Donkey Kong Country Returns [A Fat Jesus Video Game Review]

Oh man, Donkey Kong Country Returns. If you know me, you know I love the original trilogy and that DKC and DKC2 are two of my all-time favorite games. This is one of those games that I've wanted to play since I heard about it's inception and then release on the Wii back in 2010. Unfortunately I didn't have a Wii until about this time last year and this game was (and still is) pretty expensive to buy. Like most newer Nintendo franchise games they never go down in price. But this griping is for another time. One of my best friends got me this for my birthday about a month ago now. Can't thank her enough. Being a fairly avid Donkey Kong Country player (on and off my cast) I knew I had to platform my way through this. For the most part, this barrage of newness of DK and Diddy on a modern console was a pleasure to go through.

We open Donkey Kong Country Returns on Donkey Kong Island. After a volcanic explosion the Tiki Tak Tribe, an evil group of tikis, arrive on the island and hypnotize all the animals to make them help steal all of DK and Diddy Kong's bananas. Since DK and Diddy are impervious to the hypnotic effects of the tiki's it's up to them to trek through the eight worlds on the island. They must defeat the Tiki Tak Tribe's leaders and reclaim the bananas (and island) that is rightfully theirs.

I was impressed with this game from the get-go. Controls we easy enough to get a hang of and even in the early part of the game you could tell there was gonna be a learning curve and this would be a challenging game. If you're playing one-player (which I kinda had to) you control DK and when you have Diddy with you he is perched on your back. When jumping with Diddy, he allows DK to float (with his jet-pack) for a period of time. I always thought of it as being kinda like Dixie Kong in DKC2 and DKC3. Without Diddy this game could be hell mode and with Diddy the levels were a bit easier, hard still in the end. 

Like every other good DKC platformer the levels looked great and they were challenging to boot. Maybe I'm just a newb at the game, but even something a simple as vine swinging (and even just jumping gaps) took me a bit to get used to. Still having to collect "KONG"  in each level was a nice touch as well. There are also a varying number of hidden puzzle pieces in each level you can collect for design bonuses and extras like that.  

Speaking of levels and worlds, there are a ton in this game. I would always be disappointed at the originals because the games felt short to me. Not this one. There's eight worlds and with at least five stages per world, it makes this game plenty long. If you're nuts like me there's "after the story levels" you can only unlock by collecting KONG in each level of a world. These levels, at least the ones I've done, are pure platforming and pure hard. I love it and it makes me wanna get better at the game and 200% it. Yes that's right, you can 200% this game. 

Can we touch on the art style as well? We can? Okay good. I loved the look of this game. Felt like updated Nintendo but still kept the old-school DK charm and feel. The colors are vibrant and visual appealing. The jungle levels really looked like their old school counter-parts while getting the ole once-over. Levels like the mine cart ones were the most fun to me. While they kept the same look and gameplay, they added enough into them make them new and different. Even the "LIMBO"-esque stages sprinkled in had me in awe because they did such a good job with them. Finally the music in this game is perfect. I love the original soundtracks for the original games. I think they're some of the best ever composed. This game uses THAT music, and only tweaks it enough to make me go, "Wow I like this cause it sounds like the original, but is updated for the Wii."

With the good comes the bad though. I would describe myself as a VERY easy to please gamer and by no means do I like to nitpick over minute details, glitches, etc. One minor thing, to me, was not having Kremlins or a "Krool" to look forward. It was a bit of a letdown, but probably for the best since Rare is dead (on Ninteno). But there were a couple of bigger things that had me frustrated beyond words that I want to write in this article.

First off in the one player mode, while I like having Diddy for the jet-pack usage (it can really save your ass in levels), not being able to switch between characters could be very annoying. There are some side scrolling and faster paced stages where I'd have loved to be Diddy and just tear through them. But nope, I have to be slow, clunky ole DK. I had a few people come in and say (I streamed my play-through of this live) that this was a pretty easy game. Then proceed to follow up with, "I did it on two-player with a buddy." Well I'm glad you had an easier time, but this game is hella hard with the monkey (literally) stuck to my back. This could be the nostalgia talking, but I kinda missed being able to switch between two characters. Not a huge deal once I got used to it all, but it just felt like the option in one player could've been included.

The other gripe I have with this game, and this is my big one, is the rocket levels. To me they serve no purpose in this game. You don't use the Wii motion in these levels, all you do it tap the a button to jet upwards or let up to drop. On top-down levels, you tap a to speed up via boosts. The problem with these levels is that the boosting is limited and can be sporadic. Only having one hit on these levels can be quite annoying as well when you're blowing lives and seemingly getting nowhere. Also the level leading to the final boss is one of these levels. A super hard sporadic top down rocket level. Leading to one of the hardest and most precise final bosses ever. While I don't have a problem with the boss, if you game over, then you have to do the level again and again. I just think this final level is bad design and that rocket levels in this game are pointless.

Aside from the gripes this is an amazing game. As I've already gushed about throughout this I love the original series and I really do think this game lives up to the original games that Rare put out on the SNES. DK and Diddy have been updated, but are still who I grew up with. The island is still the DK island I've grown to love (and at times curse to hell). The music and design are impeccable and look good on an HD screen. Finally the platforming is nuts and once you've gotten though the toughest parts you feel a fantastic sense of accomplishment. Donkey Kong Country Returns lives up to the name that it's predecessors set and hopefully sets up for more Donkey Kong games in the future!