Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)

Donkey Kong Country Returns. Nintendo Wii

** Donkey Kong Country Returns**
Being a huge fan of Donkey Kong Country back in the days of the SNES I was quite excited last year when I heard that Donkey Kong Country Returns was due to be released on the Wii. I made a very excited phone call to my mum one evening on my way home from work, she was just as excited as me and asked me if I would like it for Christmas. That was a silly question really! So, 25th December 2010 Santa Claus delivered Donkey Kong Country Returns to my wii.

Donkey Kong Country Returns comes in a normal white Wii box, the size of a DVD case, contained inside the box is a game disc along with an instruction manual for the game and also a separate manual containing safety instructions. The game instruction manual is written in English and is clear and simple to follow.

Once the game disc is inserted and you have gone past the usual selection of adverts and safety warnings you will be taken to the main screen where a little notice will pop up to tell you that you need to play the game with the wii remote in a horizontal position and to press the ‘2’ button to continue.

The first time you play Donkey Kong Country Returns you will simply need to select a new game, after the first time you will see your previous game saved when the main screen comes on so you can continue from the level that you were at. The game features an auto-save mode after each level, so you don't have to remember to save the game yourself.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is a platform style game with two main characters. They are Donkey Kong, he is the big monkey, and his sidekick Diddy Kong, the little monkey with a red baseball cap.

The game starts off in a Jungle setting with you playing as Donkey Kong, as you progress through the level you will collect bananas to earn bonus lives and during the levels you will come to a wooden barrel with the letters 'DK' on it, if you pick this up and throw it Diddy Kong will appear and follow you through the level mimicking most of your moves, i.e., you jump and so does Diddy Kong. For most of the game I find myself playing as Donkey Kong, however some parts of the levels are easier to complete if you have Diddy Kong as your lead monkey due to his lighter body weight he can jump higher and further and you can also take advantage of his mini jet pack which will allow him to hover for a few seconds during a jump. You can switch between Donkey and Diddy Kong anytime you wish providing that you have them both available.

Enemies in Donkey Kong Country Returns appear very often and most require a simple jump on top of them to defeat them, some require 2 jumps while others like the crabs for example put their pinchers in the air and can hurt you when you jump on top of them so for these you are better using a roll along the ground. I find this variety really helps make the game enjoyable as you have to take more notice of the enemies and think about technique rather than just running along jumping on everything.

At the end of each world you will need to defeat a boss, I find the bosses are actually quite tough to beat, this might just be me, but it took me days to defeat the Pirate crabs boss and I think in the end I only managed to do it with a running commentary from a work colleague over the phone while I was playing! In a situation like this I have to admit I usually would have given up or come close to it, however the animations in the boss stage were so entertaining and the crabs were really cheeky which actually added to my determination to beat them and this kept my attention to the game.

One of my favourite parts of Donkey Kong Country Returns is the level that involves you riding in a mine cart, this level is great fun yet really frustrating at the same time. It is a very fast moving level and you must be alert and ready to jump from one track to another when there is a sudden break in the tracks. You must also jump over enemies moving towards you in their mine carts at speed. Overall, so far I haven't reached another level that offers this kind of entertainment and I do find myself repeating this level over and over again just because it entertains me.

There is a multiplayer mode in the game, unlike in the SNES version the multiplayer mode in Donkey Kong Country Returns allows both players to play at the same time and work together to complete the game. I played the multiplayer mode once with my little 8 year old brother, however like most games he plays he was more interested in racing to the end instead of actually playing the level so I got annoyed and left him to play single player on his own, but from the tiny bit of multiplayer action that I did see I think it would be really good if you are playing with someone who will play the levels properly.

** Controls **
The controls of the game are pretty easy, you are playing with the wii remote held horizontally and mainly using the directional button to control Donkey or Diddy Kong, pressing the '2' button makes you jump. Other actions include rolling along the ground or crouching and blowing things, these are done with a simple gentle shake to the remote and pressing a direction or the '2' button. The first couple of times you need to do these moves a small picture will appear on the screen to show you what you need to do and press. I found this to be of great use as it meant I could leave my little brother playing without being called back every 5 minutes as he didn't know what he was doing!

** Graphics and Sound **
The graphics in the game are fantastic! Everything runs really smoothly and there are no long loading times between levels. All of the levels are bright and the characters in the game are very well animated. My personal favourites are the pirate crabs with their funky little dance and the weird bird on stilts creature which just makes me laugh with its general appearance!

The sound is good, the music in each level is well suited to the various settings and it isn't too loud that it distracts you from the game. The sound effects are all relevant to the game and some of them are rather entertaining too!

** Price and Availability **
Donkey Kong Country Returns is currently available from Play.com for £34.89 with free delivery.

** My Experience and Opinion **
I loved Donkey Kong Country on the SNES and my excitement over Donkey Kong Country Returns being released on the Wii was totally justified as this is a really great game. It is has kept a lot of the original features that made the original Donkey Kong Country great as well as having new features to make the game feel fresh and new again. I recommend this game for anyone of any age who enjoys a great platform game that they can play for hours on end.

Thanks for reading :)