Donkey Kong Country Returns

[The Mad Monkey]

Classic Controller support would have been preferable for someone like me.

 

Got to agree, been playing it with Wiimote only, but the motion controls are a bit finicky and have ended up making major mistakes because of them. Would be so much better if I could just plug in one of my GC pads.

[Captain Falcon]

I played a bit more last night - I finished the first world (including K-1) and the first two levels of the second world.

 

I hppe these coins are uswful for something as thanks to K-1, I have over 500 already and my life count is up to 60.

 

I died quite a few times on that level but it didnt matter as for every life I lost, I made two. Kinda makes the whole point of lives redundant.

 

I have all the jigsaw pieces apart from 1 from level 1-5 and all KONG letters. Between the pair of them, this feels like a bigger collectathon than DK64 ever did - at least that game never hid the fact.

 

It's not an bad game but so far,it's not fantastic one either. Still, it's a darn sight better than the two New Super Mario Bros. games ever were.

[darksnowman]

World one done.

 

The good since my last post: the style of Sunset Shore and briefly minecarting over land was nice. The loading screens remind me of Yoshi's Island.

 

The rest of the bad: does Diddy serve no purpose in one player?? I want to throw him about! The controls aren't getting better with practise. Rolling through baddies is difficult and I often die on the second one- do you keep waggling? One roll + momentum should suffice. I plugged in a nunchuk and what do I get? A bunch of redundant buttons! Now its waggle the remote and nunchuk like maracas... huh? How come they are able to program context sensitive waggle but they can't just stick everything on the 1 button, or whatever? Classic controller support is an obvious missed opportunity! Collecting the K-O-N-G letters. Why is this mandatory now? Bonus rooms: why do they make it seem like I fail if I don't collect every last banana? If I grab the life and exit, its all good for me but not for the game. If you get something extra for grabbing EVERYTHING in bonus rooms I'll maybe let them off. In DKC 2 or 3 there was a clear objective, so if you failed, you knew why. What was that boss all about? Some Pikmin reject? It took too many hits to go down and jumping on it felt... like nothing. Actually, jumping on baddies in general feels weightless.

 

Since completing the inspiringly named world one, I'm onto the equally inspiringly named world two. That is to say, I've completed Jungle and I'm onto Beach. I'm gonna grab a shower to cleanse myself and fire up this other modernised Rare classic: GoldenEye.

[Captain Falcon]

The no additional momentum for rolling through an enemy has cost me quite a few lives... so now I always resort to jumping on them to be a bit safer... but it's not perfect.

 

You can only constantly roll if Diddy is on your back and that is via continued waggle spam.

 

Whilst the loading screens are nice... why are they even there? Surely the nature of the levels meant it could have been streamed from the disc mid level as necessary. Yeah a level title card like Sonic is nice but it feels unnecessary at the same time.

 

And I still long for the time when DK walks into the level and then walks out at the end. It was so elegant.

 

And yes Snowy, the point of the bonus rooms is to collect everything for a Jigsaw piece.

[nekunando]

I'd pretty much echo what darksnowman has said so far.. but I probably wouldn't be quite so critical

 

I found a definite improvement when using the Wii Remote + Nunchuk, particularly when I attempted a couple of time trials where keeping things rolling is extremely important!

 

As for the collectables, I'd definitely disagree with it being a bigger collectathon than DK64, Captain Falcon If anything, I think it adds some much appreciated variety to each of the levels! The jigsaw pieces can be collected in stages through several playthroughs of the level, but K-O-N-G requires gathering on the one run. I quite like that, actually..

 

One thing I'm not so fond of, though, is having to stop to blow items in the background.. but it isn't a game destroying element. If anything, it again adds to the variety in each level! You have the option of racing through the level if you like to get to the end, or you can be more methodical and explore each area for the jigsaw pieces

 

The jungle boss, however, was pathetic.. and the beach boss wasn't much better

[killer kirby]

This thread has now told me that I should always ignore what Capitan falcons posts since his taste in gaming is really screwed up, how the hell can someone praise such a shit game like Sonic Colours yet give little praise to this game which is a bajillion billion trillion infinity times better then ANY Sonic game made. There I said it.

[S.C.G]

Donkey Kong Country Returns is basically a completely different pedigree of platforming than something like Sonic and so there is no way that I'd even attempt to compare the two because they quite simply aren't on the same kind of level.

