The 2001 GameCube launch featured treacherous Death Star runs, plenty of troublesome ghosts, and even some jet skis, but the monkeys stole the show. Sega's Super Monkey Ball was the surprise hit as well as a must have, and the publisher is attempting to recapture the magic with the upcoming Wii launch title Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz, a sequel that features all new levels, immensely entertaining party games, and a very innovative yet simplistic control scheme.

Much like the previous games in the series, Banana Blitz tests your reflexes by asking you to maneuver a monkey encased within a transparent sphere (hence, a monkey ball) to a goal. It's a very simple concept that in practice becomes rather difficult because it's not always a matter of just rolling the ball forwards and backwards, but around corners, up ramps, and off ledges. You'll have to make hairpin turns, sometimes completing them by mere millimeters, and you'll also have to contend with lots of moving parts, platforms that rise and fall, pieces that spin around, and other objects that have been designed to make your life difficult. It's the type of game that, although you can see the entire playfield and map out what appears to be a sound and intelligent strategy, things can go horribly wrong. Lots of patience as well as persistence may earn you the title of master, but at the same time, that will have been achieved at the expense of those poor monkeys. Whether you like it or not, you're going to fail hundreds of times. Actually, given the new controls, the number could be in the thousands.

Most of the Monkey Ball games feature analog stick control, but given the Wii's motion sensing technology, Sega opted to take a much different approach. The entire game will be played using just the remote, and the set up is just as easy to grasp as the previous one, albeit a bit more challenging. Basically, to go forward you move the remote forward, to slow down you bring it back, and to move left or right, you twist the controller in the desired direction, much like you would a doorknob. It's easy to understand, but it's also a bit difficult to grasp, only because it's tough dealing with the pin point precision. Plus, it involves maneuvering in a 3D space and trying to match those same movements to what's happening on screen, so as I played, I had to identify where a ledge was on the TV, but also where it would be within the room. It took a while to get used to, far longer than I expected, but I eventually got the hang of it. However, seeing as how I haven't played the game since E3, I'm going to have to get accustomed to it again.

Another interesting feature is the ability to jump, which is new to the Monkey Ball franchise. By pressing A on the remote, the monkey ball will leap into the air. This will no doubt come in handy when faced with ledges and what not. However, I've yet to see how this affects the gameplay, so I don't know if the developers have designed levels that can only be completed by jumping.

Sega hasn't released lots of numbers, so I'm not sure how many boards/levels there are in the game, though it's probably safe to assume that there's well over 60. But even if you manage to master them all (which will probably take a really long time to do), you can always fall back on the ten plus party games. There's whack-a-mole, darts, hammer throw, ring toss, hurdle race, and fishing, among others, and they all use the remote. No d-pad whatsoever.

Of all the Wii games coming out this year, I want this one the most. Forget Zelda, forget Red Steel. I want Monkey Ball. But I need to know that Sega's actually taking the time to make it good. The first two games are outstanding, but the last two (Adventure and Touch & Roll) are pretty lackluster. Seeing as how it's for a console launch I'd like to think that the developers are pulling out all of the stops, but Sega's allowed the series to wobble just enough to shake my confidence. Hopefully, I'll get to play the game again in the near future.