Okay Geek Farm
Wii Review - Donkey Kong Country Returns
Ricardo TrejoStory
Seven magical tiki masks known as the Tiki Tab Tribe appear mysteriously on DK isle, and begin causing havoc as they hypnotize animals across the island to gather bananas for some unknown reason. But when the animals go so far as to take Donkey Kong’s bananas, it’s on like… well, y’know who.
Gameplay
Back in the times when side-scrollers were king, the object of many games was to try to finish as fast as humanly possible through the insanely tough default difficulty. Well, Donkey Kong Country Returns revives that sentiment in a way that no other game in recent memory (with the exception of Mega Man 9) has done, and done so well that it can even be argued that it’s even better than its original counterpart. That being said, somehow Returns brings back the same feelings and gameplay style while bringing into the mix a new control scheme, where the motion part of the WiiMote is required to roll for speed, blow to interact with certain objects, and smack the ground to activate switches.
Each world has its own unique theme, and within each world are a number of stages that will keep you guessing on what you’ll be doing next. One second you’ll be swinging from vine to vine while dodging man-eating plants, and the next you’ll be mine carting across a cave in which its foundation is falling apart rail by rail, all while trying to avoid a falling piece of the ceiling and attempting to make a perfectly timed jump to land on an enemy to bounce you up toward the letter O to spell out the word KONG - now that was a mouthful, but it thoroughly describes what the game demands of you as a player. Not to mention that you have to struggle to stay alive in each level being given only two hearts, which equate to a total of two hits - unless you find a DK barrel and get Diddy Kong by your side, in which you’ll be given 4 hearts. Also to note, when Diddy Kong is at your side you are still in control of Donkey, unlike the original where you could switch between the two. Now, Diddy can be used to give DK a bit of extra air time with his jetpack, to elongate jumps and make the adventure a lot less tedious.
There’s also a Co-Op feature for when two players want to get in the game; one controls DK, the other has control of Diddy and can move independently and even gets access to his pop-gun of bananas.
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Visuals / Audio
Where games nowadays are much about grays and browns, Nintendo games feature the rest of the color pallets. Luscious jungles, harsh tides, and menacing volcanoes are just a few of the beautiful sights you’ll be visually treated to as backdrops to some of the stages spread out through the island. Returns’ style is stunning, everything from Donkey’s run animation to the facial expressions on the enemies, and that’s not even going into the way the game can change perspective on you on the fly - having you play in the foreground one moment and then being transported through a barrel to the background the next, and it’s certainly something that a game like Sonic the Hedgehog 4 could learn a lot from.
Soundtrack? I can honestly say that nothing today compares to how much respect was given this game in terms of its audio. The retro sound is still there, but it’s treated in a classy way that makes it feel even jazzier than it all first did 15 years ago. Where Super Mario Galaxy took its music to the next level, DK Country Returns brings it back old school and refines it to pure nostalgic gold. Older tracks get a facelift that only makes them that much more to enjoy, and new tracks are melded perfectly in between the nostalgic tunes that it’s hard to imagine they weren’t in the original games in the first place.
Listen to a couple tracks from the game’s soundtrack here: “Foggy Fumes” and “Fear Factory”
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Difficulty
Thank God for the Super Guide* included, or otherwise a new generation of players who never grew up on platformers would never be able to finish this game. But if you’re from the NES or SNES age then this will be right up your alley; it’s not Ninja Gaiden hard, but it’s still up there as one of the toughest first party Nintendo games ever made. The game doesn’t give out lives like adult diapers at a rest home for nothing. When starting the final world, I started off with the limit of 99 lives and as I finished up the game I was down to a measly 37 lives. Yeah, this game is unforgiving in so many places, but for players like myself, this is everything a hardcore retro gamer has ever asked for.
*Veteran sidescroller players should never use the Super Guide unless they want to forever be known as a pansy.
Hours to Complete
10 to ??hrs. - The main adventure can take anywhere from 10 to 15 hours, but if you’re a completionist and you’re up to unlock everything that the game has to offer, you’ll probably waste hours upon hours trying to finish everything… that’s if you’re even skilled enough to get that far! Now, I don’t want to spoil much, but let’s just say there are more than a handful of secret stages that will require every ounce of your gaming prowess to unlock.
Opinion
I hope I speak for everyone when I say that the Kremling’s and King K. Roole were fondly missed as the enemies of this game, but despite their absence Donkey Kong feels just as retro as it once did on the SNES. The variety seen in the selection of stages is numerous and you can never expect to do the same thing twice in a row. The difficulty is something I highly appreciated, since so many games nowadays have been dumbed down for today’s players, which is a shame since franchises like Donkey Kong were known for packing quite a challenge. If you beat the game it meant something, there was pride in saying you finished off the final boss. In Donkey Kong Country Returns, that same sense of accomplishment fills you up when you see the credits rolling up your tv screen. And nothing beats that feeling than seeing a scene after the game saying there are new levels to unlock!
Overall, even with the changes made to the control style, I found this game to be an absolute delight and one of the best platformers I’ve ever had the opportunity to play. And reading Cranky Kong’s sarcastic comments when visiting his shack is always a treat.
Pass or Play
A definite play for anyone, young or old, who is looking for a game that tests you all around as a gamer. I personally put Donkey Kong Country Returns up for the best Wii game of the year alongside Mario Galaxy 2.
