Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D is a magnificent port of the Wii original.
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D is a beautiful game. In fact, it's one of the best looking titles I've played on the Nintendo 3DS, and makes some of the best use of 3D I've seen on the system.
When an enemy is killed, it goes flying toward the screen. Environments pop out of the handheld system, and some levels---especially the silhouette levels---are simply gorgeous. Small details, like the dandelions you can blow into the wind, make the game even more lush.
Better yet, the gameplay is every bit as good as the graphics. Not a ton has changed since the Wii original, but the simple fact that motion controls are no longer a part of gameplay makes this remake a big step up.
If you played either Donkey Kong Country in any of its iterations, you'll remember that this is an extremely challenging franchise. That remains true for the 3DS version, though developer Monster Games has added an "easy mode" (called New Mode) that takes some of the sting out of dying.
In New Mode, new inventory items make life a little easier on Donkey Kong as he searches the island for his lost horde of bananas.
Special green balloons can save you from a fall, for instance. And Kong has more hearts in his life bar. The levels themselves remain enormously challenging in both modes, however, and there have been a few levels that have stymied me to the point of aggravation. And in classic mode you can play with all the challenge of the original.
This is a good thing; games are too easy these days, and it's nice to encounter such a difficult title.
For those who have not had the good fortune of playing the Donkey Kong Country games, Returns 3D is a side-scrolling platformer. I would say "2D-platformer" but given the 3D nature of the game this would be confusing.
Donkey and Diddy Kong head through over 70 levels of evil crabs, nefarious octopuses, and wicked Tikis. There are secrets hidden everywhere throughout each level, and finding every puzzle piece or each letter in the KONG word puzzle, can be a huge, and at times confounding, challenge.
Players can also play co-op with a friend if that friend happens to have a 3DS, a copy of the game, and is on the same WiFi network. It would have been cool if the game had some sort of online co-op as well, and better still if there had been a Wii U version launched at the same time.
The music is fantastic, though I've been a sucker for the Donkey Kong OST since the original SNES game. Seriously, I've been getting some of the game's songs stuck in my head pretty badly the last couple of weeks. Which is better than the songs I usually get stuck in my head (the perils of parenting.)
The original Super Nintendo Donkey Kong Country will always be my favorite of the series---if only for nostalgia's sake---but the 3DS version of Returns is a strong contender for the crown. It's a solid handheld title, and a deeply addictive, wonderfully challenging portable game.
My only gripe has to do with the 3D, actually. While it looks tremendous when it's working, even the slightest shift in viewing angle can throw the image into a hideous disaster of jumbled dimensions.
A skewed image may not matter much in a game like Fire Emblem: Awakening, which is a very strategic game but not one that requires precise timing. In Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, it can mean the difference between making a close jump and plummeting to your doom.
One can slide the 3D off easily enough, but it's not something I prefer to do given how much the 3D really does add to the game. This is the conundrum all 3DS action/platformer titles face, but I noticed it more in Donkey Kong both because of how good the 3D looks and how badly it can screw up your run through the jungle.
Really, though, I can forgive this. It's part of the trade-off you make when playing games on the 3DS. You get some great looking 3D material and some frustrating viewing angle issues.
The game itself is a blast.
The move away from motion controls to a more classic experience, the gorgeous graphics, and the eight new levels all make this a title fans of the franchise really shouldn't miss. On the Buy/Hold/Sell rating, I give this a definitive Buy for newcomers and old fans alike.
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Monster Games
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: May 24th, 2013
Price: $34.99 - $39.99
Score: 8.5/10
