Super Monkey Ball Bounce Review

Peggle is a great game, right? Easily accessible and while a little random when it comes to its physics engine, still pretty fun. We’ve all been waiting with baited breath for Peggle 2 but it just hasn’t made it to iOS yet, which is infuriating. So, how about a game that’s pretty much a Peggle game in all but name? That’s what you get with Super Monkey Ball Bounce. It’s not as refined or quite as good, but it should scratch that Pachinko itch.

Using the characters from the Super Monkey Ball series of games, you manipulate AiAi, a monkey in a ball, rather than a regular ball. Controls are similar to Peggle with drag motions used to line up where you want to take the shot, then it’s just a matter of tapping to release the ball. There’s a wheel to allow you to organize finer tweaks to your placement, but this doesn’t open up immediately.

Each level is mostly a matter of hitting targets or reaching a particular high score. At certain points, you come across boss battles with the need to hit the boss multiple times. That mixes things up a bit but Super Monkey Ball Bounce is still pretty familiar yet likeable.

What’s not so likeable are the many freemium based components. Fail a level and you lose a life with four available at any one time, before you have to wait for the meter to recharge. More insidious are the use of power-ups, purchasable through the premium gold currency. At times, you’ve got little to no hope of completing a stage without something like a rocket to direct your attack. The game is reasonably generous at giving you those for free initially, but repeat sessions to tweak your high score make these a bigger issue.

Plus, there are adverts every few levels, disrupting your immersion within the game and slowing things down. It’s something that makes you long to pay for a way to dodge these. It’s things like these that ensure that Super Monkey Ball Bounce feels like a less refined version of Peggle. I found myself less keen to persevere after a time, despite loving this kind of game. It all felt increasingly weighted against me.

Still, if you’ve exhausted Peggle, your options are pretty limited, which is how Super Monkey Ball Bounce is going to get you.