Between the days of soul-crushing finals and the start of a new semester, in that two-week slice of heaven called “the holidays,” I learned to appreciate the finer things in life: sleeping until noon, watching movies on the couch and good, old-fashioned monster stomping.
Games in the hardcore “platforming” genre have fallen out of favor in recent years, as every gamer and his mother is either blowing up heads in “Call of Duty” or doing yoga on the Nintendo Wii Fit.
Seeing this trend, Nintendo has descended from the gaming heavens to bring forth “Donkey Kong Country Returns,” a true sequel to the classic Super Nintendo series.
The game comes courtesy of Retro Studios, the Texas-based developer that similarly modernized Samus Aran in the near-perfect “Metroid Prime.”
Beautifully rendered in two-and-a-half dimensions reminiscent of the series’ groundbreaking visuals at the time, “Donkey Kong Country Returns” will wash every gamer, young and old alike, in nostalgia and fun.
The story is, of course, Nintendo’s usual flair of simplicity and silliness. Donkey Kong’s banana hoard has been stolen once again, and it’s up to him and his sidekick Diddy Kong to get the precious plantains back.
Sadly, DK’s mortal nemesis King K. Rool, everyone’s favorite lizard king not named Jim Morrison, is sitting this game out. Instead, a band of anthropomorphic tiki instruments have stolen the hoard and hypnotized the local island population into serving them.
While the story is pretty much ignorable, the game play is where “Donkey Kong Country Returns” shines like a 24-karat diamond. You’ll be running, jumping, rolling, punching and blasting through eight worlds filled with baddies and barrels.
A mechanical addition to the series involves switching between the foreground and the background, which opens the many levels to ever further exploration and breathtaking scenery. In one level, the background is illuminated by a sunset, casting a shadow over everything in the foreground, while DK’s signature red tie contrasts with the aesthetic. It’s gorgeous to behold.
However, it’s a bad idea to get too caught up in the beauty of the game, as beating this one is difficult. Very difficult. Back in DK’s heyday it was common for games to be in the highest reaches of the difficulty curve, and it looks like “Donkey Kong Country Returns” is bringing that back. Make no mistake, you will die. A lot.
Each level requires perfect timing and precision controls, and the player is given ample lives to continue through the meat grinder. This type of game play is rewarding, as there’s no greater feeling in the world than reaching the goal in one of the game’s many dreaded mine cart levels. Nintendo should have put a warning label on the box: “May cause broken controllers and gratuitous use of F bombs.”
In spite of the difficulty, or maybe because of it, “Donkey Kong Country Returns” is one of the best games currently on the Wii, and it’s guaranteed to make you feel 10 years old again. It’s fun, beautiful and you get fly rocket barrels. What more could a gamer want?
