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REVIEW: DONKEY KONG COUNTRY TROPICAL FREEZE (Nintendo switch)

21/5/2018

16 Comments

 
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Many years ago, I got to spend a special day at a zoo. It was - at the time - part-owned by my friends from the Centre For Fortean Zoology, and I'd been invited there to attend a conference on big cat sightings across the UK. That's a whole other story in itself, but to give you some idea of what it was like... upon arrival, I met a man who - within the first two minutes of our conversation - told me he'd been the uncredited drummer on The Bay City Rollers' 1975 hit Bye Bye Baby, and was clearly still bitter about it.

Also, another man came to give a talk about a panther that he'd seen walking along some train tracks behind his flat, but he'd forgotten to bring the photos he'd taken of it. From the way he described it though, it was definitely a panther.

Significantly, I'd brought two of my many daughters along with me, and they were due to be spending the weekend helping the keepers.

On our tour of the zoo, we were introduced to a "teenage" gibbon called Udo, who apparently was in the grip of puberty. Female keepers weren't allowed to enter his enclosure alone, as - were they to do so - the dirty gibbon would attempt to do rudies with them. Amusingly, every time my daughters passed by his cage, Udo would hang from the ceiling, pucker his lips, and press his genitals up against the bars. Whenever I walked by, he would turn his back on me.

We spent some considerable time exploiting the hilarious behaviour of this hairy little pervert - while I pretended not to feel rejected - and then around five minutes feeling a bit bad about having done so.

Importantly, it wouldn't have been as funny if primates didn't look - and behave - so much like people. What I always find interesting about them - and apes in particular - is what they can teach us about ourselves. Unfortunately, most of it isn't pretty, but it saddens me that gorillas are considered critically endangered, and possibly won't be around forever. 

The more we learn about them, the more we discover how similar they are to us. Maybe we should bring them out of the jungles and invite them to live in our towns and cities and put them on benefits. Admittedly, I offer this suggestion not because I want to save the great apes, but because I don't want to waste any opportunity to laugh at them.

​It makes me wonder how many of these so-called "conservationists" are secretly operating with a similar motivation.
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DIDN'T LIKE
Anyway. Hello. I'm sorry, but I didn't like Donkey Kong Country. In my view, it was a whole lot of style over substance. Those pre-rendered "Silicon" graphics were really nice for the time, though - let's face it - not quite as revolutionary as they'd led us to believe.

We were all wowed back in the day, but with hindsight we can now appreciate that "pre-rendered" CGI means about as much as, I dunno, taking a sequence of still photographs of decomposing fruit, putting them in a game, and then crowing about how your platformer features "the first ever realistic video game fruit decomposition".

For me, those graphics - and the thrilling, long overdue, return of a gaming icon - disguised a platform game that was, even for the time, fairly rote.

Furthermore, Donkey Kong's lumbering gait added a level of unnecessary challenge, due to its imprecision. As the character saw his star once again in the ascendant, the series became a sort of parallel to Nintendo's Mario games - with its own take on Mario Kart and Mario 64 and that. But, alas, for me... they always disappointed. Solid, good-looking, but somehow lacking surprise and ideas they could call their own. 

And yet... history is often kind. I don't pretend that my view of Donkey Kong Country - and its sequels - hasn't softened with time. I look on them fondly now. With the passing years I appreciate more of what they did differently than focus on what they borrowed from other, better, games.

And then something like Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze comes along and I let out a sigh so massive it makes my trousers fall down - even though I wasn't even wearing any trousers!!!!!
ICE TO MEET YOU
Tropical Freeze is another Switch re-release of a game that first appeared on the doomed Wii U. As is now customary, there's some new content here - specifically, a mode in which you play as desperate surfer ape Funky Kong. It makes the game slightly easier - jumps are easier to control with Funky, and you've got more health - which appears to be a concession to one of the criticisms levelled at the Wii U original: it was off-puttingly difficult.

Beyond this, the game adheres closely to the original Country recipe. To wit; it plays like a fairly traditional side-on platform game, with boss battles, and mine cart rides, and bits where you clamber onto the back of a rhino, and things to collect, and secret rooms and that (albeit with the sort of pseudo-3D concessions familiar to anybody who has played a platform game in the last 20 years).

Also: a shop where you can buy items to use within the levels. Sadly, these items aren't quite as imaginative as in Donkey Kong 64. They typically buy you a second chance or two, or equip you with a buddy - Diddy, Dixie or Kranky - who will affect your jumping in various ways. There's also a co-op two-player mode, in the vague hope you have a friend who might like to play it with you.

What did surprise me was how it felt, at times, as much like a Sonic game as a Mario one. As with the originals, there's a lot of clambering into barrels, but here you're often spat from them into the screen, before ricocheting around without a great deal of control over your trajectory, like a... well... like a Sonic The Hedgehog game. 
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WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE LIKE A BIG PIZZA PIE... THAT'S ADMIRE!
There's much to admire about Tropical Freeze. The graphics - particularly in their depiction of the enemies (a tribe of Minion-like Viking penguins) - are full of character, the soundtrack is great, and overall it manages to avoid many of the battling-with-the-controls issues which plagued the original Donkey Kong games. Nevertheless, as polished as it might be, it's still relatively unremarkable.

