Donkey Kong Country Returns review

February 7th, 2011

During the mid to late 90′s the Rare’s Donkey Kong Country series were my favourite games. Intense platforming action combined with graphics and music so awesome that you couldn’t believe they were coming out of a 16Bit Super Nintendo. I could also go as far to say that the original DKC was (and probably still is) my favourite 2D platform game of all time, Super Mario purists may scoff but there’s something I really like about the British take on the platform genre. In my opinion Rare were very innovate in bringing prerendered graphics to the SNES and they also created a unique platformer that fit right in between the slow pace of Mario and the speediness of Sonic.

Donkey Kong Country 64 (1999) was the last game in the series that was created by original developers Rare, its higher res visuals and massive levels ensured it was unique for being the first Nintendo 64 game that required compulsory use of the N64 (Ram) Expansion Pack. During the intervening ten years we’ve seen some other Donkey Kong games such as Jungle Beat; an unusual platformer that could be played with the GameCube Bongo controller. However none of these DK games really captured the essence of the Country series.

So it was a surprise to everyone when Donkey Kong Country Returns was revealed at last year’s E3 convention. Not only was it totally unexpected to see a return to this forgotten franchise but the game was being developed by Retro Studios, creators of the Metroid Prime trilogy. Donkey Kong Country Returns for Wii is brand new entry into the series that goes straight back to the roots of the original DKC game rather than incorporating the gimmicks from the later titles. Just like the original DKC game, our heroes Donkey and Diddy awake from the lazy existence of relaxing in the jungle to find that some nasty bugger has stolen all of their bananas.

The Kremlings aren’t to blame this time. A strange race of musical creatures known as the Tiki Tak Tribe are using their hypnotic powers to control the minds of the jungle inhabitants. We see everything from Giraffes to Elephants all becoming slaves to the relaxing rhythm, they then start carrying those precious bananas away into the sunset. As you can imagine, Donkey and Diddy are not best pleased and immediately give chase – thus our game beings.

I hope you’re ready for some of the toughest platforming action since Mario & The Lost Levels because this game is one unforgiving beast. Now I’m sure you’re already used to 2D platformers so I will not insult you (too much) by describing what you actually do. Initially you start just with Donkey as you progress through the level rolling and jumping across platforms, pits, spikes and other obstacles. Almost all of the enemies in the game can be defeated by a simple roll or a stomp on the head but later on you will encounter some that will need differing tactics.

When you encounter a DK barrel you’ll be able to join forces with Diddy Kong which will give you two major advantages. Firstly this doubles your hit points from two to four making things slightly easier. Secondly Diddy’s new jetpack comes in very useful because it allows the pair to hover in the air for a couple of seconds, this combined with a long roll and jump will result in some very long jump distances. A Donkey Kong Country game wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t feature some of its most famous features now would it? Barrel Blasting, Tyre Bouncing, KONG Letters, Minecart Crashing, Secret Hunting and not forgetting those Animal Buddies. In fact almost everything that made the original DKC title is here in Donkey Kong Country Returns.

It’s all very well copying and pasting stuff from the original but often it is what you add and what you take away that makes the most difference when creating a sequel. There are several changes in DKCR and let’s go over the main ones now! First up the two player tag team mode has been reworked and is now a fully fledged real-time coop system that is very reminiscent of New Super Mario Bros. As long as you have enough life balloons you can survive on a stage indefinitely by resurrecting each other. On the other hand things are much more hectic when the two characters are independent, the camera will be constantly zooming in and out to fit you both onscreen (Smash Bros style).

A new Rocket Barrel provides some serious fun which rivals the minecart rides in terms of difficulty. You need to safely steer the Kongs through a tricky obstacle course with only the power of thrust or gravity, kinda reminds me of the lava magic carpet stage from Disney’s Aladdin on the SNES. The Kongs also have some new moves to show off. I’ve already mentioned Diddy’s Jet Pack but that’s not all folks. You now have the power of blow. That’s right you can now crouch down and blow the petals off flowers to reveal a bonus, you can also blow out enemies that are covered in flames that would normally be too hot to jump on. Climbing has been improved too, previously the only things that you could climb before were ropes and vines. Now you will encounter patches of thick grass on walls and ledges, this really helps with additional vertical gameplay and the hiding of secret bonus rooms.

Oh I guess I should mention that Diddy Kong has a peanut gun, the funny thing is I didn’t realise this ‘til after I finished the game. I didn’t use it once! So who remembers the animal buddies? Yeah we know that they’re basically Yoshi from Mario but they were all so damn cute. Well there is some good news and bad news; Rambi and Squawks return but the rest of the gang don’t even get a mention. The lack of swimming levels mean there’s no Enguarde but why we don’t get to see Expresso the Ostrich and Winky the Frog is beyond me!

