PixlBit

 Number 14

 

One thing as of late is that I've been talking about is retro revivals on this series. There's alot of games from Nintendo that I've yet to play, and I'm always excited when a dormant franchise gets revived. It's because it might be from a franchise I haven't tried, but not only that, but reviving an IP means that it will not only please long-time fans but it will also attract a new audience.

When it comes to retro revivals, one name pops in my head: Retro Studios. Retro Studios is my favorite Nintendo developer, they always seem to do a good job no matter what IP Nintendo hands them. They revived 2 IP's for both old and new audiences while taking their own spin on them. But which of those IP's that Retro Studios worked on am I going to talk about? If you guessed which one it was, then congradulations, you deserve a banana.

Remember when there was big talk surrounding Retro Studios mysterious game around 2012/2013? Well everyone went quiet when that mystery project was revealed at E3 2013.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze seemed to get backlash from Nintendo fans and everyone because it wasn't the game they expected. I'll admit that I was a bit disappointed too but we can't expect them to pull out a game like Metroid Prime in such a short period of time, let alone on hardware they weren't familiar with at the time.

I never really heard from this game again till my little brother got it this past christmas. I was helping my other brother set up the PS Vita he just got, when my little brother gave me an offer I couldn't refuse: he wanted me to play DK with him. Normally, I wait for my bros. to finish up with a game if I want to borrow it, and I wait for a while if it's a console game so it wont bore them if they finished it reccently. I also heard that the game is really hard, I knew I couldn't let him play it alone if the game was too hard. I said yes since this was also a good opportunity to try it out.

            
First off, let's talk about the playable characters. Retro previously worked on Donkey Kong Country Returns and in that game, you could only play as Donkey Kong or Diddy Kong. In Tropical Freeze, not only can you play as them again but Dixie Kong makes a return as well, and Cranky Kong is a playable character too. Dixie Kong returns with her trademark ponytail ability which is neat and Cranky Kong can get on his cane to get across hazards like Uncle Scrooge in the Ducktales game. DK and Diddy's abilities are the same as in Returns so I wont touch on that. Funky Kong also returns but he isn't playable, instead he runs a shop on every world you'll go through. Items he sells range from lives to figures that you can collect and more.

Now that we've established on our 4 heroes, let's talk about the best part of the game: the levels. The levels themselves are really great. The levels themselves are a blast to play and are some of if not, the best that the Donkey Kong Country game shave to offer. At least in my opinion. The minecart levels really impressed me. They aren't your generic minecart levels anymore. Let's say you're going through a minecart level, and you're jumping on other tracks above you to dodge obstacles right? Well here this game throws you different things in minecart levels. Heck, in one of the stages my bro and I went through, the camera changes from 2D to almost a 3D perspective, now allowing you to switch to another set of tracks, either to the left and to the right which is really cool. But that's not all, it also throws you different things while on the tracks too. The camera even shifts perspectives when you're on the rocket barrel too and it also throws things at you too. There’s even underwater levels here too. They are pretty neat too.

               
The music in this game is just awesome. It really matches the theme of the levels really well. Ex-Rare veteran David Wise even composed the music for the game too. His style of music is that he makes music to match the enviroment of the levels, and it's true in this game too. One of my favorite levels, Grassland Groove, looks really nice and it’s a blast to play, but the music is just a treat to hear because it reminds me of the Lion King because of how the level is designed as well with the music used. Props for that. I’d say the music might be the best in the series too, but again that is just my opinion.

The levels themselves also have many secrets, like hidden areas or hidden Kong letters and puzzle pieces. Some are in plain sight, others are hidden, and some require to use a different kong. It’s neat and it encourages you to use the different kongs and use their abilities. As for the bosses, I think they are better than the previous game. They reused the bosses a few times in Returns, but right here they are different at least. On boss battles, you have to look for an opening, sometimes it’s pretty obvious but sometimes you could attack them while they are about to attack. And yeah, you can still beat them up at the end like in Returns.

             
As for the story, well I’m not sure if the game is too spoiler heavy since Nintendo showed on a Nintendo Direct about the story. The story is that it’s Donkey Kong’s bday, and the other kongs are there celebrating. However, a new enemy called the Snomads,  invade DK Island and forces the kongs out of the island and it’s up to DK and the other kongs to take the island back.

As for final thoughts on the game, well it’s really great. It’s amazing to see how much can a franchise benefit from new hardware. Retro Studios said it themselves that a lot of the new features in the game weren’t possible on the Wii. Like the water levels. The levels and music are great and it’s neat that you have more kongs to choose from. The game has less levels than Returns, but I think it’s okay since the levels themselves are just a blast. I will say that the only negatives I can think of is the difficulty. I can see the game being harder to newcomers and younger kids. I would say this game would have been harder on my little brother alone if I didn’t play with him. We haven’t finished the game because we want to beat the game from start to finish. I heard people complain about the co-op, I’m not sure what’s the complaint, but it’s been a blast with my little brother. It’s one of the Wii U’s finest games and 2D Platformer and it blows Returns out of the water. DKC Returns was a good start, but DKC: Tropical Freeze is way cooler.

                 

So, did you ever play DKC: Tropocal Freeze? How about the other Donkey Kong Country games? Which one is your favorite? Thanks for reading and later.