 

For the most part DKCR represents platforming perfection because there is simply nothing quite like it available in this day and age just like the original DKC series remains untouchable for the era that it was produced in; obviously for DKCR to be better than those orgiinal games is impossible because so much time has passed and it's a completely different developer handling it.

 

But that doesn't stop it from being one of the finest platforming games ever conceived since the original series because it quite honestly is at least that good and even that is giving it a tremendous amount of credit, whatever happens to the series now Retro Studios should be proud of what they have achieved with this quite frankly fantastic game because while it may not be the best platforming game ever made it still goes down in my books as being one of the most enjoyable titles I've played in about a decade and that definitely deserves some credit.

[Captain Falcon]

This thread has now told me that I should always ignore what Capitan falcons posts since his taste in gaming is really screwed up, how the hell can someone praise such a shit game like Sonic Colours yet give little praise to this game which is a bajillion billion trillion infinity times better then ANY Sonic game made. There I said it.

 

Well according to your post in the "games you have bought In 2010" thread, you dont actually own Sonic Colours so I'm not too sure on your ability to comment on that one but obviously every one has different tastes - interesting to note that everyone who has posted in the Sonic Colours thread having played it, seems to enjoy it though.

 

Besides, you're probably just narked that I voted for Dragon Quest IX as my biggest disappointment of the year still :p

[darksnowman]

And yes Snowy, the point of the bonus rooms is to collect everything for a Jigsaw piece.

 

Ok. Well it would be nice if the game itself told me.

 

I'd pretty much echo what darksnowman has said so far.. but I probably wouldn't be quite so critical

 

I have to be critical. This is supposed to be the glorious return of DKC that we've been pining for. They've waited so long to bring DKC back it should be as perfect as possible.

[Pit-Jr]

Is this game playable by an 8-year old girl? I got it for my niece for xmas, i hope shes not crying in frustration right now

[Captain Falcon]

Is this game playable by an 8-year old girl? I got it for my niece for xmas, i hope shes not crying in frustration right now

 

Whilst I think it would be easier for an 8 year old to look past the more obvious design issues in the game, I don't think the difficulty will be one of them.

 

Unless she is particularly well versed in platform games, I dare say she will struggle with this one.

[S.C.G]

Five Monkey Trial...

 

Why can there not be a DK barrel at the start of the stage just to ease the pain a little bit? It's one of those stages that you basically need Diddy for or at least most of it... though I did manage to make it to the very end as DK on one heart and then got killed on that last 'bit' :/ so annoying.

 

It would just feel so much more doable if there was a DK barrel at the start though, it's as if they don't want me to properly complete this game but instead come agonisingly close and to stare at the screen with rage.

 

 

 

...

 

 

 

 

Fucking awesome game though!

[ReZourceman]

Five Monkey Trial...

 

Why can there not be a DK barrel at the start of the stage just to ease the pain a little bit? It's one of those stages that you basically need Diddy for or at least most of it... though I did manage to make it to the very end as DK on one heart and then got killed on that last 'bit' :/ so annoying.

 

It would just feel so much more doable if there was a DK barrel at the start though, it's as if they don't want me to properly complete this game but instead come agonisingly close and to stare at the screen with rage.

 

 

 

...

 

 

 

 

Fucking awesome game though!

 

Banana Juice makes that level an absolute cinch.

[S.C.G]

 

Banana Juice makes that level an absolute cinch.

 

...

 

Did it first time with the juice...

 

But the thing is, that's the first ever time I've used 'Banana Juice' in the game, basically because every time I'd go to the shop to buy it after hearing it being talked about all I 'saw' was a parrot, heart, and a jar with different numbers of balloons attached to them...

 

... it never once occurred to me that I could press 'Up' or 'Down' while in the shop.

 

So yes... every single level in the game, every tricky part that I cursed at before, I managed to get past it all up until this point without using 'Banana Juice' now admittedly this was because I didn't know how to select it but still that must be some kind of achievement...

 

... even if it does make me feel a tad dumb.

[ghost_zero]

OK. I have now finished the first world and parts of the second and collected the KONG-Letters and puzzle pieces.

The game seems to be quite fun, it would probably be even better in Multiplayer mode.

 

However, compared to the old DKC games I have to admit that I am a bit disappointed.

 

One of the main issues is the missing ability to swap between the characters, I always thought this is a part what makes DKC DKC.

 

Then, obviously, the missing "classic controller" support. I mean this game just "CRIES OUT" to get "classic controller" support.

