thinking it's far more playable than initial appearances.
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Sure, the basic gameplay's there, but even for previous SMB fans, this would have to be a try-before-you-buy title.
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Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll is a game that had high expectations from its fans, but ultimately lets everybody down.
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The quirky roll-a-monkey game debuts on the DS, which should provide hours of clean fun for gamers of all ages, if you can get past the frustrating controls.
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You'll play Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll in spurts, because it's fun for a while. But the game's control problems will eventually cause the charm to wear off. And then the lid will be nailed back on the barrel and the monkeys won't come out to play again.
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A few minorly successful party games aside – namely Golf and, to a lesser extent, Bowling – Super Monkey Ball just doesn’t work, and is almost true to its title: It’s not super, but it does have monkeys in, and it’s mostly balls.
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Getting monkey into position, and camera into position behind him, in time to make your desperate dash for a whirling mechanism has everything to do with the old-school frustrations of instant-death gaming and nothing to do with the effortless application of skill that the first game delivered so appealingly. [Feb 2006, p.91]
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Considering how nice the game looks, it's a shame that the flighty control spoils it.
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A sluggish camera is annoying when speed is required but completing the 100 stages is still very satisfying.
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Sadly, I couldn't get past the use of the stylus on what is supposed to be the main event.
Awards & Rankings
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54
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38
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#38 Most Discussed DS Game of 2006
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41
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#41 Most Shared DS Game of 2006
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 15 out of 21
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Mixed: 4 out of 21
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Negative: 2 out of 21
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