Customer Reviews
Controller nightmare - By: Mrs. Jacqueline A. Hollis, 27 Dec 2008 
My 12 year old daughter was given this game for Christmas & we gave it a whirl on Boxing Day. Admittedly I'm not a dedicated gamer & neither is she although we've both played a number of different Wii games. The control on these games is frightful - we tried 10 of the mini games & gave upin total frustration. The instructions on how to use the controllersin each mini game seem clear enough but the reality of actually doing it is another thing altogether. The games themselves are pretty pointless & apart from the difficultyin controlling your screen persona both my daughter & myself found that it was a little unclearin most of the games we played, exactly what we were supposed to be doing. If you manage to work that out, of course you meet the problem of actually getting your character to do what it's supposed to do. My daugher & her friend (who has had a Wii of her own for some time & plays regularly) tried to play it laterin the day & they both agreed that controlling the characters is so unpredictable & difficult that it wasn't worth continuing with the game. We have all voted this game a total waste of time. Hope you find this review helpful.
Great fun! - By: Linda Jones, 08 Aug 2008 
I bought this game for my 6 year old daughter, when she first tried to play it she found it dificult to control & I thought that she wouldn't want to play it again. How wrong I was, this has become her favourite Wii game & can keep her amused for hours & me too! It's great to have a game that we can play together & enjoy, we find ourselves shouting or laughing when we fall off a ledge, moving bridge, mushroom or whatever we are trying to move over. Other reviewers have commented that it's rather childish, but it is for ages 7 & up - so if you want a more 'grown up' game, then pick something else, there's a large selection! The controls do take a bit of getting used to but once you do, it's great fun. You have the choice of playing the main game or one of the 50 party games. I notice that another reviewer has stated that they finished the main game a their first attempt!!!! I very much doubt this, they probably meant the first world which is mainly to help you get used to the controls. (It is a bit confusing when the credits come up at the end of each world.) There are 8 worlds which get progressively harder. I have to say that my daughter & I really enjoy playing this game.
Good! - By: C. Huxtable, 26 Jul 2008 
i would recommend this game if your a smb fan. Although it is frustrating to control when u play it for the first time but u soon get used to it.
The reason i have rated it 4 stars is cos u cant play 2 or more players on the stages which is a bit dissapointing but overall i think its a good game
Decent. Could have been so much better! - By: M. Turner, 22 Jun 2008 
Super Monkey Ball : Banana Blitz comprises two very different modes. The single player game, much like Marble Madness & true to it's GameCube heritage, & the new multi-player party games, which attempt to capture the spirit of Wii Sportsin providing quick & simple gameplay for all the family.
Despite offering around 60 unique party games, the multi-player modes left much to be desired. Between myself & a few friends, we managed to find just two games with any kind of appeal (namely the Sheep Herding & Alien Abduction). The rest seemed crude or uninspired. A few were tedious to control correctly, or seemed broken & unintelligible, like the Simon Says mini-game. The efforts between those two extremes appeared to work & were easy enough to follow, though they seemed largely void of any fun. The Frisbee Golf & Frog Hopping games were so dull that we abandoned any efforts to enjoy them, literally within seconds. For the most part, the party games were crude & difficult to enjoy, though they may hold some appeal for a much younger audience.
The single player game is enjoyable enough. The objective being to roll the Monkey of your choice (encasedin a ball), around a maze toward a goal, whilst collecting as many bananas as possible before the timer runs out. It's well presented, charmingin it's own innocent way & it does what it sets out to do with admirable competence. Though I can't help but wonder how much better this part of the game could have been, had the developers invested just a little more time & effort to boost replay value.
There's a significant focus on completing mazes within a certain time & plenty of scope for competition between friendsin this area, but the game doesn't even try to capitalize on this. How about setting us some bench-mark times to aim for, huh? How about preset gold, silver & bronze record times we should be aiming to beat? How about bonus scores for collecting every banana on a stage? How about making these targets visible on the level select screen, to encourage replay value? How about multi-player modes where players take itin turn to compete against one another's times? How about a maintaining a proper, detailed high-score table? Hell, how about multi-player split screen, huh? Competitive & even cooperative multiplayer sets of levels?
The potential is so much greater than the developer has catered for. Especially with the multi-player focus on other parts of the game. It's such a shame that this was not carried through into the main campaign.
Alas, none of these opportunities are catered for & although I enjoy the single player game & see so much untapped potentialin it, I can't help but conclude that Super Monkey Ball : Banana Blitz is simply not work the asking price.
Brilliant - By: T. Tilbury, 30 Mar 2008 I was nearly put off this game because I read the other reviews. But because I saw itin the sale & my sister said it was good I bought it & I am so glad I did. There are 50 mini games to choose from & some are harder or last longer than others but then it means my children of 3 & 6 years can join in. But this doesn't mean that adults won't enjoy it too. Definately worth the money.