 

Then - from what I read - because I wanted to know if they are good for anything (couldn't find anything so far), it seems the puzzle pieces only unlock artworks and such stuff.

In DKC2 the euqivalent bonus coins - well not completely I never got a bonus coin by blowing at something - were used to unlock furhther levels.

 

It seems now the KONG-Letters are "taking" care of that but I think the puzzle pieces would be harder to get. It isn't that bad but I really don't see any need to break the tradition here. Furthermore, I believe the could have made use of both (the KONG letters) and the puzzle pieces (like it was necessary in DKC3 as far as I remember but not DKC2 - I think there it was only a "nice" to have the DK coins but I am not completely sure anymore) but as said this isn't so bad but I just don't see any reason to change it.

 

One other thing I read was (during my time searching for what the puzzle pieces do) was that I read that there are NO underwater levels at all?

Is that true? IF so, this is also disappointing as underwater levels just belong to DKC too.

 

It really is a great game though. It's just that I think some things shouldn't have been changed from the original DKC series (like the character switch function - in single player at least).

[S.C.G]

And... I've finally completed it! got 100% but I don't think I'll be going for the 200%+ anytime soon, though it is a nice bonus for completing the game I think it could prove to be just too hardcore a challenge maybe so I think I'll leave it and just be content that I've played one of the best platformers ever to be made in recent years rather than play on 'just because' and probably end up spoiling my memories of it due to the game probably boiling down to becoming mega frustrating all for the sake of extra challenge. :p

[nekunando]

The more I play.. the more I'm loving it

 

I reached the end of the fourth world last night and it was probably my favourite so far I can't wait to play some more this afternoon

[dazzybee]

I didn't get this for Christmas. GUTTED!!! Going to buy it now, but £34.99 is crazy.. don't know whether to wait a week or two and see if it drops!

[Captain Falcon]

I've played a bit more now and I'm in the forest world.

 

Like / nando /, I'm enjoying it more as I play it and further in... though the cave world wasn't too hot. Not a fan of mine carts and that damn rocket is a pain in the backside trying to out run the bat. Talk about frustrating. I had no problems with the beach level with it (outside generally not being a fan of it) but here, I was proper struggling through even the basic parts of the level. Lost a truck load of lives on that level at the end out flying the giant bat yet the K/temple level didn't take me many tries at all.

 

I'm enjoying this forest world though but my initial complaints of walk, blow, jump, walk, ground pound, walk ground pound, blow, ground pound, walk, roll, blow, ground pound... etc haven't gone away. It still heavily disrupts the flow of the game if you are going for them. And the controls... still crap not having a dedicated roll button.

 

And you know what, because the further in I go, the more I enjoy it, the more creative things I see, it makes actually forgiving such flaws even harder. The rest of the game shows lots of signs of polish that it's even more amazing they let such things stand.

 

I'm still not sure how much it is a "Donkey Kong Country" game over it being a "Donkey Kong" game though.

 

But yeah, it's growing on me more and more.

[ReZourceman]

I didn't get this for Christmas. GUTTED!!! Going to buy it now, but £34.99 is crazy.. don't know whether to wait a week or two and see if it drops!

 

I can't really see it dropping, with it being first party Nintendo, high seller. Its here for next day for a little less than £35.

 

http://www.shopto.net/WII/GAME%20HIGHLIGHTS/WIIDO06-Donkey%20Kong%20Country%20Returns.html

[Cube]

Yeah, big Nintendo games that appeal to both hardcore and casual gamers don't drop in price. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is still over £30.

[LostOverThere]

So, I've only just completed World 1 so I wont judge the game yet, but man. Crazy Carts (1-6) is insanely awesome. Just great, really.

[nekunando]

So, I've only just completed World 1 so I wont judge the game yet, but man. Crazy Carts (1-6) is insanely awesome. Just great, really.

 

With that in mind, you'll love World 4 I did

 

I'm currently on World 7 but it's probably my least favourite section of the game so far! I've actually found myself going back to older levels to get the rest of the items just to break things up a bit

[dazzybee]

Cheers Rez. Can't wait to get stuck in. I loved what I played so much and I didn't even mind the waggle to roll mechanic (the blowing on the other hand...)

[Kav]

I was going to buy this in the new year but I'm not going to now.

 

 

 

...because a friend dropped it off at mine this morning! He won £1000 at the casino last night and thought I should have it sooner than "in the new year"! Haha

 

I owe him big time now!