Originally posted by S_D_J
Am I the only one here playing it?
Words can't describe how much I love this game. It took 3 generations for Nintendo to finally get back to what worked, and dear, it works great!
Blame it on Nostalgia, a mere longing for the old glory days, but damn, I just can't help but feel pure joy (and frustration) when playing it.
While you could argue it just plain laziness by Retro for not coming up with something original.. it simply doesn't need to be. The Country mechanics worked great in the Snes days, and the sudden love for anything "retro" (lol pun) + the need to revitalize a decaying franchise resulted in re-cycling a 10+ year old game, with just a touch of modern flavor to enhance the experience and it works wonderfully
I wouldn't mind if this game was all 2D, with pre-rended models and backgrounds, the 3D vibe (or 2.5D as everyone seem to call it) helps the game purely aesthetically (much as it does for SSF4) but the game is pure 2D goodness (the sunset levels are enough proof of that)
While I don't like that there are no underwater levels that I know of (why the hell does Donkey die when he touches sea water is beyond me?... and quite annoying!) I'm not really missing it. Retro has made a wonderful job at keeping the levels varied, fun and quite challenging.
This game impresses with every world you visit, and it never feels tiring and repetitive (unless you count dying for the 20th time!).
The animal pals are present in a small scale, but this game it's all about the Kongs. While you can't play with Diddy (unless you're wiimote two) playing with Donkey is enough to finish any level and you still end up having fun (though you'll miss and wish for Diddy to be there to help you get pass that god damn pit you just died on)
why am I bitching every time about dying? because beating the time challenges it's hard, finishing the secret levels it's hard, really freaking hard... until you get a bit more dexterous and memorize and timed each jump, and once you beat it, god it's such a joy. It's kind of a nerd-geek-gamer thing, but you do actually feel like you acomplish a great feat!.
The graphics are good to great, the sunset levels are amazing, kinda like Limbo, but alive and not depresing, but with this game it's all about the gameplay.
And the Music...
it almost brought tears to my eyes when I heard it (wasn't gonna cry in front of my nephew
), can't stop whistling the damn tunes every time I hear them, I actually stop playing just to enjoy it.
Talking about my 7 years old nephew, I can't believe this game is the reason me and the little bastard finally bonded (he's way to spoiled
) we get together when possible to play cooperative... I'm much further into the game with him than in my Solo file
I didn't set out to write a review, but somehow I did, I just can't praise enough Retro Studios for bringing back the reason I became a full time gamer...
I feel like a kid again!
now I'm getting back to finish that damn level... here goes the 21th time
This post is awesome*. up
Thanks for the info.
*It gave me diabetes, too.