Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Review: Donkey Kong Country Returns

Donkey Kong Country Returns is Nintendo's fourth entry into the Donkey Kong Country series.  If Kirby games are easy platformers and Mario games are normal platformers, DKC games are definitely hard platformers.  They require very precise timing and accuracy in nearly every movement you take.

In DKCR, strange floating Tiki musical instruments have run around hypnotizing the animals of Donkey Kong's island to steal all of his banana hoard.  It's now up to Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong (with Cranky Kong's help) to defeat the Tiki instruments and recover his golden hoard.

Unlike previous DKC games, the only animal friend you get to recruit to help you (on some levels) is Rambi the Rhinoceros, but that doesn't mean the game isn't filled with some of the most varied level designs I've seen in a platformer.  Even though there are 8 worlds with their own themes, each level within a world will have its own unique challenges to overcome whether it's a mine cart ride, rocket ride, platforms hidden in fog, machinery timed to the music, lava flowing up to kill you, a giant boulder chasing you, pirate ships manned by pirate crabs attacking you from the background, a tidal wave coming in from the background, or many other threats to your life.

What I Loved

Level Variety

As stated above, there is a very wide variety in the types of challenges you get to face in this game.  Even if it's a repeat type (e.g. another mine cart level), you know something will be different or some new twist will be added to the challenge (like the rails you're riding on falling into the lava or moles throwing bombs at you while you're on the mine cart).

Difficulty

I want to be very clear on this: this game is hard.  However, it's the perfect type of hard where it's not overly punishing and you always feel like you're making progress (sure I died 20 times already, but I got one platform farther than I got last time!).  This makes it extremely rewarding when you complete things because it takes pure skill, so you know you're pretty awesome when you succeed.

Collectibles

Within every level there are four letters that spell out Kong and 5-9 puzzle pieces to collect.  Getting all the Kong letters gets you a K badge and getting all the puzzle pieces unlocks some concept art for the game.  Getting all the K badges in a world unlocks an extra super challenging level, which grants a pearl upon completion.  Getting all 8 pearls unlocks the final level once you beat the game.  Completing that level gets you the mirror that lets you play all levels backwards with only one heart, no Diddy Kong, and no items.  Finishing that gets you the final 8 pieces of the concept art to unlock.  I never played the mirror levels because I personally had no interest in playing through all the levels again, but unlocking new levels is by far better than most unlockables any game I've played has had since Goldeneye for the N64.  

Bosses

Just like with the Zelda series, the bosses in DKC are generally more about strategy than anything else.  You have to study their attack patterns, learn how to avoid getting hit, and learn where the opening is to hit them.  Once you do this, you just have to repeat it two more times (although generally the boss gets harder after each hit) and you win.  I love this formula because I always know exactly how much more I have to survive through.  So when I die after hitting him twice, I know I was close to finishing him and don't get discouraged.  It also means that the bosses don't take hours long like some bosses

The Rhythm

I'm not just talking about the music (although the music is fantastic).  In any good platformer, played optimally, a level will have a certain rhythm to it.  The momentum of the level never stops and there's a constant flow to the player's movements.  This could not be truer than in DKCR.  This rhythm is most obvious in any mine cart or chase level.  Enemies appear in specific places at just the right time to keep you moving at a constant rate.  They made this abundantly clear by adding a Time Trial mode to every level with the Shiny Gold medals (apparently better than regular Gold medals) requiring the knowledge of this rhythm.

What I Disliked

Bouncing Off Of Enemies

In order to bounce higher off an enemy in any Mario game, you simply have to hold A while falling on him.  In this game, you have to push 2 at just the right moment when you land on him to achieve this higher jump.  Apparently you may also just hold A, but on a Wii controller, I don't know how you hold the controller to be holding right on the + pad, holding A, and holding 1.  I didn't even know about the A button thing until after the game, so the entire game I went through with the timing method.  When you die because you didn't bounce off an enemy, it's incredibly frustrating.  Especially because the timing on some enemies doesn't quite make sense (especially if you are bouncing up from an enemy below).

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