Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD

Despite the steep difficulty curve and lack of any real new content, Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD is a noted improvement over the original version of the game. It runs very well, and isn't a huge space-eater either, coming in at 1.4GB, allowing it to fit nicely alongside your other digital titles. This is also thankfully not a full-price title, so those looking to dust off their monkey ball skills can do so without breaking the bank. Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD does a lot well, but it's just not quite as ripe as the rest of the bunch.

As a return effort the core of Super Monkey Ball is there with Banana Blitz HD, it’ll just be hard to turn people onto it unless you’re going in with a solo mindset.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD isn’t a perfect recreation of the original game due to some things being improved and others being taken away. The overall presentation is more enjoyable when it comes to the main game, but the massive drop-off in mini-game selection hurts the replay value.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD has a solid single- player mode that, if not slightly lacking in content, gives players an addictive rush that makes them want to come back for more. But that same heady rush is often tempered by controls that become your biggest obstacles at times. Paired with an extremely weak multiplayer experience that is missing a huge chunk of content, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz becomes harder to recommend.

Super Money Ball: Banana Blitz HD feels at odds with both its former self and the new hardware it is running on. It lacks the functions, features and creativity to bring this Sega series back to where it belongs — in the hearts of many a gamer.

While it’s welcome to see one of Sega’s most original IPs return to modern consoles, Banana Blitz HD is far from the series at its best and one that purists will find wanting.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD could be a wonderfully fun and enjoyable game. Sadly, control difficulties and horrendous camera mechanics greatly diminish the fun to be had.

Not the entry fans of the series would have preferred to see get ported, but Banana Blitz HD is worth checking out for anyone that never played it on Wii, or those that just couldn't deal with the motion controls back then. It isn't the best example of what Super Monkey Ball is all about, as the unnecessary difficulty of the stages, additional random elements and terrible boss battles can really hamper the fun, but as a party game, it still hits the spot. If you really miss playing with monkeys in balls, this is your best option right now, but let's hope SEGA sees fit to bring the superior first two games over in the near future.

Back in the day, we gave the Wii version a crushing 4/10 score and said ‘if the controls were good then you could double the score’. Little did we know that over a decade later, our words would ring (almost) true. With more usable controls you can finally enjoy this batch of 100 levels for what they are, but the wider game is let down by weird leaderboard decisions and those lacklustre mini-games. The best monkey-in-a-ball game since Super Monkey Ball 2, sure, but not quite a return to the series heyday.

After spending time with Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD, I’m still confused as to why this specific game was the pick to revive the franchise. The 10 mini-games included aren’t that strong and the main game is mediocre at best, dragged down by the motion-focused level design and abysmal boss battles. On one hand, I was happy to play Super Monkey Ball again, but on the other, I wish I could play a better Super Monkey Ball game.

In the end, Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD will satisfy fans with its lovingly new remade visuals and presentation. While the single-player mode is much more improved thanks to analog controls, the new multiplayer elements are drab and will damper your experience should you want something to play with friends. These are some Super Monkey Balls you should probably play with yourself rather than others.

If you’re an avid fan of the Monkey Ball series you may find some entertainment here. Otherwise, I’d say you should pass, or wait until it’s on sale as Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD is not the grand return of the series it could have been.

The game is less welcoming to new players as its predecessors, and the Main Game campaign mode feels disjointed with uninspired and annoying boss battles. I wanted to like this game, as I am a huge fan of the franchise, but this banana does not pass the smell test.