Donkey Kong makes his return to 2D platforming, paying homage to his past games while remaining fresh at the same time.

User Rating: 9 | Donkey Kong Country Returns WII
Rare developed and made Donkey Kong Country on the SNES in 1994 as one of the Super Nintendo's gems of that time. From there a much tougher sequel was introduced along with a not so well known 3rd one and an N64 release. Donkey Kong Country Returns marks almost an entire decade since Donkey and Diddy have been swinging across Donkey Kong Island in regaining Donkey Kong's secret banana hoard, recreating what made the three SNES classics so great combined with multiplayer mode and great level design to create a great feel to already famous franchise.

Gone are the Kremlings and King K. Rool from past games, enter the new Tikis. These strange enemies have awoken from a sleeping volcano, hypnotise the animals of the island and stolen Donkey Kong's banana hoard. Playing as Donkey Kong and his nephew Diddy you jump, ground pound, swing, fly, grab, slam, blow, ride and glide your way through Donkey Kong Island on your quest to retrieve your stolen bananas and save the island from the Tiki threat.

DKC Returns is controlled via Wiimote/nun-chuck combination or (the better choice) holding the Wiimote sideways as if it were an NES controller. The game plays perfectly well this way though on occasions where you would have to shake the controller to perform certain tasks such as ground-pounding, blowing and rolling. It's time like that which the classic controller would be a proper alternative for mechanisms like this, but hey, the game still plays rather well even with those major hiccups.

Welcome to the era of 2D platforming. Run through the levels and hazards put towards in a horizontal, or at times, vertical movement to reach the goal at the end of it all, thanks to the clever designs of the levels and new features added to the classic gameplay. Both Kongs can blow at any form of vegetation to reveal hidden bananas, coins or puzzle pieces which are needed to complete the game at 100% (which is not an easy task). A new item to the series called the Barrel Rocket is also introduced in the trickier portions of the game. One hit will kill the Kongs instantly and collecting items are even harder to collect with the amount of precision needed to control the rocket. Rolling gives you extra speed to reach areas that can't be done with regular jumps and ground-pounding certain areas of the background often reveals new items hidden away.

During the course of the game, you will find Cranky Kong's cabin located in certain areas of the map. Going there with a payroll of banana coins enables you to buy extra lives, items for a brief amount of immunity, keys to unlock hidden stages and many more. In addition to this, one of Donkey Kong's famous allies in Squawks the parrot can be bought to locate hidden puzzles that you probably miss. Speaking of famous allies, Rambo the rhino returns ready to plow through almost any hazard that stands in his way yet can also be helpful in finding puzzles pieces.

Another node to the classic DKC games would be the 'Kong' letters. Successfully collecting all 4 letters in each stage within a particular world will unlock a temple which will truly test your platforming skiils. These temples are some of the toughest portions of the game which says a lot. Donkey Kong Country Returns is not an easy game at all, it is rather hard to get through the game without having to resort to buying lives constantly from Cranky. Doing so will get you closer to finishing the game at 100% and unlock a hidden temple deep on the map itself.

In regards to the Kongs, they both play differently and you can only use Diddy in multiplayer mode sadly. Donkey is very heavy to control which one can see very clearly while Diddy is the more agile Kong making a lot of ground that Donkey cannot perform. Equipped with a rocket barrel to stay airborne for a regular amount of time and a peanut gun which comes useful against bosses, he is the better Kong to use and his rocket barrel is exceptionally useful in single-player.

The cartoonish style of Donkey Kong Country is evident in Returns as the graphical presentation is top notch. It's not 'Mario Galaxy' worthy but good enough nonetheless. Also the music in this game is great, ranging from classic remixes from past Donkey Kong Country to some brand new tunes to 'bop' to while exploring the regions of Donkey Kong Island.



FINAL THOUGHTS:
Classic gameplay, great artistic styles along with clever level designs, sweet music, an intimidating yet highly rewarding challenge and all the nostalgia that can be placed into one disc without it looking like a rehash, Donkey Kong Country Returns is the embodiment of what 2D-platforming was all about on the Super Nintendo all those years ago. Getting through the game itself does take some time if you are quick enough, but the amount of stuff hidden from prying eyes and the craving to replay DKC Returns over and over is overwhelming. If not for Super Mario Galaxy 2, this game would be Wii Exclusive Of The Year and should not be missed by anyone who is a fan of 2D-platformers.