DKCountry: Tropical Freeze reivew is up, 6/10, FLOPPAGE

Fanboys must have gave this game a 6/10 right.

"Have given"

lm not one to nitpick reviews.. because in the past, especially recently even when GS has flopped games like SS, some of the individual complaints maybe didn't seem harsh enough for the score to be as low as it was.. but upon playing l agreed with the overall score/impression.

But lts just my problem with this review is the lack of detail highlighting how this is a worse game than the first one.

The first is one of the best 2D platformers ever. Period. Reading the review, from what l gather, he says the levels have oddly placed enemies? That hurt the rhythm?... And that its "cheap"..

lm sorry but that just doesn't make sense. You have to go into more detail on how exactly the game is cheap.. And long check points isn't one. Cheap means, to me atleast, that the game kills you randomly and in ways that are almost unavoidable, regardless of your skill level,, When does this happen? THere needs to be examples to back up a claim like calling a game cheap

And how exactly do the enemy placements throw you off to the point where the game isn't fun? .. What makes him so sure that the enemies aren't placed where they could be? This needs better clarification

Platformers gonna platform

Man this game is super creative with its level designs. Far more so than the first. This game definitely feels like the SMG 2 to Donkey Kong Country Returns so far. It's far more free in its creativity and more intricate in its level designs.

I honestly have no idea where the low reviews are coming from. If Super Mario 3D World can get a 90+ average than this game should easily at least match that score. I personally think it's a much stronger game so I guess that's all that matters. It's more substantial in its content and difficulty level. I'd also say it's more clever and creative in its level design.

P.S. this game is far from cheap so far. It's challenging at times, but always extremely fair. You know, the way gaming used to be: satisfying.

Also the enemy placement is perfect. It's like the original. They are placed with incredible precision in order for the speed runs to work smoothly without a hitch.

@Pikminmaniac: Glad to hear it's good. I am going to get the game soon. I'm sure it's definitely good, but to match scores from the recent Super Mario games would mean that Tropical Freeze is one of the most innovative, close-to-perfect platformers ever made in gaming history. I'm looking forward to playing it, but not with expectations that are too high.

Well my opinion was that Donkey Kong Country Returns was superior to the Mario Galaxy games last gen. I prefer tighter level design and challenge as opposed to the easier but more visually creative designs of 3D Mario games.

I feel that DK has much stronger level designs with its creativity coming from how new obstacles are made while being as grounded in the game world's logic as possible and the room for error is much smaller. It makes it feel like every little detail was crafted carefully for a very specific purpose.

Don't get me wrong. I thought Mario galaxy 2 and 3D World were fantastic, but they aren't on the same level as Retro's DK platformers.

P.S. I think that DKCR is one of the most perfect and well designed platformers ever made. I have not completed the second, but it's definitely trumping the first at every corner so far.

"Falling into a pit is called lack of skill and not cheap." - Cranky Kong.

I think that sometimes they don't know what they are talking about next to so called other low scorers here it's like GS enjoy giving out these crazy scores. I mean it doesn't do any massively new but it does look a decent game. Shame it's a Wii U game though. Ah well still have DKC 2 to finish.

@Pikminmaniac: Completely agree. This game is so incredible I haven't even left the first world because I keep trying to perfect the speed runs and find all the puzzle pieces.

Sometimes I think gamespot scores weirdly for site hits. Just to get their advertising revenues up.

Nope. But they are one of the tougher game critics out there.

I'm on to the last world at this point and I can say with a great deal of confidence that Tropical Freeze's developers have put more care and detail in to crafting this game than any other developer has with any other platformer out there.

Most platformers reuse a lot of assets like certain platforms and the such, but with these DK games, Retro produces each section of their levels as they need them. Even the backgrounds never repeat. Instead, many of them tell a progressing story as you traverse the hazard laden worlds. It's truly incredible the amount of effort Retro puts in to their games. A level of effort that's incredibly rare these days (almost intirely none-existant).

Tropical Freeze might very well end up being the best platformer ever made. It's quality is simply unmatched by anything else in its genre. I've said this a lot with DKCR and it's because this attention to detail and the fact that Retro's been going well beyond what others have done in this genre in terms of pitch perfect level design.

I'm usually incredibly harsh on game design, but it's very refreshing to see too games in a row from the same developer thatmI can't find a single flaw in. Their execution is perfect.

Kudos to you Retro Studios. You are the best this industry has to offer.

I just think that most reviewers are really afraid of going against the grain. It's ridiculous how much agreement there is amongst reviewers on any video game with any sort of marketing budget. It's nice to have sites like Gamespot out there that tell us what they really think, even if you don't agree with them. Sure, it makes some of their reviews worthless because they are completely subjective, but they aren't any more worthless than the industry consensus.

It really feels like an adventure.

Even within some of the levels there are dramatic setting changes as you progress. And this is complimented by music with some levels having multiple tracks, or a single track that changes depending on where you are.

I gotta say this game looks gorgeous. I got hyped on this release, made me go back and collect all the Kong letters in DKCR3D. 100% and ready for the sequel!

I agree. This game is exceptional in every aspect. It's being severely underrated, but oh well. At least I'm appreciating this game as the incredible piece of work that it is. I want to say masterpiece, but I'll hold my tongue for now.

Really? Hold your tongue? No offense, but you've been gushing over this game for months before it was released, and were already calling it your GOTY. It's safe to say you were going to have a very positive view on it no matter what.

