![]() ![]() There are some levels where everything, Donkey and Diddy Kong included, appear as a jet-black silhouette (sort of like Limbo, except with more color), there is a level where gigantic mountains crumble all around the player both in the background and underneath their feet, and there are the factory environments, which have a retro red and black color scheme (as well as zig-zag-patterned girders) that echoes the original arcade Donkey Kong's classic construction site. The artists do so many creative and wonderful things, it's hard to even give a taste of it here. U out of the water. The environments pop with a level of detail both in the background and foreground (which players often travel between) that creates a stunning world to experience complete with jungle ruins overgrown with amazonic plant-life, sparkling, ambient caves full of mole miners, sunny beaches with goofy leaping sharks, and fossil-filled, prehistoric cliffsides. It certainly blows even the more recent HD New Super Mario Bros. If you don't take the time to lean in and notice the jaggies and rough edges in the game, DKCR could easily be mistaken as a modern, HD experience. Retro Studios proved its immense talent for creating beautiful, immersive worlds in the Metroid Prime games and the art direction in DKCR is similarly phenomenal. That visual design is a key element of what makes DKCR such an enjoyable experience. Almost no level in the game bores me, both in terms of gameplay design and visual design. Just about every level introduces some kind of new element or set-piece, ranging from a harrowing journey across a stormy shoreline as a massive octopus stalks your every move, a level where Donkey and Diddy barrel blast from pirate ship to pirate ship as they dodge falling cannonballs, and a rocket ride through a cave as a gigantic bat chases you down. Part of this joy comes from the unique level designs within DKCR. ![]() These games inspired my imagination and instilled a sense of wonder and joy in me that games like New Super Mario Bros. ![]() DKCR is the kind of whimsical, imaginative platformer that I feel like I haven't really experienced since the days when all I played were platformers games like Super Mario Land 2, Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and even Crash Bandicoot (a game I played, but never owned and fully played through myself). ![]() For the rest of the week, I played the game every night, clearing a world each time and each time feeling a sense of joy I haven't felt while playing a game in a very long time. As I said, I sort of rushed through the game the first time and I really didn't remember much of it, so playing it again felt a fresh new experience. A couple of hours later, I was immensely enjoying myself. I still wasn't even sure I'd actually go through with fully completing the game, I just.wanted to play it. With this in mind, I booted the game up on my Wii U at around 2AM about two weeks ago. I felt a genuine interest in playing the game this time and I wanted to really sink my teeth into it and give it my full attention. I sort of rushed through the game, enjoying it, but not really "getting into" it. You see, I played DKCR shortly after it was released, but I played it more because it was just another game in my collection that I needed to get out of the way than out of a real desire to play it. To this end, I was suddenly struck by the desire to replay Donkey Kong Country Returns. I want to support them and understand why I should care about a new Donkey Kong game. I have a lot of respect for Retro and it sounds like this is the game that they wanted to do. I've never been a super huge Donkey Kong fan (though I have played and enjoyed all the Country games) and I wanted something bold and ambitious from the studio out of their first Wii U project, rather than another platformer, which Nintendo already has plenty of coming to their console.Īfter my initial disappoint began to cool and I rewatched the trailer for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and listened to the developers talk about the game, I tried to warm up to the game. If you followed my E3 2013 impressions, you'd know that I was extremely disappointed with Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios' new game, which is a sequel to the studio's 2010 Wii game, Donkey Kong Country Returns. ![]()
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