| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| Wii | 9.40 |
| Overall | 9.40 |
|
Retro Studios made a name for themselves by successfully adapting a classic Nintendo franchise to a modern console. The Prime series is a masterpiece but are they a one game wonder? Nintendo gave them another major franchise to play with, Donkey Kong Country but this time Retro stuck with the gameplay elements of the past and created one of the best 2D platformers in years. The way you control Donkey Kong has changed from the SNES days. Gone is the Donkey/Diddy mechanic where you can switch between them, now you have a life bar which allows for more than one hit, that makes navigating levels less frustrating. Diddy acts as a sort of bonus power up allowing you the ability to hover after a jump, if you get hit you lose him and that ability (Note: in 2 Player Diddy can be controled, I did not play 2P). Kong can still jump, roll, grab and throw his way through levels with a few new skills added in. He can now sing on vines and climb certain walls and ceilings. He can also do a ground pound and blow some air which is useful for putting out fire engulfed enemies. His move set is better than ever but its how you perform some of the moves that have some upset. The biggest knock I can give the game is that too much emphasis was put on waggle. There is no roll button, instead to roll you must shake the wiimote while moving forward. Two other moves are also mapped to a shake, if you are standing still and shake you do a ground pound. If you duck and shake you blow. There were times where I wanted to blow but ended up rolling into an enemy, or I wanted to roll but just started pounding on the ground. Rolling is still a significant aspect of the gameplay so setting it to an action that is not as reliable as a button is confusing to me. After a few hours you will be used to the timing of the roll so its not a game breaker, just one of those annoying control choices. There is one other strange change to the controls, bouncing off enemies. Normally bouncing off enemies is as simply as landing on them, in this game to get a good bounce off an enemy you must press jump the instant you hit the enemy. If you time it wrong Kong does a small bounce that usually leads to his demise. This took me halfway through the game to nail down the timing, I guess it adds to the challenge but in a game so well designed the controls shouldn't be the challenge. Ok got the negative out of the way, the rest of the game is nothing short of spectacular. Its a monstrous game with about 80 levels all with impeccable design. The best platformers have mechanics that are fun to play and levels that keep using those mechanics in interesting ways throughout. Each level adds some element you have not seen before. Backgrounds are alive and many times can be interacted with in some way. Retro found the perfect balance between making a challenging game and keeping it fair. The final few worlds are tough, I died 10-20 times in a level at a time but never got angry, it was always my fault and with practice I mastered the levels. This game has a far more lenient saving system and check point system than the SNES games. Those games saving system were idiotic, here you save after each level, like normal games do. Each level has well placed checkpoints and if you ever get stuck the super guide makes an appearance. While you will lose many lives you may always buy them from a Cranky store with the many gold coins you find, I always kept 30 lives with me at all times. If you need more help you can activate one of three powerups before a level, one adds one more heart to your health meter, great for boss fights. This game gives the player plenty of opportunity to make the game easier for themselves without sacrificing the levels difficulty, its perfectly done. Even though each new level had me wowed more than the next, Returns doesn't exactly have the most variety in terms of power ups or in Donkey Kong's case, animal friends. The only animal to ride in the game is the rhino and it's used sparingly. There are no swimming levels either, though I wasn't much of a fan of them to begin with. The way I see it, Retro made sure to nail the core elements first and make a great platformer using just that. To me the old DKC games had simplistic level design but the amount of variety with the animals kept things interesting. I feel like a sequel to Returns will probably implement the other animals and elements which would make for an incredible game. That said this game doesn't need it, its so good I never missed any of those elements. The levels are still filled with secrets, better placed ones as well. Each stage has the four Kong letters to find which are always in view but require skill to grab. There are multiple puzzle pieces well hidden in each level. As always there are secret rooms that lead to mini game like levels. The game encourages the player to replay the levels and collect every item, especially the Kong letters which lead to an entire new world of levels, the very best ones in the game might I add. After you complete a level you can replay it in time attack mode. This mode is for the speed runners and if anyone has played any of the old games you know you can fly through levels, here you have gold, silver and bronze times to compete against. As you can probably tell there is as much content in these games as the SNES DKC games which were huge as well. I cannot stress enough just how amazing the levels are. This game takes the boring mine cart levels and adds all sorts of twists to it to make it seem fresh once again. Sadly the boss fights don't live up to the quality of the levels. The majority of the bosses are pattern fights, most have boring patterns which makes for boring battles. Some are trial and error which is always annoying. It's a minor blemish on a game that is for the most part quality from start to finish. The art style used fits perfectly with the 3D models in a 2D game, way better than how NSMB does it. Most of the time the game feels like a living cartoon, but it isn't hand drawn, it's a great visual style that works. Easily one of the best looking games on the wii. The music is mostly basic jungle beats and tunes, nothing as memorable as the DKC2 soundtrack. Donkey Kong Country Returns is one of the best games of 2010. If you are a fan of platformers you must get this game immediately, 2D platforming is rarely this good. It never tries to be something it is not, Retro set out to make the best 2D platformer they could make and they created a new classic. I believe with a few changes to the controls and some more classic elements from past DKC games, the sequel will be a masterpiece. |
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Posted by Dvader Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:26:20
Sun, 16 Jan 2011 05:15:56
This will likely be my next game purchase, after I finish Mario Galaxy 2, Epic Mickey, and Paper Mario: TTYD, of course. 
Sat, 29 Jan 2011 09:47:23
I will have to get this one, well written review, much appreciated.
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