Donkey Kong Country Returns

Wii

Two words best describe how great Donkey Kong Country Returns is, and ‘fun’ and ‘colorful’ are not them (though those words apply as well). Try ‘unpredictable’ and ‘challenging’, something you may not expect from a game like this, but Nintendo actually managed to create a first-party platform game that is more catered to hardcore players than casual Wii owners. And if you’re not a hardcore player, it may turn you into one as Donkey Kong hasn’t been this much fun since Super Nintendo.

Those familiar with the 2D platformer revisit with New Super Mario Bros. Wii will right away see the same formula here. The difference is Donkey Kong Country Returns is actually a better gaming experience, seemingly building off what was successful in the Mario version and upping the ante for all modern day side-scrollers.

Like the original, a horde of bananas is stolen and it’s up to Donkey Kong, and favorite sidekick Diddy Kong, to get it back. Unlike previous installments, however, there is a clearer reason why they are stolen, and ultimately this only adds to the satisfaction if you manage to get through the game.

The game starts off as you’d expect, with levels not exactly lifted from the SNES game versions, but close enough to make it almost feel like they are self plagiarizing. The fun gameplay is enough to get you by, but you’ll soon discover that as you advance through the worlds, the game becomes an experience all unto itself. And this is a major reason why the game is so good, for the levels and worlds get better and more challenging as you go along. It never seems to peak and trail off. The game can be so insanely challenging that the creators of the game, Retro Studios, added an “Auto Play” feature. Can’t get by a certain part? Click on the Auto-Play command prompt and the game will do that part for you. Many gamers will scoff at the very notion of having the computer do it for you, but for beginners or inexperienced platform gamers, this will help you not turn off the game right away in frustration.

The biggest drawback, especially for Diddy fans, is that in single player you only control Donkey Kong. You can free Diddy from barrels, but rather than being able to switch to him at will like you could for the SNES games, Diddy merely rides on your back. The bonus is that Diddy has a jetpack, giving you some helpful extra few seconds of airtime as you jump over cliffs. In two-player mode, Diddy becomes playable. The difference between the two is remarkable, and as you’d expect from their body types, Diddy is a much faster, more nimble character than his gorilla friend.

Though you may be tied up trying to solve puzzles, defeating enemies, and finding ways to cross holes and cliffs, there are numerous collectibles in the game to frustrate even the most hardcore perfectionist. As if the game wasn’t challenging enough, trying to find all the puzzle pieces, letters (K-O-N-G), coins, and bananas almost seem like overkill. The game may have been better off taking away the puzzle pieces and sticking with the letters, but this is a minor annoyance and not even important for those just looking to get through the game.

You can play the game with just the Wii remote (held sideways) or with the nunchuk and Wii remote combination. The game requires some waggling motions, like rolls and stomping the ground, but is mostly a move-and-tap-A-to-jump kind of game. As you sometimes need to roll to pick up speeds for better jumps, having the utmost control with direction is paramount. For that reason, the Wii remote is the better option as there is no room for error with the D-Pad as compared to a joystick, where moving it a fraction of an inch one way can have you fly off the end of the cliff when you were really trying to ground stomp an enemy. 

Donkey Kong Country Returns will please both newcomers to the franchise as well as fans of the original Donkey Kong Country on SNES. With gorgeous-looking and challenging level design, helpful allies, loads of collectibles, and great music to boot, the franchise more than got the kickstart it needed on Nintendo’s latest console.