​It feels like they upped the difficulty level (again, mitigated somewhat here if you chose to play in Funky Mode) to disguise a lack of innovation. 

There's nothing here that really screams "new". Look at some of the platformers we've had in recent years, from Nintendo's own Mario series, to Unravel, Cuphead, and Little Nightmares. Even Sonic Mania managed to peddle nostalgia while offering new ideas.

Tropical Freeze doesn't bother to do that. As much as it pains me to say it, and as much as I'm all for ingesting nostalgia, it simply reheats gameplay that I've consumed dozens of times before.

Yes, it does so in a way that is very slick and playable, but at no point did I ever really feel I was playing something original. But it's fine. If you missed it on the Wii U - and there's every chance you did - then you could do worse. It does, however, seem a bit rich pricing this the same as some of the Switch's heavy hitters, like Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild.

<SCREECHES WILDLY, PUCKERS UP, PRESSES GENITALS AGAINST THE BARS OF HIS CAGE>

​SCORE: 60.1011010101 out of 101.21888
16 Comments
Sonni
21/5/2018 10:24:32 am

This is how I felt about the Wii one. Solid and responsive and all that, but not interesting in the slightest. When the difficulty ramps up and the going gets tough and the mildly-satisfying feedback loop is interrupted, completion is the only reason to keep playing, and hey, Daniel - I aint bothered about arbitrary completion

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RichardM
21/5/2018 12:25:03 pm

I liked DKC and the SNES sequels, but was only like 12 or something when it came out and wasn’t very discerning. Take the point about the DK stuff feeling a little weaker than the equivalent Mario game... DK64 being probably the ultimate example, a real slog. Would be interested on the inside story from Rare on that one, on what pushed the collect-a-thon gimmick to the absolute limit.

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DEAN
21/5/2018 12:47:42 pm

I love animals and none more so than marine ones. I was once mistaken for a marine biologist at London Sealife Aquarium because of my extensive knowledge of octopuses (and my beard with seafood all in it and my massive trident)! I actually wanted to be a marine biologist when I grew up because I wanted to go scuba diving with sharks and all that cool shit.... turns out there would have indeed been lots of 'cool shit' as I'd have more than likely found myself wearing waders in a river collecting samples for measuring the faecal content of. Not as glamorous as I'd have hoped.

Undeterred I resolved to get a better grade at maths (which was important apparently... how much shit is in shit I guess) and so took a retake.

When I was doing that became mates with another lad because we were both going to going to the Guns n Roses concert (not important)... anyway, we both sat the exam but with one big difference - I sat the lower paper and the highest grade I could get was a C and he sat the higher (up to A). Now I'm sure you're all familiar with exams but this bit is interesting (pinky promise)

I got a C and he got a D and he was well fucked off because my hard paper was his easy one.... do you see? Unfair and all that and in no small way shows the whole sham up for the crock of shit that it really is....

It's strange how developers think that games need to be difficult in order to offer a meaningful challenge or value for money (or whatever) because the great irony is that many games go uncompleted by people that were, at least up until they hit a brick wall, having a rare old time.

I can't back that up with figures but 'I read somewhere once' about the percentage of games that people don't make it to the end on - hopefully this'll suffice as proof!

Why do you have to prove your valour in order to enjoy a game? I mean you can just about enjoy any other 'thing' without having to be any good at it but games can be right bastards.

I really enjoyed playing Breath of the Wild up until things got a bit heavy going - I gave up, felt pissed off and never went back again.

Now that's a very bad thing for all involved because I wanted to play the whole thing, see the bullshitty story bits and solve all the puzzles but I was locked out by my own ineptness at the battle bits - I'm great at puzzles and exploring but I'm a lousy fighter.... I should have been able to still enjoy the game my way, though, right? Easy fights would have in no way hurt my experience of the game - the very opposite is true!

And now I'm not going to buy any add-ons and I am going to be very weary about buying the next game in the series - I don't want it to beat me up again, mum.

By stark contrast I also played through Kirby Star Allies - great little game and pretty much a piece of piss all the way - it gets a bit dicey on the final boss but that's sort of okay and also doesn't deem it necessary to punish you for failure.

I'm pretty sure I would buy more games if I knew I'd be able to finish them.

Also, I know older games were generally harder but they were of a more quick and fast 10p gobbling mentality. These new jobs are going for movie like experiences - I mean, Uncharted for example - great game and completely doable if you don't want a challenge but just want to enjoy progressing through the game and seeing everything it has to offer. Yay! I still felt great watching the credits roll even though I had it set as easy as possible - great if you want it rock hard but I don't and don't even feel bad about that!

