Jungle-themed boredom from £59.99. (Donkey Kong 64 (N64))

Name: ric10561

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Product:	Donkey Kong 64 (N64)
Date:	05.09.00 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Neat features such as Battle mode, five characters.

Disadvantages: Boring, requires Expansion Pak, repetitive, levels too large.

Donkey Kong hit the market on December 3rd, and many gamers rushed out to buy it after the mastery of Banjo Kazooie. Most were disappointed. Despite the N64 mags lashing out praise just because it’s a Rare game, I know several people who have the game and have got bored with it after a day or two. Maybe Rare got so much money through sales, they were ableto bribe everyone…

The Expansion Pak is included (I think its obligatory, and Nintendo won’t even let you sell it back to them, you have to trade it for an extra game) – which doesn’t do much. Banjo looked great without one, and instead of better enemy AI, a sharper (higher resolution) screen or better quality characters, Rare have mostly made the levels bigger. Too big, in fact. You get lost, and even the five pairs of teleporters scattered around don’t help. Despite the Pak, objects dissapear after about twenty yards, and trees commonly pop-up. Yeah, there’s a gradual fading, but pop-up is pop-up.

And even with this and other methods (such as making most of the pick-ups flat 2D spites), the N64 struggles to draw the screen sometimes, resulting in low frame rates and jerkiness. It’s not just the graphics either. Gameplay is let down by walking around taking up most of your time, and repetitive tasks. Once again Rare have copied Mario 64 and gone for the mission-based platformer, and it works. Except that most stuff has been done in Banjo or Mario (for example, raising or lowering the water in Ghostly Galleon – Wet Dry World, anyone?) and the bonus games you play are one of about eight types, so that gets boring too. You won’t be bothered to collect all the bananas and fairies in the game either.

Although Rare have polished it up with a ridiculous DK Rap (for the under 10s), battle mode, unlockable cheats, a few secrets and extra learnable moves, it isn’t enough. Mario, in my opinion, is a better game, and Banjo too. DK is a
sub-standard effort from Rare which is too unoriginal. Hopefully Banjo Tooie will be a little less bland and I little more original.

Summary: