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The Lowdown
Pros: Great level design, great graphics, good two player support
Cons: Not much different from Donkey Kong Country or any other platformer
 Purchase
at Play-Asia
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Back when Rare and Nintendo were working together they created a gem
called Donkey Kong Country. Donkey Kong Country had excellent level
design, lots of mini games and sharp pre-rendered 3D graphics. Of
course, Donkey Kong Country was an instant hit and Rare needed to follow
it up with a sequel. When Donkey Kong Country 2 was in development Rare
had the don't fix it if it isn't broke attitude. So in a way Donkey Kong
Country 2 plays more like an expansion pack of the first game rather
than a new experience.Even though it may not feel completely
different from the original Donkey Kong Country 2 had some of the best
level design ever seen in a 2D platfomer. You need to leap from
platforms, swim long distances, bounce on enemies heads and shoot
monkeys through barrels just to beat levels. Rare gave the star of the
game, Diddy Kong, and his girlfriend Dixie Kong a good set of moves, all of
which are put to use in the game. The two monkeys have all of the basic
abilities from Donkey Kong Country like jumping on enemies heads,
throwing barrels, climbing ropes, switching between players and doing
acrobatic attacks. One of the new attacks in the game is the ability to
throw your partner monkey by pressing R and then the B button. This
attack is useful to get rid of enemies from far away and adds a new
element of necessity for keeping a second player around. One of the best
features in the game are the hidden animal crates. When found you would
be able to get an animal partner that would give you a ride. Some of the
animals like Rambi the rhino and Enguarde the swordfish return from the first game Rare
also added new animal friends like Rattly the rattlesnake, which lets you jump higher
and Squitter the spider who can make platforms to jump on.
The location of where the animal crates are sometimes obvious, like
in the beginning of the level, but many times they are cleverly hidden.
Where you can find your animal friend is just the tip of the iceberg of
what Rare has hidden for players. There are bananas and kong letters to
collect that can snag you extra lives. Items that are more hidden are
locations of bonus stages, Banana coins (the currency of the island),
Kremkoins and the elusive DK coins. Some of the items, especially the DK
coins are really well hidden. Finding all of the DK coins gives players
an additional challenge over beating the game. You wont want to wait
until you complete the game to start collecting coins because banana
coins have many uses. You can use them to play a trivia mini game with
the game show host Swanky Kong or purchase gameplay hints from Kong
Kollege.
Rare's ingenuity in platform level design goes beyond hiding
trinkets. Diddy Kong's quest will take players through numerous
environments. There are the expected lava world, underwater area and ice
stage. Rare does have some more exotic locations like a pirate world and
a beehive world that is coated in sticky honey. What is great about each
environment is that it utilizes different skills. The ice world will
require you to have precise timing of movements so you don't slip and
fall off a ledge. The beehive world makes players tackle smaller jumps
and getting stuck into honey. The game also has a fair learning curve
where the first level, the pirate area, teaches players the basics of
the game. Each level after that gets increasingly more difficult all the
way to the final level that will challenge most gamers out there.
Rare continues using their classic idea of pre-rendered sprites in
Donkey Kong Country 2. The result are graphics that are above par for
the Super Nintendo and still above par compared to other Game Boy
Advance games. While the novelty of the graphical style has warn off
from the original Donkey Kong Country, the graphics are considerably more
vivid in the environment department than the first game. Diddy and Dixie
also have more animations. Diddy will juggle balls and pull out a stereo
for a victory dance when he completes a level. Even though there are
additions there are considerable amount of reused graphics from the
original in the game. Many of the background objects and the original
Diddy Kong animations were just cut and paste from one game to the next.
Exclusive to the Game Boy Advance version are mini games, a time
trial mode and a new set of items to collect. The three mini games add
into the multiplayer aspect of the Donkey Kong Country series. You can
play the original game with a friend and a GBA link cable and one person
will play as Diddy and the other as Dixie. Or you can play one of the
three short mini games. The first is Expresso's Racing where players get
to ride the speedy ostrich and race to the finish line. The second mini
game is Funky's Flights where you try to guide a plane safely to its
landing point. The final mini game is Bag a Bug where you try to catch
as many bugs you can within a time limit while evading a giant croc. The
mini games are a definite plus, but only with a friend. As stand alone
games they're too simplistic to hold anyone's attention for long. The
time trial mode is a neat feature that will record your fastest time
through any of the levels you have completed. The last Game Boy Advance
exclusive is the addition of Golden Feathers in the stages. The Golden
Feathers are the ultimate challenge, they are there for players that
have already found all of the DK coins and mastered the game. This way
these expert players can come back for a whole new challenge.
Even though Donkey Kong Country 2 is re-release it is a re-release of
one of the best games on the Super Nintendo. Younger gamers will
defiantly enjoy the game as a brand new challenge, while older gamers
can sit back and reminisce. There is enough in Donkey Kong Country 2 to
keep players busy for awhile and keep them coming back for more long
after they complete the game. While Donkey Kong Country may not be as
ingenious as the original, its still an exemplary example of the genre.
Simple to learn how to play and pretty much everything
you need is in English.
US Bound?
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest has a November 15, 2004
release date.
Overall
An engaging platfomer with enough secrets, mini games and diversion to
please gamers.
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