Also, I think playing difficult games is 'probably' bad for your health -
When you're all stressed out to the point of wanting to smash the pad into the TV your body is raging with hormones... now in real life you'd either go full on fucking Hulk or The Flash and all that 'chemical shit' in your bloodstream would have a chance to wear off properly. Not so if you're sat on your arse and what effect does all that have on your body? Does that stuff turn in on you and start 'messing with your shit' and cause... I dunno, autoimmune disorders.... I'm not a Dr but think about it - stress we know is bad for you and games that make you want to pull your hair out with frustration definitely cause a lot of it.

There's many reasons I think games should have a non-patronising easy as fuck mode and I can absolutely think fo no reason whatsoever why they don't. Bunch of dicks, probably.

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Mrtankthreat
21/5/2018 02:35:20 pm

Our state exam in Ireland is pretty much the same with an A in the lower paper (called a Pass) being worth the same as a C in the higher paper (an Honour). Even an A is hard to come by in the lower level though so it was worth it to do the higher paper and aim for a C but be happy with the D. Certainly for stuff like maths and English as some college courses require you to have done Honours level in those subjects.

Whether you're doing honours or pass you'll be in a different class though and be taught to a different curriculum so i know some people who chickened out on the day of the exam and did the lower level maths paper thinking it would be easier and actually did worse than if they had stuck with the harder paper because there were questions they hadn't come across before.

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Raybies
21/5/2018 07:17:29 pm

I did exactly that for the Leaving Cert, dropped to pass level physics! It was fine.

Gremmy
21/5/2018 12:48:19 pm

I liked DK64 apart from the bit where you have to do the original DK twice. Sometimes I want a collectathon...but I liked Earthworm Jim 64 so maybe I’m an idiot. The wii one was bad, I was angry with it for being so hard but forgave it for the silhouette levels. I am that shallow.

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Reversible Sedgewick
21/5/2018 02:02:18 pm

Compulsory minigames were a massive problem with Rare's output for a bit. That one in DK64 was sheer madness. Jetforce Gemini forced you to do 1st person flying obstacle courses and topdown racing games to see the final boss. And Starfox Adventures had this button mashing thing about pushing a log (!) harder than some dinosaur... I once plugged in a turbo pad and it still couldn't beat it.

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Spiney O’Sullivan
21/5/2018 04:11:28 pm

DK64 requiring you to complete the original Donkey Kong twice is why I never finished the game. I didn’t mind the collectathon aspects, but locking the rest of the game behind the completion of a much older game that frankly wasn’t even fun by the late 90s was just insane.

The minigames are also a complete drag in Yooka Laylee, come to think of it...

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Col. Asdasd
21/5/2018 07:22:23 pm

If it's any consolation, if you'd beaten the arcade games you'd probably still have given up in frustration at the five (five!) phase final boss.

superfog
21/5/2018 01:23:59 pm

It looks a right load of old rubbish, you would have thought with today's advanced graphics they could have actually made it look like a Donkey!

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Reversible Sedgewick
21/5/2018 01:57:52 pm

Played it on ye olde Wii U a while back. Biggest mistake was ditching the lovely music from the bonus room, which they'd had the good sense to keep in the previous one on the Wii.

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Alex Darby
21/5/2018 03:04:20 pm

I chuffing hate all Donky Kong games since the one on the SNES - and not just because they're mostly just highly polished mediocrity...

I think the main reason is that the original Nintendo Donkey Kong was SO much more visually appealing than the completely unendearing lanky boggle eyed mono browed shiny buffoon that Rare squoze out of their Silicon Graphics' Valley.

I guess without DKC there wouldn't have been Golden Eye or Blast Corps though so I guess it was sort of worth ruining an iconic Nintendo character design for thiose games...

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Spiney O’Sullivan
21/5/2018 04:32:57 pm

In fairness, I don’t even think that the original Donkey Kong is that much fun anyway, and if Nintendo had really cared about his brand as an icon at that point they likely wouldn’t have farmed him out to a 2nd-party studio.

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Lee
22/5/2018 12:27:48 am

Nintendo EAD had released their own new Donkey Kong game on Game Boy just a few months before the release of Donkey Kong Country. Shigeru Miyamoto was the Producer and everything. It's still the best Donkey Kong game ever.

Alex Darby
23/5/2018 09:16:19 am

Yeah! Donkey Kong on the original game boy was amazing. Got to be the best game hardly anyone's ever heard of.

Loads of Mario's moves which appeared in Mario 64 were trialled in that plat former.

Wapojif
21/5/2018 08:14:13 pm

Well, can't agree with Mr. Biffo's opinion here. I think this is one of the greatest modern 2D platformers available - a masterpiece. It's sprawling, beautiful, sublime, and spectacular. Some in the gaming press haven't embraced it as such, I'm aware, but I think Destructoid's Chris Carter nailed it with his 10/10 review.

You're more than welcome to your opinionionion though, Mr. Biffo.

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