1000 Points

This new WiiWare title is developed by The Code Monkeys for the Nintendo Wii and is available for  download at a cost of 1000 points. Imagine a game that mixes dodgeball, target throwing, platform jumping and of course… monkeys, and you’ll have a rough idea of what to expect.

As you begin the game, you’ll have a choice of eight characters to play as before starting the tutorial. This will present to you ten different missions; each one explaining the controls. To control your monkey, you’ll have to learn how to perform short/medium/long throws, dodge incoming attacks, jumping, climbing trees, applying swerve to bananas that you throw, and catching incoming projectiles. Once you complete the tutorial, you’ll unlock three different campaigns; each one increasing in difficulty, as well as three other play modes.

Whereas Campaign mode is a traditional, mission-based game type, Greatest Ape sets you with three lives and a small stockpile of bananas as you try to outlast your opponents and become the last monkey standing. Minute Monkey grants you with unlimited lives as you and you opponents attempt to achieve the highest score against the clock. Ape Team divides the monkeys into two teams and you must eliminate every member of the opposing team to win.

The majority of the missions in Campaign mode requires you to knock other monkeys off their podium (and dodging their attacks), and throw bananas at various targets. Fairly straight forward and simple, except the controls aren’t as responsive as they ought to be if you’re to stand any chance of success. The game is played with the Wii Remote on its own (although the Wii Balance Board is also supported), and to look around, you point the on-screen cursor to the left or right to make your monkey rotate its view. This feels a bit clumsy at times, and especially when you’re surround by opponents, you want to be able to look around you as fast and as accurately as possible. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen; and I’m left wondering why a combination of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk wasn’t implemented.

Another area I’m not too sure about is the way in which you throw objects. Holding down A, and releasing it as you swing the Wii Remote will throw various items. Varying the amount of force used will determine if the throw is light, medium, or hard. Unfortunately, this doesn’t feel particularly responsive and as a result, any mission that requires a high level of accuracy feels like an up-hill struggle.

Whether this is this main reason as to why campaign 2 and 3 are anything but easy is a fair question. All missions aren’t the same, but they do share a common task; which is throwing. There are other factors that make these campaigns challenging; like the quantity of ammo you have, the accuracy of your enemies’ attacks, and the number of opponents. However, I can’t deny that I am somewhat disappointed with the control method in this game.

Greatest Ape, Minute Monkey, Ape Team are nice additions to the Campaign mode, but lack any depth or reward for them to warrant frequent plays. They do represent particular types of missions that you can play outside of the Campaign mode; should you want to. All three display a counter that shows the number of times you have won in that particular game type. There’s no goal as such, just play to win.

Manic Monkey Mayhem does include something that even a lot of the more expensive on-disc multiplayer games don’t, and that’s a Wi-Fi multiplayer mode. There’s local multiplayer that supports up to four players, and you can even choose whether the screen is split horizontally or vertically. There’s four game types to choose from; so while the choice isn’t massive, you can at least play with friends and family. And that’s one area that this game does well in.
Playing online via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection pits you up against three other players around the world, or you can play friends using the Friends Code system. There are four game types to choose from; Greatest Ape, Pass The Parcel, Coconut Fight, and Banazooka Fight. Unfortunately, since the game is still relatively new; and currently only available in Europe, you might have trouble finding people to play against.

Visually, the game is pleasant enough with different environments that include space, a desert, jungles and industrial landscapes. These are rendered nicely and although not amazing, certainly give variation to the settings.
The soundtrack reminds me of playing old Monkey Island games (a coincidence in title there), which is always a good feeling.

Overall, Manic Monkey Mayhem provides a decent amount of fun both in single-player and multiplayer. Campaign mode will undoubtedly throw up challenging missions that will have you playing again and again. Sometimes, it’s a fine line between failure and success, and it’s because of this, you’ll keep coming back for more. The selection of four multiplayer modes are nothing special. Apart from the Pass The Parcel mode, they’re all pretty much the same concept (throw things at your opponents). All in all, it’s a solid WiiWare title worth playing on your own, or with friends and family. 1000 points may seem a bit much, but the inclusion of a Wi-Fi multiplayer mode certainly adds replay value.

+ Its relative simplicity should appeal to gamers both young and old
+ Play online
+ Option to use Wii Balance Board to dodge left/right
+ Campaign mode will definitely provide a challenge

- …partly because the accuracy of throwing isn’t great
- Essentially quite repetitive

Score – 6.5/10

Manic Monkey Mayhem [Official game website]