Review #81: Donkey Kong Country Returns

 Or how Donkey Kong goes bananas. Again.

 It's been a while, well up 'till this game was released, since gamers had seen a proper Donkey Kong adventure. Donkey Kong Country Returns is everything fans of the older series could've asked for, not only does the spirit of the series is kept intact, but it also adds a couple of features that are very welcome, and a few that are not so much.
 The original duo, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, are the stars of this game. Just as usual, Donkey Kong's banana hoard gets stolen and he wants it back. Since the Kremlings' legal rights are over murky waters, split between Rare and Nintendo, for this entry a plethora of new enemies have been created. The new bad guys are floating tribal Masks, Tikis, and they put the whole jungle under mind-control, but the Kongs won't have any of it. The adventure takes you over 8 different worlds, each one under a different theme(Jungle, Cliff, Volcano, Factory, etc), just like the Platformers of old.

 The game plays pretty similarly to older incarnations of Donkey Kong Country, you run, jump and roll your way around stages. You can also smash on the ground, to uncover secrets, or grab and throw barrels. And here lies my biggest gripe with the game: Controls. For some reason, the developer saw fit to include motion controls, when it comes to smashing on the ground or blowing, it's not bad at all and somewhat fits... but you must also shake the Wiimote in order to roll. For newcomers, rolling is the Kong's secondary offensive option(The primary one is jumping on top of enemies), and having to shake the Wiimote WHILE moving(Otherwise you'll smash the ground) feels very imprecise and awkward. In the older games there was a technique commonly known as "rolling jump", executed while jumping during a roll, which would give you longer and higher jumps, Retro Studios faithfully kept the technique in place, but having to rely on shaking the Wiimote? Not cool.
 You start each level as Donkey Kong and can take up to two hits before losing a life. Sometimes you'll find a barrel with a "D.K" stamp, this one holds Diddy Kong. Diddy Kong allows you to take up to four hits(However, he is gone after the second one), but allows Donkey Kong to use the jetpack in order land jumps safely. The game is pretty challenging and unforgiving, there are plenty of sections where you only get one chance to make the jump or you lose. Luckily, there are Checkpoints, usually longer stages are have more than a couple of them, but are not as hard as the short stages. Speaking of stages, each one has some particular gimmick, so the game never feels repetitive. Each world also has a Shop in which you can buy extra lives, for coins found in the levels themselves, you can even buy 1-time items that let you withstand a third hit, give you a brief period of invulnerability or help you find collectibles.

 Each world has a decent amount of levels, and each level holds a pretty large amount of secrets. Y'see, each level has plenty of collectables: Bananas(Get 100 and gain a life), Coins, Puzzle Pieces and the letters K, O, N and G, getting every Puzzle Piece usually involves finding the hidden bonus sections. Basically, there is a ton to do per level. Getting every Puzzle Piece in a level unlocks items in the gallery, while getting every KONG letter on every level in a world unlocks a secret, extra hard, level. Clear all 8 secret levels and you gain access to Mirror World, which is even harder.
 As previously stated, every level has each particular gimmick. Some may have falling platforms, some may have you activating platforms and many, many others. There are also levels that take place on top of a minecart that have you jumping over obstacles or broken rails onto other platforms. Every time a gimmick is revisited, always in a different world, there's an added gimmick to it. The first minecart level is pretty straightforward, well, the next one will place you inside a rolling egg's shell, as it breaks down due to spikes on the floor, so you'll have to jump over the spikes and onto what remains of the rolling shell. Exciting stuff. This is how the game manages to never feel repetitive.

 Something that I found was very neat, is that Multiplayer and Single Player feel very different, and neither feels easier than the other. Multiplayer has the advantage in that if one player dies, as long as the other one is alive and you have lives to spare, you can revive the other player if you touch the flying homing barrel that respawns them.... But in levels that involve gimmicks like MineCarts, meaning both players on the same object, if you die you lose two lives. Multiplayer also means that Donkey Kong(player 1) doesn't get to use the jetpack, while Diddy has it on at all times. At any time the second player can get on top of player 1 and grant him the jetpack, but that would mean that one player would control both characters and that's no fun at all.

 The presentation is all around top-notch. Graphically it doesn't push the Wii at all, but everything looks very crips and clear, this is a very colorful game. There's a large amount of vistas and backgrounds as you go from world to world, and everything looks fantastic. Music is made up of returning music, remixes and a couple of new tunes. The new tunes feel very Donkey Kongish, and the rest of the music is great. I said it once and I'll say it again: Music in Nintendo games are always phenomenal. Always. Sound effects are also very apt for the game, and I actually grew fond of the sound that bananas make when collected, it makes you want to gather them even more!

 Donkey Kong Country Returns is a fantastic game, it feels just like the older Donkey Kong Country games, it's very lengthy with an incredible amount of secrets to find and levels never feel the same. It's also pretty challenging without feeling unfair. It's a shame the just had to add unnecessary motion controls, they were so unreliable that I wound up just relying on jumps... but, luckily, it doesn't hold the game back by much.
 8.5 out of 10.