Time to get back to these. Only three more to go. Or, er, two and a half, really. But let’s get back on track with Donkey Kong!
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Ah, it was great to be playing Donkey Kong Country again. As you’ll hear on the upcoming Hey! Look! Listen! Audio Edition, Matti blasts it for being absolutely nothing new.
This, in and of itself, is true. The gameplay feels exactly the same, the graphical style is identical, the music is practically unchanged, and even the enemies and supporting cast are nothing new.
But when the 5th first person Halo game is coming out in 9 years, I’m okay with another Donkey Kong Country being released for the first time in just under double that period. Plus, the gameplay is tight and challenging, the graphics are very pleasing, and the music is fantastic, there is nothing to complain about.
However, there’s nothing else new to write about this game. I played a mine cart level, and it was pure fun, just like the SNES game. The only thing I can tell you that is noticeably different is the new waggle to blow feature, which is exactly like it sounds. You waggle the Wiimote and Donkey Kong blows. Luckily, the function of this is to reveal secrets, and so the gimmicky controls are not mapped to any of the moves needed in platforming or combat.
The only other thing I noticed of note was that on top of the K O N G collectible letters, there seemed to be other – far more difficult to discover – collectibles. This is something I don’t mind at all in 2D platformers. With 3D ones, it seems tacked on, but in 2D games it feels more optional and requires you to really know levels intimately to find everything.
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below if you feel I missed key pieces of information that you’re curious about regarding Donkey Kong.
You intentionally moved this impression to the back of the queue after I asked for it, didn’t you?
Nope! Like I said, I wanted to spread the good ones out. I actually moved it ahead from last to now because I knew you were interested in it!
Of Nintendo’s Big E3 Awesomeness of Yay Annoucements, this was the one game I didn’t care about. I think I’m still hung over from playing DKC 1, 2, and 3 back when they came out. By the third one, I was sick of the gameplay and I only finished it because my younger brother did, and when I was 13 it seemed important to finish any game he finished. Gotta hold my position as the Best Gaming Sibling.
So seeing that New Donkey Dong Country has the same gameplay I got permanently tired of back in the mid-90s was a disappointment. Other people are allowed to be happy, though, especially after the aborted trainwreck of an abomination that DKC 64 was. I can see how anyone who played that would be jizzing themselves over the return of DKC as a 2D platformer.
@7th: Other people have the right to be happy? WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH GLEN?!?!?!
To be honest, though, I completely agree with you. I’ve never been a platformer fan, and DKC seems to be a platformer in the purest sense. Glad it’s there for people who want it (which I’m sure will be a lot of people), but there are so many things that are higher up on my queue of games.
I am one of these people who want it and will play it and will love every second of exactly-the-same gameplay. The difference might be that I never had a SNES and only played DKC once. Although I played the Gameboy one to death.