Our primate friends are well known for their dexterous abilities, as well as their love of a certain yellow fruit and more recently their territorial disputes. The developer Code Monkeys have taken a lot of inspiration from these traits for their latest WiiWare title – Manic Monkey Mayhem.
As a WiiWare title, Manic Monkey Mayhem could be hindered by the limitations placed on file size with all WiiWare titles. At a glance, Manic Monkey Mayhem seemingly avoids these inherent issues, as the presentation is brilliant. The graphics, although a tiny bit dated, are smooth, vibrant and the textures are all unique. There’s a simple and easy to use interface throughout the options process as well.
The single player mode is divided into four different areas: Tutorial, Greatest Ape, Minute Monkey and Ape-Team. The tutorial is extensive and allows the player to become familiar with the basic and the finer aspects of controller their monkey minion. Great Ape is the crux of the title and is basically a war of attrition, Minute Monkey follows this same basic premise but adds a timer to the proceedings and Ape-Team splits the players and NPCs into teams and then it’s the last monkey left standing that is the winner.
Each monkey stands on their own platform and throws bananas and avoids being killed; there is no freedom of movement – which is something that takes a lot of getting used to. Even for fans of “on-the-rail” titles, there’s a degree of movement in terms of the character “railing” through the levels, whereas with Manic Monkey Mayhem, the character is entirely still.
In the single player mode there is no story that ties each level together, you simply play one level, complete and move onto the next level. There’s a gentle difficulty curve, so the first campaign shouldn’t take long to complete but as the single player continues, the difficulty increases and in some areas are frustratingly hard to complete. Although at some points it feels more like luck than skill when a level is over.
The controls do require a level of Wii Waggle, especially in regards to throwing the bananas at your opponents but fortunately the Wii Waggle doesn’t require a player to flail their arms and cause ABH to the nearest person in the room. There’s additional methods of controls available, such as the D pad for dodging or curving the trajectory of the throw and the Balance Board support, which is used in the same method as the Wii Remote is available throughout the single player mode.
Unfortunately something that should feel as natural as throwing a banana doesn’t always register well with the game. There’s definitely sensitivity with the Wii Remote, it’s just nearly impossible to guess how hard the player needs to flick their wrist to get the banana flying correctly. As this is a critical part of the game, the luck aspect does feel more prevalent than skill of the player.
Unfortunately regardless of how many hours are put into the single player mode, no extra characters, weapons or levels are unlocked. It really is as simple as you get what you see. However, the multiplayer is really where Manic Monkey Mayhem earns its points.
With a wide range of multiplayer modes available offline, it’s already standing up well against the single player mode. With individual and team play modes available, with score challenge games, pass the parcel and many other enjoyable, fun, almost mini-games. Although on a lot of the multiplayer games there is no scoreboard, so tracking who’s winning what is fairly difficult after several games or a night out on the tiles.
The best aspect of Manic Monkey Mayhem is it’s online multiplayer mode. Unlike many “AAA” titles, there’s an effective and usable online mode available through the Nintendo WiFi Connection. There’s very little lag, the controls remain the same and the presentation still remains top notch. In many respects it feels like the game is still offline. There’s no friend-code system, which his more than a blessing. Unfortunately there is no leader board system though, so playing online is simply for the player’s enjoyment and not for bragging rights.
