Whereas players formerly used an analog stick to control the tilt of a level, which sent the ball (plus enclosed monkey) rolling, Banana Blitz instead requires players to tilt the Wii Remote as they manipulate the landscape. Easily among the most obvious implementations of the Wii's position-sensing Remote, this control scheme also ranks as one of the most intuitive. Unfortunately, playing Monkey Ball one-handed, as the Wii Remote is meant to be held, provides for some spastic responses, but a two-handed grip provides for an impressive degree of control.

Still, it's hard not to lament the loss of the traditional stick-based controls. There's really no reason to completely abandon the old scheme, especially since the Nunchuck attachment and its analog stick are utilized in the multiplayer side of things. What about those players that don't dig the motion sensing? Sure it's nice, but previous entries in the franchise prove Monkey Ball is still perfectly playable without the tilt controls, and the decision to avoid them seems arbitrary. Since when is providing more options a bad thing?

The inclusion of boss battles also highlights a vexing design choice. The joy of Monkey Ball lies in navigating tricky labyrinths, not in dodging a giant vulture's attacks while waiting for the chance to jump on its weak point. Camera and aiming problems only worsen these encounters, making it difficult to attack and dodge precisely. Perhaps these battles would have been better relegated to another mode of play, but forcing them onto players as they work through the single-player campaign was not a choice made with the players in mind.

Then there's the mini-games, the variety of which includes some quality moments, some crap ones and some odd exclusions. On the good side, Space Monkey Attack has players tilting the controller left and right as they tackle wave after wave of enemy fighters, a la Space Invaders. Monkey Wars uses the Nunchuck attachment to provide a shallow but functional first person shooter. Once you get the controls down, the simplicity of Monkey Darts can be quite addicting in a multiplayer setting. Meanwhile, control issues prevent the likes of Whack-a-Mole, Rock-Paper-Scissors Attack and Ring Toss from being so friendly.

Part of this is due to a lacking explanation of how each mini-game works. A quick tutorial introduces players to each mini-game and how it's played, but a severe lack of detail often leaves players with absolutely no idea how to play. More detailed controls, or maybe even an optional tutorial, would have easily rectified this.

Worse yet, though it contains 50 mini-games, Banana Blitz finds itself unable to match the limited offerings of past Monkey Ball titles. The popular and addictive Monkey Target lacks the additional maps and options that made it such a hit in the first place. And Monkey Billiards, which seems like such an obvious candidate for the Wii's capabilities, is disappointingly absent.

Between odd design choices, forced motion control and a number of questionable mini-games, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz doesn't exactly live up to the series' standards. However, some of the mini-games are pretty cool, if a bit shallow. Really, it's a perfect rental, with enough variety to keep players busy for a few days and nothing to keep them interested beyond that. From there, the relatively cheap Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 on the GameCube (playable thanks to the Wii's backwards compatibility) would be a wise, not to mention superior, choice for those seeking more Monkey Ball action.