| Product: |
Donkey Kong 64 (N64) |
| Date: |
08.11.00 (47 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Addictive gamplay, good graphics
Disadvantages: Nothing new with respect to 3D platformers
Donkey Kong country on the SNES was one of one favourite so I had high hopes for it's N64 debut.
To be honest I was a little disappointed when I started playing it as it is very similar to Banjo-Kazooie, which is not bad thing but I was expecting something a bit different. You start off as Donkey Kong and work your way from then. On the first level you set Diddy free to join you and then free more of the Kongs as you go along. Each level contains 4 big bananas for you to find, plus you get one extra banana if you manage to find the blueprint for each person. On top of that you must find 100 normal sized bananas. There are five characters in total, each with their unique characteristics. For example,Donkey Kong can roll for his special attack, can go invincible with a barrel and is transported to a barrel area for his pad. All the characters have to earn each of these abilities by waiting until the right level and buying the ability off Cranky. Each character also has a weapon which they get from Funky and musical instruments to get from Candy.
This is where the beauty of the game lies, the levels at first don't seem particularly big but each one has all the bananas carefully hidden so that only one memeber of the Kongs can get to their respective ones. For example if you find a pad with bongos on it you have to be Donkey Kong and play his musical instrument. A door might only open by firing peanuts at it, which means you have to get Diddy. Also by builiding up the abilites as you go along you have to constantly think about how to get to the various bananas.
Graphically the game is impressive although not as good as you might think given it needs the expansion pack. The only new feature it has over Banjo Kazooie is realtime lighting which looks cool when you are in cave and there are burning torches but overall it doesn't make much of a difference. The jungle level is bright and colourful, while some of the industrial
levels are dark and moody, it all gives you a real feel for the world the Kongs are in, there are times when I really want to get out of the castel and back into the bright sunlight. The controls are simple and work well and gameplay is as good as you would expect from Rare.
There is also a four player game, it's not particularly serious but it's a good laugh all the same. You either run about shooting each other or try and force each other off platform using various platforms.
Donkey Kong 64 can experienced in Dolby Pro-logic surround sound but although the sound in the game is good, the pro-logic is not anything special and doesn't really add to the game like it does in Jet Force Gemini. All the monkey noises and music are all typical Rare so they are as good as ever.
I feel the biggest disappointment of this game is that it doesn't really feel like its SNES predecessor. In Donkey Kong country Donkey Kong and Diddy worked together, when one was killed the other took over. With DOnkey Kong 64 the emphasis is on working with each Kong individually which I don't think works as well.
However the game does cater for nostalgic players like me, there is an original version of the first arcade Donkey Kong and the spectrum version of Jetpac. Both of these have been totally untouched and are really amusing to play.
Despite some of this game's shortcomings it is still a masterpiece from Rare and I was hooked from the moment I started playing, I was really only satisfied having finally finished the game. A good buy, especially now you can get it fairly cheap with the expansion pak.
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