I personally think that being encased inside a transparent ball isn’t the best means of travel, and a green checker designed field with explosions also isn’t the best place to roll in either, yet our brave little guy in Monki Bound have already decided that this is the best way to live a fulfilled life.

You already have the first five levels available for play at the start of the game, with the rest up to level 30 still locked. This is good though, so you can master the controls and memorize the speed of your little monkey in a ball. You move your character with the arrow keys, and you can press two of them at once to move in that direction easily and not have to roll one direction at a time. Also take not that you do not move the instant you press an arrow key. There is a bit of delay before your monkey ball moves to where you direct him. With this in mind, you might want to put him as near as possible to the edge of the safe tiles, if you are up against a long row of exploding tiles.

You would then notice that speed is somewhat of an issue, especially when you are already on the levels with exploding tiles, although the speed of your monkey ball is set so that you have just enough time to cross a dangerous square block. This practically means that you can’t just dash through the field, all reliant on luck that it doesn’t blow up on your face which will send you back to the start of the level. You have to learn the pattern at which the tiles explode. It could be one after another, or two at a time with a safe block in between, do they explode continuously in a fast or slow manner? If you already know the pattern, you should then prepare your character for the best adrenaline rush of his life. Run, or in this case, roll until the end!

Bananas that are placed in the field will give you bonus points if you collect them, although they are mostly placed in a dangerous area and if you try to get them, you might risk exploding, so you would choose between getting a high score, or a fast time, although it is not impossible to get all the bananas in a level and make it out alive without a single death, you just have to have mastery.

The game isn’t at the height of its development yet, just sporting a single, bare background behind the field and not much animation except the explosions which look like ink being shot out of a pen, and of course your monkey that mysteriously got inside a ball. The audio is set to a retro beat which is appropriate since these kinds of games have already existed for a long time. All those behind, Monki Bound is still a game good enough to immerse you, that your heart would sometimes race if you are running through an explosive square and be a bit enraged when you are almost at the end and got blasted back to the start.

Play Monki Bound