Thursday 11 January, 2007

I think that if any game were begging to be made into a Wii title, it was the Monkey Ball series. I had no prior experience actually playing the games before this one, but I'd seen them played quite a few times before and it always seemed like something destined for a higher degree of interactivity.

The controls for this game are probably the most intuitive for any game out on the Wii or, for that matter, any platform. There isn't much to the main game; just move your controller to tilt the levels and get your monkey of choice to the end goal. It becomes apparent fairly early on though that the phrase "easy to learn, hard to master" is most definitely applicable to this game. It can be frustrating, but I consistently find it difficult to blame anyone but myself because this game is actually super well put together.

Just about the only thing that kept me from throwing my Wiimote against the wall is the cheery little music that plays in all the levels. It feels perfect for what you're doing and can be very soothing. I'm big on having good music in games. I find that good music actually makes or breaks a given game for me and love some games just because of how great the soundtrack was.

I'm stuck on one of the pirate levels right now, so I'm going to take a break, but I'll get back to it in awhile.

I tend to think of music as peripherally one of the "Background arts" in video games. Background arts are really not background at all, and are just as much of the emmergent experience as anything else. Its more how a player observes it.

When a game has bad graphics, low texture detail, bad level design, players tend to think "Wow, that level sucked." or "These graphics are outdated."

Whereas things like camera work and lighting effects are very background. They are also very important but players have a harder time registering. Most players will look at a game with bad lighting and say "Huh, this game looks tacky." Or a game with a bad camera will get responses like "It just doesn't feel right." They aren't things most players have so versed a vocabulary to discuss unless they have prior lighting or camera experience.

Music is an odd one, because music can be either background or foreground...sometimes both...depending on how its used.

Would you consider the music something you notice immediately, or something that gradually effects you as you play? Try playing the game muted...how different is the gameplay experience? Even when music isn't meant to be prominent, do you personally still make a point of listening to it? You mentioned you value soundtracks a great deal. Do games quickly impact you with their music, or do you develope an attachment over time?