Gorgeous as it it, DKC Returns is missing something in the exploration/action pace department to live up to the series.
The Bad: Levels push the player forward, while leaving the exploration mood behind; poor music remixes; dragging, annoying boss battles.
Donkey Kong Country--the series--is firmly based upon two main pillars: state-of-the-art presentation and levels exploration. And while DKC Returns--the latest installment after a 14-year and two generations gap--succeeds in looking beautiful and shiny it falls short when it comes to gameplay in comparison to its predecessors.
Even though at first those apparently diverse pillars may not seem to relate, in this game one can sometimes get in the way of the other.
That happens because in order to create a breathing, living world the designers decided to put together a bunch of ever-changing levels; not that crumbling platforms, falling monoliths and random molten lava raining are bad things per se, but there are many occasions when the moving pace gets so frantic that one can only hope to survive by quickly REACTING to the environment. And in such a weird QTE/platform action hybrid of some sort there's not many room left for a keen eye looking after puzzle pieces or "KONG" letters... Here's where "exploration" goes down for the sake of presentation.
Still, that's not all. Kong's controls are perfect for sure, but he's heavier and slower than anything else around him (including hyppopotamuses -.-); ultimately that leads the player to keep running and jumping aimlessly in order to PREDICT what comes next--waiting is not always an option since DK won't be able to make it in time. More than that, the levels frequently allure you into moving at a given pace then suddenly take that away from you, making it all more a matter of memorization/trial and error than an actual platform action (Volcano levels are a good example of that).
Not that the game hasn't its bright sides; but I see things mostly like a mixed bag overall.
Presentation is breathtaking regarding graphics, but there's no original music score and the remixes don't quite live up to the original tracks; the balance of unlockables distribution is perfect along the worlds--including secret levels and so--but the extras are not that compelling (exception made to the amazing dioramas); boss fights feel epic at first but they drag out way too long just to be recalled as annoyances.
Nintendo's effort in reviving a long forgotten franchise by shaping it into a modern hardcore 2D-platformer is praiseworthy, of course. But some decisions here may have taken the series a little off the track.