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Wireless Games Reviews

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The name of the game - Super Monkey Ball - says it all.

This launch title for Nokia’s N-Gage mobile gaming deck is a respectable conversion of a game originally developed for Nintendo’s GameCube.

As the name suggests, the game involves monkeys and balls.

The objective is to guide starring characters AiAi, Baby, Gongon and MeeMee safely through more than 45 brain-bending scenarios.

Sounds simple right? It would be, if not for ingeniously designed environmental maps that’ll drive even the savviest player batty. Winning demands sharp reflexes and even quicker wit, and braving a steep difficulty curve as the levels unfold.

The rub is that you don’t have direct control over your chosen hero. Instead, the challenge is to move your character around and over obstacles and toward the goal by tilting the playing field and manipulating the laws of physics.

It’s easy at first. Roughly five levels in, when an adorable but ultimately helpless primate goes sailing over a precipice’s edge for the sixth time in a row, the action doesn't seem so simple. Shifting backgrounds, floating platforms and narrow pathways all conspire to make your path forward increasingly torturous.

As if fatal falls weren’t enough, players also have to watch the clock. Collectible bananas that enhance your score only further add to the confusion, presenting a tempting prize for risking hazardous stunts. There’s incentive. Collect enough fruit, and you unlock three addictive mini-games -- monkey fight, monkey race, and monkey target.

The game is shamelessly habit-forming. Casual enthusiasts will find the experience maddeningly enjoyable, while hardcore game players will simply be floored by how skillfully the program - in gorgeous 3D - has been adapted for the N-Gage. This is simply the best puzzle game the N-Gage currently has to offer.