While Donkey Konga 2 has better graphics and sounds than the original, the game still greatly suffers with its repetitiv
Presentation - Once again Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong have a party with beating their hands up on bongos while listening to a variety of hip-hop songs. Like the original Donkey Konga, this game barely has a story involved. It's not much of a problem because most music oriented games generally don't really have a story involved except for Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix.
There are a variety of modes such as street performance, challenge, battle, concert, music lab, freestyle zone, shopping mall, electric hut, and hall of records. In the street performance, you can earn coins by playing through a variety of songs (1 to 2 players). In challenge mode, you can test your ability by seeing how many songs you can clear in a row (1 to 2 players). In battle mode (2 players), you can compete against a friend to see who's better at drumming. In the concert mode (1 to 4 players), you can play with your friends in Share mode to play together in a perfect sync. Also, the Quartet mode has you and your three other friends can perform an all-bongo super band.
The music lab (1 to 4 players) let's you and your friends play the Rhythm Keeper and Barrel Race mini-games. The freestyle zone (1 to 4 players) has you and your buddies freely choosing any song available. The shopping mall has you buying music and sound sets with all of the coins that you have earned. In the electric hut, you can adjust the GameCube controller, bongos, and the game sounds. Finally, in the hall of records, you can view your high scores and Dixie Kong's tips for learning how to play the game better. The difficulty level ranges from Monkey (easy), Chimp (medium), and Gorilla (hard).
Graphics - The graphics look a bit more polished than Donkey Konga, but they still haven't improved much with the GameCube hardware.
Sound - This is the area which the game immensely improves. There are no more children's songs like Bingo and I've been Working on the Railroad which was embarrassing in the original Donkey Konga. Instead the music in this game is made up of a variety of pop and hip-songs which cater more to the teens. For example, there is a pop song by Hilary Duff and Boombastic by Maryin Gaye. There are also several classic songs such as Shiny Happy People and All-Star. You can also transfer your data from Donkey Konga to add more sound effects to your bongos.
Game play - The game play still suffers with occasionally unresponsive bongo controls because there were times when the bongos were continuously clapping for me. That right there messes up with the performance of the songs that I select. Also, my hands always sore out even when I play a couple of songs which makes this game not very enjoyable for me to play.
The yellow drum is for clapping left, the red drum is for drumming right, and the pink drum is for alternately drumming both hands at the same time. The blue drum is for clapping. The trick that I found to successfully clearing songs faster is to press the red and yellow drums with both hands. That way you don't waste time with constantly switching hands and messing up on the songs you choose.
Lasting appeal - While Donkey Konga 2 has better graphics and sounds than the original, the game still greatly suffers with its repetitive and sore handing exercise. Although, it may be great for parties or just a get together with friends and family, the expensive price of the bongos will prevent a lot of customers from buying Donkey Konga 2.
The Good - Great for a get together with friends and family, extra modes keep things varied, better selection of music
The Bad - occasionally unresponsive controls with the bongos clapping for you, playing the game too long can sore out your hands, prices of the bongos can be expensive
Presentation - 10
Graphics - 8
Sound - 10
Game play - 4
Lasting appeal - 5
Overall - 7.4 out of 10 GameSpot score 7.5 out of 10