While the game is fresh and artistically appealing, I found it's lack of musical immersion disappointing.
As a child my favorite games were Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong Country 3, the former more then the latter. When I heard that Nintendo was remaking the platforming experience for the Wii, I was very excited to give it a whirl, but was slightly disappointed at the earlier New Super Mario Bros. release, and likewise disappointed in this one, for the very same reasons for both releases.
First, the good. The game is visually stunning. Great artistic touches give every nook and cranny in the game visual life and splendor. Searching for hidden areas is a treat. Each level is fresh, has a different way of getting through it, and feels much more polished then the original SNES Donkey Kong games as far as level designs go.
Second, each character is fresh with his own specialties, unlike the originals where the characters only had very mild, almost unnoticeable differences save for Dixie Kong's hair spin move. This is yet another improvement on the originals.
However, my biggest disappointment in the game, and a disagreement with the GameSpot critics, lies in the music. The game's music is buzy, glaring, and most of the time lacking in a hum-able, melodic tune. I can hum almost all the music from the original Donkey Kong Country 2. That game's soundtrack is very dear to my heart and I adore the compositions. David Wise did an excellent job and I can remember those songs vividly.
But the case with DKC Returns... the only songs I can really remember + recognize are the DK Main Theme, used in most of his games, and it wasn't a surprise to find it in this one. I was dearly hoping for some remixes of DKC2's music. Stuff I could recognize and go, "Ahh, I know that song! That was from this level!" But alas... so far I've not experienced any of this. The music was completely forgetful. (This was the same experience I had for New Super Mario Bros. No remixes of recognizable tracks from the SNES games. The music was forgetful, didn't stick with me.)
The world map is not as nicely designed and creative as the level designs in DKC Returns. Unlike the map where you had to explore, discover hidden caves, find items, and upgrade your vehicles in DKC3 for the SNES, the map in this one is very straightforward and static. Your characters don't visually run around and discover things in the world map, you're just a little "game peice" and you click on the dot for the next level. The only interesting thing about the world map is collecting keys from Cranky's Shop to unlock an extra level. Or at least this is my impression so far. (Basically, where DKC Returns beats it's old games in it's marvelous level designs, it falls short in the world map design.)
But the world in DKC3? It was artistically creative, immersive and felt like exploration. That's the word I'm looking for- immersion! To feel like you're exploring the world, rather then being a little game peice on a map. Also, let me pick on the music again- the music was very busy, making me feel further detached, then the soft, ambient music in DKC3 which made me feel like I was overlooking a sweeping landscape... truly immersing myself in the experience.
And that's what both New Super Mario Bros and DKC Returns lacks in, is some soft, ambient tracks of music! (Pardon me for once again picking on the music... I just can't stop ranting.) It's the softness and splendor of some of the music in the original DK games that made the experience more enjoyable. It made the game less 'noisy' and encouraged exploration, waiting, thinking. The typically fast-paced, percussion-heavy tracks in DKC Returns gives me a rushed feeling... whereas in DKC2, for example, the very first level you enter on the pirate ship, the music track doesn't even kick up into it's melody until a few seconds in, leaving you with ambient ship-creaking sound effects to get into the experience before seamlessly moving into the melody.
As for the gameplay mechanics itself, it is aimed to be entirely different from the original games, so I can't compare or complain. However, my brother found himself missing the function of 'throwing' your partner monkey at items to collect them. He also disliked the 2-player mechanics, saying that platformers were not meant to be played this way and can be very difficult with players moving about on the screen in different directions- he liked the 2-player mechanics of the original SNES games better, where when one monkey dies, the other player controls the next monkey. I don't share these opinions with my brother, but I felt they should be shared.
Bottom line? I'm having a ton of fun in the creative and fresh level designs. But I just wish that the music was better and that as much effort was put into it as the old games, or even Super Mario Galaxy. I KNOW you can do it, Nintendo, as you've shown me with Galaxy's beautiful soundtrack, so please give your other games the same musical attention.