“Donkey Kong Country Returns” Review

For Nintendo Wii

Pros:	Cons:
Amazing 2-D graphics	Terrible motion controls
Mostly good soundtrack	Some other minor issues
Entertaining simple story
Masterful 2-D platforming
Tons of included content

            It’s hard to believe how long it’s been since the release of the original Donkey Kong Country on the Super NES so many years ago. I wasn’t fortunate enough to play the amazing game at the time of release, but I have played it recently and absolutely love it. Rare (the developers of DKC) did a outstanding job creating a 2-D platformer for the then new SNES, and now the amazing Retro Studios shows their skill at creating amazing platformers. So which is better? The old-school Donkey Kong Country or the modern marvel Donkey Kong Country Returns that feels like a pair of well-worn shoes? Find out in this review!

                Being a 2-D sidescroller, it shouldn’t come to much of a surprise that this game is played in 2-D 100% of the time, nor should you be surprised that when the game is in 2-D, it looks truly amazing. The amount of detail in each level is clearly noticeable when observing the multitude of layers in the background. Be it trees, bushes, vines; the background seems to stretch further back than most games in the genre would. Even the character models and smooth frame rate manage to impress me on every stage. It’s when the game switches to the 3-D cut-scenes that it really loses something, I don’t find the graphics to be quite as detailed and the frame rate to be quite as high. However, I didn’t notice this problem in every cut-scene such as the opening sequence and closing sequence, but some of the cut-scenes directly before fighting a boss were a bit bland. But once again, the 2-D is amazing.

                Most of the themes from the original game have made a return, and have been jazzed up and re-made for this younger crowd. Tunes such as the title screen and Jungle Hijinx are truly outstanding, as well as the mine cart segments, and some of the ocean themes. On the other hand there are a few lackluster themes that just don’t stack up to some of the more memorable ones.  I must admit though that what is there is very much enjoyable and great to listen to while swinging on vines grabbing up every banana in sight. The sound effects are fun, exaggerated sounds that Nintendo games are known for. Every beep, squish, and pop sound great and help create the goofy atmosphere the series is known for.

                None of the Donkey Kong games have ever had an emphasis on storytelling, and Donkey Kong Country Returns continues the trend with its simple approach in this area. The adventure’s new enemies; the Tiki Tribe, in my opinion is a much more fun and cool villain than the Kremlings from the DKC Trilogy on SNES. What they do is pretty awesome too, the story revolves around Donkey Kong attempting to retrieve his banana hoard from the Tiki Tribe that stole them and hid the bananas around the island. The tikis also tend to hypnotize animals and basically possess them to fight Donkey Kong and his little pal Diddy. The simple story isn’t really all that epic, but thankfully doesn’t need to be thanks to the game’s simplicity across the board.

The heart and soul of Donkey Kong Country Returns (like most games by Nintendo) would have to be the gameplay. The masterful 2-D platforming is easily some of the best I’ve ever seen on any ancient or current gaming machine. Nearly all of the outstanding levels have some sort of hook and are varied in so many different ways. Playing through these difficult levels may mean avoiding giant octopuses, climbing across swinging objects and vines, running from massive tidal waves, jumping across gigantic chasms, adventuring through thick forests, exploring enormous factories, and so much more. Each level feels so unique that you will be constantly running into new challenges. It’s a bit of a shame that a few of these challenges and obstacles aren’t exactly well-made. It is rare, but you may occasionally find flaws in the gameplay design. Actually I noticed most of these flaws in the cliff world (World 6) and became so angry at them it really took away from the experience. Such flaws include the icky tar that is immensely difficult to escape, and in the level with the rolling boulders, there are some wacked up areas where you have to duck to avoid the boulders. And besides this I also found a few of the boss battles to be a tad too difficult and annoying to be fun. Perhaps it’s only me that notices these few minor issues, and even so they really aren’t that big of a deal, what worries me much more is the game’s worst aspect; controls.

Easily the biggest downfall of the game, the controls are absolutely not good. Well actually the controls themselves are great, it’s the motion controls that are terrible. I still don’t understand why Retro Studios felt the need to make players shake the remote in so many different situations. Rolling requires shaking while moving, pounding requires shaking while standing still, and blowing (which shouldn’t even be in the game) requires shaking while pushing down. Besides the confusing button combinations waving the remote around is extremely tiresome, annoying, and not to mention unnecessary. It’s fun at first, but shaking the Wiimote during some of the later levels gets very tedious and dull. I only wish there were another way for these movements to be handled. 

               

                On the other hand, Donkey Kong Country Returns also has a very strong category of interest, and that would be known as the Gameplay Amount. The amount of levels in the game is already adequate, but Retro also threw in temple stages which can be accessed by obtaining the K-O-N-G letters in each and every level. After beating the temple stages you can unlock and play the Golden Temple stage as you want. And even after this, there’s puzzle pieces to collect which unlock 3-D turnarounds, concept art, and a music gallery, not to mention time trials and a mirror mode that can be unlocked. There is just such a huge amount of content that playing through the game is only half the fun, hardcore players will want to collect every last puzzle piece and play every last stage. And whenever you think you’ve seen it all, more than likely something new will show up.

                Donkey Kong Country Returns may have a few obvious flaws, but besides the controls, most of these can be easily forgiven. The lush graphics, jazzy soundtrack, simple story, varying gameplay, and enormous amount of content more than make up for the lackluster controls. I hope that another Donkey Kong Country game comes out sooner than us fans have been accustomed to as it would be another adventure as great as this one. Retro even managed to outdo the original trilogy in every single way (well, except controls) and I truly cannot wait for more. These well-worn shoes are still comfortable as ever, let’s hope we’ll get another opportunity to wear them a few more times.

Graphics: Amazing, lush 2-D graphics, 3-D cut-scenes not very detailed                                    9.5

Audio: There are some great themes here, but also some poor ones. Good sound effects     8.5

Story: New characters mean a whole new story. Simple but sweet story works out                 9.0

Gameplay: Masterful 2-D platforming with tons of variety, terrible motion controls              8.5

Gameplay Amount: Tons of content including bonus levels, puzzle pieces, and more       10.0

Overall: One of the best 2-D platformers I’ve ever played, if only the controls were better  9.0