Monkey On Your Back Review

Costas Stephanides’s Review

A very different game for all you animal lovers out there.

It seems that mobile gaming has gone primate crazy. First Gorillaz was launched a few weeks ago and now Monkey On Your Back (MOYB) comes swinging by. While Gorillaz was an easy game to classify, MOYB is a bit trickier as it doesn't really fall neatly into one genre. This is not a bad thing at all, as we enter the clone wars (with countless rip offs of Tetris and Puzzle Bobble) it is refreshing to see an original game that is not based on a film/tv series or dare I say a pop super group.

The premise of the game is very weird. After a little bit of animal experimentation you play the part of Nim, a psychic monkey. To aid you on your way, you have the help of a friendly cleaning robot. The robot gives you little tips along the way and also acts as a save point whenever you find him on a level.

Once the idea of controlling a psychic monkey has set in you have to find a way out of the lab. The first few levels teach you the basics of the game and it's pretty easy to get into. Being a monkey, you can climb up walls and ceilings; being psychic, you can control humans. The only snag is that humans can only be controlled once you leap on to them for a free piggy back. The controls are pretty easy with a couple of special moves thrown in. Button 3 lets you use your psychic blast which can be used to stun people. Pressing 7 or 9 allows you to do a fast dash in the given direction. You need to press 5 to jump on the guys to be able to control them. Once on their back, you wont be able to dash but you can jump from person to person and even use their guns. There are a lot of buttons and while its pretty easy to move around, a double tap dash might have been better than separate buttons.

The game is all about finding the green door to exit the level and requires a little bit of careful timing and strategy. You will need to jump on people's backs to be able to open doors and even use the teleporters. Another bonus to being on their back is that they take any damage from enemy shots. There is no map, so some of the levels will have to played through a few times until the correct route is found. Luckily the game auto saves but it is a little oversimplified with infinite continues - even a monkey could play it.

The graphics are pretty good, the backgrounds are well drawn and there's an overall cartoony/comic feel to it. There are even a few cut scenes to inject a bit of humour and make you forget the sins of Man against God's creatures. The first few levels are very easy, in fact the first 10 or so levels are quite easy. Just as you think the plot has unravelled and is about to end, the game gets harder and every save point will be greatly appreciated.

In fact, the game has got all the fundamentals spot on.The graphics, sound, controls and gameplay are all decent. Monkey On Your Back is a great original game that should keep you entertained for a while. Stealth bonuses are available so they have even made the effort to give it as much replay value as they can.