Last but not least comes the Super Guide; designed for those not as finely tuned to ball breakingly hard platformers as some of us. After around six failed attempts at clearing a level you will have the option of getting Super Kong (the CPU) to finish the level for you. This might be great for getting past a tricky level but you get none of the rewards, my advice is not to use it – I didn’t and I’m still alive aren’t I? If you need more lives or invincibility potion then you can just visit Cranky’s Store and spend some of your banana coins.

Many people have complained that there is no classic or gamecube controller support; I agree that it would have been fun to play it SNES style but I was more than happy with the WiiRemote and Nunchuck scheme. I found them intuitive and responsive enough and I think most people will be fine after a bit of practice. Much has already been said of the graphics of DKCR. The switch from prerendered to polygonal has been fairly successful, everything is lush and detailed to the max. The rumours are that there are six times as many polygons on screen than Metroid Prime 3, which to this day is still considered to be one of the Wii’s hottest looking games.

Alright I’ve been holding it off for as long as I can but we need to talk about the music. The OST from Donkey Kong Country is epic and loved by millions worldwide; Retro made a rather interesting choice to not create a new soundtrack but recreate and remix the original. In short it is certainly amazing to be listening to the classic tunes in this new game but it can’t go without saying that despite the huge leap in technology; these remixes just don’t compare.  Donkey Kong Country Returns for Wii is a really fun title and certainly one of the best 2D platformers on the system. There’s just something magical about the speed and subtlety of the level design, one moment you can be blasting breakneck through barrels and at other times you’re hopping slowly from platform to platform with pixel perfect precision. The variety of level types is great. The easier Jungle levels are the most like the original but as you progress right up to the deviously hard Factory and Volcano you will be testing your skills with moving platforms, fire, steam and gravity switches amongst other things.

I estimate that you’ll take around ten hours to finish the main game but you’ll then have to go back to find all of the hidden Jigsaw pieces and KONG letters if you want to unlock all of the game’s secrets. There is an image gallery, music gallery and even a whole set of hidden levels – which are even tougher than the main ones! If you’re ready for the toughest and prettiest platforming on Wii then like me you’ll go bananas over Donkey Kong Country Returns on Wii. What else but 5 out of 5?

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Goldeneye 007 review

November 26th, 2010

Has it really been thirteen years since Rare’s original Nintendo 64 release of Goldeneye? I will never forget the day when I first caught a peek of the N64 in person; it was around October 1997 and as I watched over the shoulders of a group of teenagers playing a four player Goldeneye deathmatch – I knew I had to own this console.

There’s not much to be said about the original Goldeneye that you won’t have heard elsewhere a million times before. Put simply it was the best first person shooter of it’s generation and totally changed the worlds perception of movie licensed video games. To top it off, it actually felt like a real James Bond game, there was plenty of stealth, action, guns and gadgets, not forgetting the two very polygonal Bond girls. What more could any self respecting teenage boy want?

A lot has happened in the world of video games in the thirteen years since; we’re two hardware generations ahead and console power is at an all time high. Well all except the Nintendo Wii that is. You can’t fault that success of the Wii when you look at it’s sales figures but that on it’s own doesn’t tell the full story. Many third party developers complain that the Wii is too underpowered for their latest engines and as such, porting from the 360 & PS3 is no easy task, and one that isn’t worth their time. Combine this with the Wii’s casual image and we have an unfortunate situation where core mature titles are somewhat of a scarcity on Wii. Thankfully though some developers see this as a chance to snag the hardcore Wii owners with little other competition in the market.

Goldeneye 007 is a brand new game from Activision and Eurocom, both companies have gone on the record to say that this is not a remake of the N64 classic, but a new game based on a re-imagining of the movie. One of the major changes you’ll instantly notice is the removal of Pierce Brosnan and the introduction of Daniel Craig. Out go most of the gadgets and the lashings of suaveness and in comes a tougher more physical bond who prefers to use his fists whenever possible. Just like the rest of us, Bond now carries a smartphone but instead of sending tweets all day he uses it to takephotos, track targets, disable alarm systems and communicate with M over at MI6. I don’t know about you but I wish my iPhone had a direct dial to Judy Dench, GILF!

The basic Goldeneye storyline is still in place but has been modernised enough to make it more relevant to society today; for example; the game features less reliance on the Cold War vibe that has littered Bond movies for years and instead focuses more on cyber warfare. The Russian military and the shady Janus crime syndicate still feature prominently but they’re less stereotypical than before. Previously the MI6 traitor Alec Trevelyan (agent 006) was a Russian spy, but this time around it appears that he is just an English agent like Bond but has simply become weary of his duties.
Why should he endanger his life to protect England’s rich elite bankers when they’re the ones that have helped put the world into recession? Of course with all the skills and knowledge acquired after serving in Her Majesty’s Secret Service, he is more than capable of planning the world’s greatest bank robbery. Can James Bond stop Alec from carrying out this heist and covering his tracks by blasting London with an enormous Electro Magnetic Pulse from the stolen Goldeneye satellite?

