Donkey Kong Country Returns Review

Donkey Kong Country Returns is out this morning and the reviews are rollin in like a barrel of monkeys. It's being called Metroid with Monkeys. That's probably a good thing. Retro Studios brought Donkey Kong out of moth balls and made it the best Donkey Kong yet.



At the start of this game, Donkey and Diddy Kong’s banana hoard is stolen by a troublesome gang of Tikis that call themselves the Tiki Tak Tribe. Admittedly, it is a little sad to say goodbye to the Kremlings (the enemies from the first three games), but the new characters are very well-designed and have a personality all their own. Your nostalgic sadness will only last for a second. The new enemies in Donkey Kong Country Returns are awesome. Once the story is established, control quickly switches over to the player. Right away, retro fans (especially fans of the original Donkey Kong Country) will get excited. The classic tree house, complete with hidden red 1UP balloon and bouncing tire, greets the player right as the first level starts.
From here, Donkey and Diddy’s adventure begins. And what an adventure it is!
In a first for the series, two players can conquer the game together in co-op mode. One person plays as Donkey Kong and the other as Diddy. Both have slightly different specialties, but mainly control the same.
As enjoyable as the two-player option is, the game is even more fun with one player, as the levels are filled with so much to do that slowing down to keep up with each other can sometimes hinder the overall extraordinary experience. This is not a knock on co-op -- I had a great time playing with a friend!

The game is perfect for just having fun tramping through the jungles with Donkey Kong, squashing enemies and making a beeline for the goal. But odds are good that you’ll get addicted to exploring each level carefully to find all the cleverly buried treasure. Yes, you get rewards for finding everything. But it’s fun just for the sake of it. Letters that spell out K-O-N-G are usually placed tantalizingly in plain sight, but figuring out how to get to them is the tricky part.
Other items are hidden in much more devious ways but still fun, that’s because Retro has taken care to leave hints, rewarding players’ curiosity and making each discovery immensely satisfying.

It looks like another win for Nintendo. 2010 may be the best year ever for Nintendo-published platformers. Earlier this year, Nintendo released Super Mario Galaxy 2, a game I think may very well be the best 3D Mario game ever made. Just last month, Kirby’s Epic Yarn came out, one of the most polished, beautiful, and creative entries in the adorable franchise.
And now we have Donkey Kong Country Returns, a game that is probably the best Donkey Kong game ever released.
That’s three major Nintendo platforming franchises right there, all releasing three of the best games in their respective series all in one year.
For a fan of platform games, 2010 is going to go down in the record books.

Thanks to Destructiod and Game|Life