Have you ever beat the first Returns in Mirror Mode?

I have. I got 200% completion in that game. It was one of the most satisfying challenges I've been through with a game. Thugly's Highrise was murder.

Just picked this up. It'll probably be a while until I get around to playing it though.

This is the first DK game I ever owned. Played through a tiny bit of DKC 2 (or maybe it was 3?) back then but never owned it.

Anyways, the game is actually pretty good. I wasn't really a fan of DKC back then with the little I played since the art style actually messed with my platforming a bit. Everything seemed to mesh together a little too much on stages making them look more cluttered than they actually are. This game is very clear most of the time, and is sizable in its challenge and creativity, albeit the rocket barrel stages aren't a favorite of mine (the water stages are kind of funny too at times).

It's a very different feel compared to the other platformers I've played, and its nice to have such weight to my movements. It takes some getting used to, and the aforementioned rocket barrel stages and swimming was completely different compared to other games imo, but overall the stages seem to have a lot of intuitive moments that make some of my stumbles more enjoyable. One thing I gotta say is... I fucking love minecart stages. They have the most intuitive and frantic paced platforming in the game, which is pretty amazing in itself. Most people seem to dread them from what I've seen, but I wish there were more of them tbh.

I guess some pros I would give it are the level design which clearly can be done either way, from slow collection, to a speedrun. The difficulty is pretty good and nothing ever feels too cheap (aside from those moments in the rocket barrel stages). K levels are pretty ace, the characters have nice abilities, the music is great, and the enemies are cool. The cons would probably be the loading, the bosses taking a smidge too long to take out (this is kind of another small point though as they are pretty well designed), and no restart at last checkpoint without offing yourself.

All in all I probably should have gave this series a chance long ago. I was never a fan or even that good at 2D Mario platformers (better than average but still not as good as I wanted to be compared to other genres) so it kind of threw me off most 2D platformers aside from indies. After Rayman Origins though I decided it may be cool to look into them again (although I'm still sick of the 2D bloat Nintendo got going), and here I am. I'm at the end of World 5 as of right now. :)

I always thought most people loved the minecart stages. They've always been some of my favorites even in the old DKC games.

I'm guessing you haven't gotten around to playing DKCR, but that game has plenty of minecart goodness.

Oh really? Must have only seen people bitch about end game ones or something haha. ;)

I might give the first one a go if that's true. At this moment though I might wait on it because I'm already playing its sequel. Might make some weird inferiority complex in me that will drown out the quality of the first game haha.

Been playing a shit load of this game so far.

The familiarity and rather uninspired designs can be deflating to some extent. You'd like to think Nintendo has some kind of new curve ball for the DK series(between them or Retro), and they frankly don't. Certainly nothing I haven't done in a platformer before. I will say though that I love the raw challenge of the game. Mechanics feel tight(duh nintendo), game feels great on a pro controller(thank you, **** waggle roll), and the difficulty makes conquering these levels satisfying. Some of them have a no nonsense policy when it comes to "no you better hit this jump at exactly the time we want you to, or you die. Get good bitch' kind of stuff, and I can see that being grating to some people. I personally can dig it. It's what I like about Super Meat Boy, and Tropical Freeze does an admirable job of doing that kind of platforming without it feeling tiresome so far as the levels aren't ridiculously long. At the least the checkpoints are spaced out, and the more noteworthy tough spots have conveniently placed balloons to make sure you just keep getting the life back that you lost.

So far it's good. Dare I say pretty good. Nothing spectacular frankly, but well worth my time. Would still prefer nintendo take a more daring route when it comes to DK's level design. A lot of this is like a mish/mash greatest hits of platformers past feel to it.

First impressions overall, other than "Dat graphics", and other than what Champ said.

They have fun with the levels, they all have their own identity and many twist series tropes in fun ways. Retro is really trying to make DK their own, and while I can appreciate their version, they are getting predictable with the secrets, particularly for someone who spent a lot of time with Returns. Diddy and Dixie are great, and while Scrooge McDucking around will never get old, Cranky is frequently useless outside of challenges that specifically call for him. Levels seem longer, but also better to explore.

Overall, more DK, which I love. Not enough to go for 200% or whatever other ludicrous challenge the game might have, but enough to enjoy myself through all the levels before putting it down for Infamous/Continuing AC4.

I'm now attempting a full completion of this game and I must say they really upped their game with the secrets. It's taken me some time to locate a good number of the puzzle pieces, but when I finally do, it's extremely satisfying. Like I've said before, this game is absolutely perfect in every single way and a major step above any platformer released before it.

This is a masterpiece if I ever played one. The greatest platformer this industry has ever produced. Everything a platformer has done well before, this game does better. Retro has completely outdone Nintendo's own Mario and have shown more care and attention to detail than the famous plumber ever received in any of his games.

I don't think I'll need to buy another game in a long time. This one has more than enough superb content to keep me completely enthralled for months to come at the very least.

I seriously can't sing the praises of this game enough. This level of quality is almost completely unheard of in a single game.

Christ. Talk about over compensation.

In the Olympics some sports they throw away the highest and lowest score. In this case Gamespot's score would ALWAYS be thrown out.

Gamespot is the only major publication which rated it 6/10.

have not taken Gs games review scores seriously for a while now tbh and likewise with a few other sites, I only really come here for the news, some of their videos and the forum banter. Sometimes i wonder if games on sites like this should have several people review the game individually and take the average score or something idk.