If you wanted retro first person shooter action then you’ve come to the wrong place, Goldeneye is a modern and up to date first person shooter. Many have compared the game to Call of Duty but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Call of Duty is well known for bringing direct storytelling to the forefront with a streamlined narrow experience focussing on one path and multiple set pieces. This modern Goldeneye uses those same style of set pieces and cut scenes to tell it’s story but in a less scripted way. Whereas many Call of Duty games seem to have a massive explosion around every corner and millions of continual re-spawning enemies, Goldeneye sticks to the stealthy roots we know and love.

Right from the start Goldeneye puts you just outside the familiar Verzasca dam, it’s quite possible to go in all guns blazing but you’ll alert more enemies to your presence. Generally Bond likes to operate quietly in the shadows and you’ll find the game a bit easier if you think like a real spy. Creeping up behind on unsuspecting baddies and taking them down quietly is much better than shooting a noisy weapon about the place. If you can remember back to the original Goldeneye then you may well recall that the levels were big and sometimes you’d explore an area only to find that there was nothing there anyway. Some people may describe that as a waste of space but for me it seems more realistic, why should you find all of your mission objectives along a predetermined straight route when you could just as easily sneak upstairs and locate a small office with those secret documents in? For me Goldeneye gives the player a greater level of explorational freedom, if you just follow the checkpoint marker then you’ll miss some interesting stuff and that’s the way it should be. You’ll be rewarded for taking your time and looking in every nook and cranny with better weapons hidden in locked chests, just shoot the padlock off and the goodies are yours.

The single player campaign is split into 4 difficulty levels:

• Operative is the lowest difficulty level and contains the main story missions.
• Agent features heightened difficulty and an extra couple of side objectives.
• 007 will tax you by increasing the difficulty further as well as adding even more objectives.
• 007 Classic is the same as 007 but is where the original Goldeneye fans will feel more at home because auto health regeneration is removed and the body armour pickups return.

Oddly enough before the game’s release most of the talk about Goldeneye Wii was about it’s multiplayer modes. Activison promised us a return to our heritage with awesome splitscreen local multiplayer, of course it’s fun playing online but there’s nothing quite like blasting your friends to pieces when you’re in the same room is there? So the very same deathmatch that attracted me to the original returns in all it’s glory here on Wii, up to four players can sit around with a quarter of a TV screen each and play headlong into the night without having to worry about laggy servers or migrating hosts every 10 minutes. If you can find three friends to come play Goldeneye with you then I promise you’ll have masses of fun here, almost every aspect of the game can be customised and there are plenty of deathmatch modes to choose from. To everyone’s surprise Eurocom didn’t go the easy route and leave Wii owners with no online mode, those with broadband can take the game online and experience a fully fledged multiplayer experience that you’d normally associate with the HD consoles. A full XP ranking system awaits you and just like with Call of Duty, the more you play the better the weapons you’ll unlock.

Whatever mode you play, Goldeneye features a range of control schemes for Wii supporting every peripheral except the Wii Balance Board. Those who have experienced Wii Pointer controls on shooters such as Resident Evil 4, Metroid Prime 3 or The Conduit will be pleased to hear that they too can point at the screen and shoot those Ruskies. As much as I wanted to use that control method I just had to default to a joypad, the sluggish framerate and auto aim assist conspire to ruin the default control system. You can also use the Wii Zapper, Classic Controller or even the Gamecube pad if you feel so inclined, but the best experience will be gained if you use the new Classic Controller Pro – this updated pad features better button and analogue stick placement as well as being much more comfortable to hold. It is with this that I personally suggest plumping for the Collectors Edition of Goldeneye that comes packed in with a discounted cost Classic Controller Pro, that is if you don’t already own one.

The positives:

Goldeneye on Wii looks terrific and is one of the most ambitious games to come out on the system do date, there’s real time lighting, explosion and smoke effects a plenty. The levels are huge and full of detail with no fogging and a very long draw distance, it’s certainly come a long way since the N64 original. The attention to detail is stunning and creates the most authentic Bond atmosphere to date. Everything from the voice acting of Daniel Craig and Judy Dench to the title sequence with the (obligatory) sultry naked female swimmers, set the scene perfectly. Not to mention the game is full of the same superb motion performance capture you’ve seen in games such as Resident Evil 5 and Uncharted 2.

