Donkey Kong Country Returns - Nintendo Wii

[MarioMark]

This is brilliant.

Had a quick blast on this while I was waiting for GT5 to install. It?s exactly what I want from a modern day DKC game that has all of the classic charm from the original. I?d say this is the true sequel to the first one.

It plays just like before but with the addition of some nice welcome moves where you seamlessly shake the Wii remote to make DK interact with an object; you can also glide while Diddy Kong is on your back thanks to his fiery jet pack. The 3D engine has some great features where you can shoot to the background to continue your quest through the level and speaking of the engine it?s graphically superb (dare I say for a Wii game).

Lots of nostalgia here music wise. So far the first few levels have the classic DKC music which sound pretty much the same. I don?t think they have change it much, which isn?t a bad thing for me.

Sorry about this brief thread opener and I can?t wait to get into this more. To say Retro Studios didn?t make the original they seem to have done a great job so far of emulating it as their own.

[briareos_kerensky]

Played up to the second stage of world two and I find DKCR a fun platform, although relying on the Wiimote only is the biggest weakness of the game. Ground pounds and dashes are all slaved to a Wiimote shake plus a neutral d-pad or a lateral d-pad respectively, and when you want to perform either one that particular you have to perform an action that requires much more time than a button press. Controls otherwise are tight, but some platforming segments without Diddy Kong tend to be harder than they should because you cannot dash exactly when you want. It's not a crippling issue and it's more a matter of getting used to it, but a classic controller option would have been greatly appreciated.

Graphics are gorgeous and they scream Retro Studio the moment you see the first stage, so full of detail yet clear and easy to understand. The use of shifting planes is great and gives a small but gratifying extra visual layer to level exploration.
Visual effects are underlined by simple sound effects that enhance the whole presentation.

[nakamura]

Good to hear positive views. Will be picking this up asap as I loved Donkey Kong back in the day.

[hudson]

What's the music like? Anything resembling the original works?

I love the old aquatic music

[arcnas]

the start up screen resembles the old music, not sure the rest of the game remixes the original soundtrack, i havent played the old one for years, great game though, im finding it easy so far, so hopefully it gets harder later on .

[hudson]

I read that it gets ridiculously hard later on.

[arcnas]

Good as kirbys epic yarn was so great but the easy completion ruined it for me, you couldnt die, so im up for the challenge

[nakamura]

What's the music like? Anything resembling the original works?

I love the old aquatic music

That music is amazing and I hope it is in there. Going by some of the trailers you can certainly hear some remixing.

[arcnas]

my son just played some more, its remixed im sure if it, brilliant, hes finding it tough though,

[Team Andromeda]

Just got my copy . What a totally brilliant game, I haven't enjoyed a Platform game so much in years , this is serious old school done brilliantly and like the likes of Ghost N Ghouls I just can't put it down, even though its insanely hard

I played more of my Wii than the 360 or PS3 this week what with this and Sonic , never thought I would see the day

[Roddie]

Where did you guys get this? I thought it wasn't out until 3rd Dec.

[nakamura]

US release was last week. 21st according to wiki.

[arcnas]

We are all playing the US version, update i breezed to 2-4, then it got a lot harder just about to try world 3 , good good game, though.

[MarioMark]

I'm still really enjoying it, a nice surprise. What I love is how the background interacts with you. You can be running on and out of no-where you can be attacked when you don't expect it. It keeps you on your toes.

[briareos_kerensky]

Just completed world 4 and so far it's the world I enjoyed the most, even

->Open Spoiler<-

when visiting the bat-cave....I hate that giant purple bat

; boss fights are fun and never drag too long (with the exception of world 2), each level has a design on its own while sharing structural and graphical elements in common with every other level in the world playing in.

I finally got used to shaking the Wiimote to perform ground pounds and dashes, though I still think that a full-button layout would have been better.
Collision detection sometimes feels a bit too strict, but never gets frustrating.