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Developer: Other Ocean Interactive
Publisher: Sega of America
Format: Android
Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition is a perfect example of what tilt controls are for. The Super Monkey Ball series started on the GameCube, and what where you used the motion stick to tilt the world so that your monkey in a capsule of a ball could roll around. This is perfect for the tilt controls the smartphones of today have to offer! It might feel a bit disorienting, with both the device and the level tilting, but that's just something you adjust to over time.
The controls are beautiful. You simply lean the device in the direction you want to go in! It's tight and responsive, despite some slight problems. For starters, the leaning of everything makes it hard to play while laying on your back or in a car, which are places many play their smartphone games. Secondly, it can be a pain turning tightly and stopping. I honestly feel learning how to turn tightly adds to the difficulty curve, and the game has this cool thing at the bottom corner on the screen to show how centered the weight on your ball is, which can help with balance and stopping altogether.
There are 5 main worlds, each with 2 sets of 10 levels. There is also another bonus world, named "Far East", which is why the game is called Sakura Edition. This world only has 10 levels total. Each one has a unique and interesting theme that is mostly for aesthetics. The levels are cleverly designed for the most part, can can have a few design flaws. For example, a level can have multiple paths for you to go through, with one being undeniably easier. The only incentive the player would have to go the other route is for other bananas, which are good for 1ups, but not too important as lives are essentially infinite. This happens often in the earlier levels but dies off later in the game.
There are also three mini-games: Golf, Bowling, and Target. Golf and Bowling are straight forward enough, but Target is pretty unique. This is where you are launched out of a canon and have to glide using the open ball over a floating target, and as you approach it close the capsule and roll along the target pad to stop at whatever points you get. That might not have been the best explanation but I can say that it is the more unique and fun of the three. They all use tilt controls in some fashion, but Target uses it almost primarily.
The aesthetics are down-right gorgeous. The visuals are in a simple 3D model style that fits quite well for the Super Monkey Ball series while working within the restrictions of a mobile device. The color palette is well chosen for each world, which also has plenty of unique pieces of scenery to further distinguish itself with. The music is also rad and rather fitting for the game. It's all at a decently fast pace, which can fit the excitement of traversing each level in each world. Even the mini-games have more fitting slow-paced tracks for you to listen to.
All in all, Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition is one of the best mobile game's I have ever played. Easily in my top 5, at least. It's a purely skill-based game that I hold dear. It only has a few minor flaws, like how there are plenty of loading screens( which are very quick) or how the game itself is a pretty big file size. Sega of America is one of my favorite developers on the mobile scene, simply because of this game and another in the Super Monkey Ball series.