The negatives:

Well I can’t complain about the effort put into Goldeneye at all, however my biggest complaint has to fall to games sluggish framerate. This can’t really be attributed to the developers though, they set out to create the best FPS on Wii and they’ve succeeded – however there’s only so much they can do with a CPU and GPU which are just a small step up from the Gamecube and Playstation 2. Goldeneye deserves to be running at a solid 30fps but for the most part it feels like we’re lucky to get 25, it doesn’t sound like much but it’s a noticeable difference.

Goldeneye for Wii is an essential purchase for all Wii owners who have been waiting for a real gamers game since they finished off Super Mario Galaxy 2. It’s true you could play a much better looking game on 360 or PS3 but if you want that authentic Bond experience then persist with Goldeneye and you’ll understand that graphics aren’t everything. Despite the flaws that come from being too overambitious on a platform that is underpowered, and yes seeing as you ask; I enjoyed the single player campaign more than the much more expensive Black Ops on my Xbox 360. Goldeneye scores a perfect 5 out of 5.

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Sonic Colours review

November 26th, 2010

Sonic the Hedgehog games are usually a fine example of how solid ideas can be ruined by stupid gimmicks. Look at Sonic Unleashed, which is 50% the best 3D platform game ever made and 50% an absolute nightmare, filled with ridiculous werehogs and terrible Devil May Cry Junior gameplay. What would happen if you took that good half, buried the bad half in the desert, and gave it a gimmick that actually worked? Sonic Colours would happen, that’s what!

Switching seamlessly between better 3D sections than Sonic Adventure and better 2D sections than Sonic 4, Sonic Colours manages to completely grasp onto what a new Sonic game should be and runs with it. The action is fast – super fast – but controllable and natural. The level design is unfortunately linear, but makes up for it by offering you a lot to look at and constant impulsive gaming. It’s a pretty game, especially for the Wii, and we don’t even need to ask whether the music is any good – it’s a Sonic game, of course it’s good.

The ‘Colours’ part of the title is all because of the Wisps, a multi-coloured alien species who are being pestered by that blasted Doctor Eggman. Isn’t he dead? Nope, he’s somehow still bumbling around, opening up a intergalactic theme park to cover his plot to enslave the Wisps. Sonic buddies up with the Wisps in order to save them. They can offer him power-ups when he rescues them from the fat doctor’s traps, and every colour gives a different power. In the Wii version, there are eight colours to pick up, and they all have great effects on gameplay. Cyan turns Sonic into a laser, Pink turns him into a sticky bomb, Purple lets him eat up anything in his path – oh man, even writing these down reminds me of how fun all these powers are. The highlight is the Yellow Wisp, who allows Sonic to drill down through solid rock to secret areas beneath him, just like a real hedgehog. Surprisingly, these gimmicks don’t ruin the game and they don’t make you cry over the packaging. They actually make the game better. GASP.

In order to save these good gimmick-generating plot elements, Sonic must explore eight themed planets. This results in a lot of typical Sonic fare, casino planets and green hill planets for example. Each level is an assault course of massive leaps, bouncy springs, robots to smash and rails to grind. Nothing out of the ordinary for the blue hedgehog. There’s over sixty levels on offer here, so there’s a decent dose of longevity to look forward to, although a few moments of bad level design let down the rest of the stages. Mostly this happens when the flow of the game slows down so Sonic can deal with a puzzle, which goes against pretty much everything Sonic Team should be aiming for. Difficulty-wise, most gamers will coast through a lot of the game, but that’s not to say you won’t be frustrated at times.

Something’s got to be wrong here. The 2D sections of the game are great, the 3D sections have ditched a lot of the frustrating elements of the earlier games, even the bosses manage to not completely suck. I suppose I could criticise the co-op multiplayer mode, which is awkward and boring and reminds of the silly ‘co-op’ gaming of Sonic 2, where speed + keeping two players on screen = a complete disaster. You can play with your Mii’s face plastered over Sonic’s body, so that should keep the kids happy, but other than that, this should be treated as a strictly one player experience. Sonic Colours could have done with a true special stage as these tend to be some of the better moments of Sonic gaming, but the chaos emeralds (and their reward, hint hint) are still here.

Sonc Colours was written very much for children and relaxed players who are not looking for a brain-busting challenge. The storyline is silly but written with its tongue intentionally well in its cheek. It’s intentionally self-deprecating, and occassionally genuinely hilarious. Sonic straight up telling Eggman that he’s being “lame” is brilliant, given the amount of crap he’s put with in the past.

It’s one of those rare adrenaline-pumping rollercoaster ride games, packed with instinctive controls and terribly fun moments, embracing the spirit of the moment and not hanging around to think about things too deeply. It’s not perfect – the gameplay slows down at times and difficulty spikes are a problem – but it has so many good ideas that it should fill all Sonic fans with optimism for the future. Show support for Sonic and pick this one up. Unless you hate fun or something. Good on you, Sonic – you get an 4 out of 5.

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