My Wii balance board is highly under-used. After a brief interlude with Wii Fit Plus, the board made a home under the entertainment center, where it stayed until Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll arrived in the mail. Super! A new game to use with my ignored accessory.

Ripping the plastic off the game, I jammed the disc into the Wii and pulled out the Balance Board, sending a dust cloud into the air. This was exciting; my family had an old-timey marble maze when I was a kid ... but then I started to play.

There is no story to follow in Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll. It’s just you, monkeys, balls and a dream. Jam, one of the characters from the series, begins Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll by teaching you how to operate the on-screen avatar.

Using the Balance Board, I leaned to the left, right, forward and backward, manipulating my monkey ball through the tutorial level. On completion, the game loaded the Single Play mode. However, there are four other modes: Co-op Play, Marathon, Practice or Jam Dojo.

Single Play has a collection of six worlds with themes like Magma Valley, Monkey Island and the Chimpean Sea. Each location boasts 10 levels, and the fifth level is a bonus round. There are only a few areas open in the beginning, but as you progress, new activities become available.

So there I was, ready to lean my way into Super Monkey Ball history, but it wasn’t long before I realized that playing on the Balance Board was HARD. The controls are highly sensitive, and I found it impossible to aim my monkey ball without over-compensating and to keep a consistent speed. Stopping was a joke. To make things worse, the camera angles switch unexpectedly and can disorient your sense of direction. Not a problem if this was just a leisurely jaunt through monkey land, but it’s a huge inconvenience when the clock is always ticking.

Eventually, I had to stop using the Balance Board and slap on the safety bracelet of the Wii-mote. The accomplishment I felt from making it through a level on balance alone was not enough to satiate my growing frustration, and my hips started to hurt.

I managed to make it through the first world, but the difficulty increases steadily in each level, making it almost impossible to complete some of the more labyrinthine areas within the time limit. After 20 or so tries in a stage with the ramp and button, I sent the Balance Board back into its cave.

Switching to the Wii-mote did not make the experience any better. The game adds obstacles to the layouts as a way to equalize playing with the Wii-mote and the balance board, so instead of rolling smoothly to the goal, it was back to frustrating controls and feigned enthusiasm when I actually cleared a level. (Yay?)

So maybe Super Monkey Ball Step and Roll isn’t as fun as I thought it would be, but the Co-op mode must be where the real meat is, right? Well, it would be if you could use two Balance Boards or two Wii-motes at a time. Cooperation is the objective here; one of you will maneuver the monkey ball through the environment while the other blasts on the obstacles with the Wii-motes.

Putting the directions into action was a little different. My husband is the better balancer, so I put him up to the task of navigation. With my superior sharpshooter skills, it was only natural I take the boom stick. Shooting everything out of the way was cake, but his enjoyment did not last long. The control issues faced in single-player action infiltrated our multiplayer game, and once that happened, my non-gaming significant other lost all interest in continuing our session.

Though the failure of Co-op will keep us from ever trying it again, the minigames save the game from being a complete waste of time. There are 21 minigames that support one- to four-person competitive multiplayer. Not all 21 games are worth noting, and some are downright terrible (sorry, Hovercraft Battle, I’m just not that into you). However, we really enjoyed the chaos of Battle Pinball and the smooth flow of Monkey Snowboard.

Super Monkey Ball: Step and Roll may not be the Balance Board prodigy I was looking for, but there are some highlights to the game. The previously mentioned minigames are worth checking out with a friend or even alone. That said, the demanding control scheme that plagues the main activities in the game and a lack of worthwhile unlockables ruin any long-term playing plans. Better luck next time.